There is also a number of photographs portraying the lives of the different ethnic groups.

Hai, a member of the Ho Chi Minh City Artifact Collectors’ Association, said that the event honours the Central Highland’s cultural heritages and calls upon the public to join in efforts to protect the region’s heritages which are at risk of being lost forever.

On display are 100 colour and black and white photos taken by VNA’s journalists and other photographers.

The works are displayed by theme such as documentary photos of Hanoi in the past, the late President Ho Chi Minh and leaders with Hanoi people, Hanoi in war time and building peace, Hanoi’s landscape, architecture and daily life, and HCM City towards Hanoi.

Visitors will see Hanoi’s achievements in construction and defence as well as the city’s culture and people.

Photos showing HCM City’s success in socio-economic development are also on display at the exhibition.

From the beginning of this year until now, 880,000 tourists have visited Da Nang City, 61 percent of this year’s target and an increase of 38 percent compared to the same period in 2009.

Of them, 212,200 arrivals were from abroad, a 26 percent rise against the same period last year and reaching 61 percent of this year’s forecast figure.

It is predicted that the number of foreign tourists visiting the city this summer will continue to rise by 15-20 percent.

The central city has a big advantage as it is easy to travel to other destinations such as Phan Thiet and Vung Tau. However, the city still has a limited amount of hotel accommodation for tourists.

The event also served as a forum for ASEAN countries to exchange issues of common concern and seek effective measures to cope with obstacles facing the regional tourism in order to make ASEAN an attractive destination on the world tourist map, looking towards the building of a dynamic and sustainable ASEAN community.

According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Chien Thang, ASEAN countries have many advantages for tourism development cooperation as they have convenient traffic conditions, share similarities in cultural identities and boast many natural and cultural heritages.

Boosting the regional connectivity and cooperation, especially in tourism, is one of priorities of each country’s tourism sector and is also reflected in State-level joint commitments, including the ASEAN Tourism Agreement and the ASEAN Tourism Integration Strategy, he said.

The Vietnamese tourism sector has made an important contribution to the national economy with continuously increasing number of international arrivals, Thang said, adding that since the beginning of the year, more than 1.35 million foreign tourists visited the country.

Ong Jin Chwen, Area Director, Chief Representative of the Singapore Tourism Board in Indochina, said ASEAN countries are well-known for long coastal lines, beautiful beaches and good climate which are suitable for developing cruise tourism.

Last year, ASEAN welcomed nearly 63 million visitors with tourists within the bloc accounting for 40% of the arrivals.