Only on September 21, the company welcomed 1,250 foreign visitors, who travelled to Vietnam on the cruise liner Costa Allegra, on its fourth visit to the country.

The visitors, mostly from Italy, Spain, the UK and Germany, have helped to increase the total number of international travellers the company has received by sea to over 5,000 in September and over 50,000 in the first nine months of the year.

As part of the company’s programme, the visitors will visit Ho Chi Minh City and a number of central provinces.

The festival showcased prestigious tourism trade names to the public and new tourism services along with special promotions to stimulate demand among the city’s people and in the southern economic zone.

At the event, 44 travel agencies, hotels and entertainment areas, coming from main tourism regions in 14 cities and provinces nationwide, had the chance to advertise their services.

Under the framework of the event, a food festival took place, attracting 50 stalls from restaurants from 7 cities and provinces in the country, high lighting the unique food culture of the southern region.

Also on the occasion of the Hung Temple Festival, visitors witnessed the creation of 5,000 sticky rice cakes, in addition to performances and exhibitions from April 3-5.

Tourism is one of HCMC’s major industries. In 2008, the city received 2.8 million foreign visitors and the city’s tourism industry recorded a turnover of VND31,000 billion. In the first quarter of this year, HCMC welcomed 780,000 arrivals of foreign tourists, with a total tourism industry turnover of VND7,700 billion.

The photo exhibition displays nearly 100 photos featuring the Laos-Vietnam tie of friendship and Vietnam’s recent achievements.

The art performances on the same theme were given by the art troupes from Saynhabuli Province and the Vietnam Ethnic Minorities Cultural Association.

The two ministers reviewed their co-operation in cultural and art over the years and came up with ways of strengthening relations between the two countries in cultural exchanges.

Their agreement to co-organise cultural weeks in both countries over the past few years has achieved many good results.

They pledged to organise the same kinds of cultural exchanges this year in Vietnam in October and next year in Cambodia.

The Cambodian minister thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for its support in creating a project to establish the Cambodian Circus Training School.

Minister Hoang Tuan Anh invited the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Arts to participate in a number of cultural festivals in Vietnam this year.

They also discussed co-operating in cultural art and training.