Using Viettel’s Tourist Sim, customers are provided accurate, quick and free information on hotels, taxi numbers, exchange rate, weather forecast and sightseeing places by 5055 automatic server.

Tourist Sim is also attractive at its price and usage duration. Regarding to price, the Tourist Sim is offered at USD5 or USD10. Regarding to call rate, International Direct Dial rate is at VND3,240/minute and International SMS is at VND2,160/message. Depends on customer’s duration of stay and needs for communication, you can re-charge your sim at unchanged rate. Moreover, customers are provided GPRS for free. A free service center, 18008168, is also set up and communicated in both English and Chinese.

This sim will be widely distributed at airport, tourism places, hotels, resorts…

Tourist Sim is a mobile pre-paid package specially designed for foreign tourists to Vietnam. It is a greeting from Viettel and Vietnam to international tourists. Viettel hopes to be tourist’s friend as a communication bridge between tourist and their family, friends.

The National Tourism Year 2010 will be held in Hanoi along with many activities to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the capital city.

The event will be an opportunity for Hanoi’s tourist industry to increase its profile and become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region and the world.

In preparation for the event, Hanoi’s tourist industry has introduced a number of new tours and special tourist products and will put on more events to attract more tourists throughout the year.

Propaganda posters must show cultural traditions during the 1,000-year history of Hanoi, represent Hanoi as a peaceful city and the country’s cosmopolitan centre of culture, science, education and economics.

Works submitted to the contest must be original, never shown in public before and be on paper sized 54cmx79cm.

Entrants should send their works to the Hanoi Information and Exhibition Centre at 93 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, the deadline for submissions is December 10.

The organising board will award one first prize worth VND10 million, two second prizes, three third prizes, ten consolation prizes and three prizes for the best collectives.

The prize-giving ceremony is scheduled to take place in late December 2009.

Ballots can be obtained at the airport, at a selection of high-profit hotels, and attractions and shopping venues across the city. Votes can also be cast online at www.hcmc100e.info.

The hotels include Kim Do, Huong Sen, Bong Sen, Continental, Rex, Majestic, Caravelle, Vien Dong, First Hotel and May Hotel.

Ballots can also be picked up at Cu Chi Tunnel, History Museum, Ben Thanh Market, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, and Ho Chi Minh Museum.

The shopping venues include Tax Trade Centre, Miss Ao Dai Shopping Centre, Phuong Nam Lacquerware, and Tay Son Lacquerware.

Candidates are listed in 10 differently coloured ballots for 10 categories, including hotels, restaurants, attractions, dishes, souvenirs, tour programmes, festivals and events, shopping centres, coffee shops, and evening venues.

Voters can tick from one to 10 choices in any category, of which there are 15 candidates each.

The list of eligible names was short listed by a panel of advisors from submissions received from local tour operators and international travel agencies.

Guests can access information and images about the candidates via 50 touch screen kiosks installed across the city.

The poll was launched at the initiative of the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with industry associations.

The winners will be advertised at tourist fairs here and abroad and on Vietnam Airlines’ flights.

“We should be more active and reach out to markets in harsh times,” said Ton Nu Thi Ninh, a well-known diplomat and advisor to the programme.

“Vibrant and cosmopolitan,” said Ninh of how the city was viewed by foreign visitors, drawing on her extensive experience. “The vibrancy flies in their faces as a cultural shock, especially to those coming from tranquil cities like Ottawa or Canberra,” she added.

The city is one of the most open in Southeast Asia, ready to assimilate foreign elements into its culture but remaining truly Vietnamese at heart, she said.

Ninh also noted that the country is well-known for its “unforced brilliant smiles” and a “great tolerance” of different races and religions.