Vietnam has the world’s best eco-resort

Best Destinations - The US National Geographic Magazine has selected the Six Senses Con Dao eco resort – Vietnam as one of the best eco resorts in over the world.

No need to wear shirt, no need to wear shoes...at Six Senses resort. It’s a wonderful shelter which was built from teak including thousands of ancient recycled wood panels above. 

The resort is located on the world-class beach which belongs to the Con Dao National Park. It takes 45- minute-flight from Ho Chi Minh City. Six Senses focuses on the sustainability with innovation of local meals, organic, no bottled water and products; convenience and cleaning, self-decaying and non-toxic.

Coming here, visitors can windsurf, go sailing or simply immerse in the cool water of swimming pool of Six Sense and be sunk in in pristine nature of the island.

The resort offers 50 rooms with the price from 580 USD/night included breakfast.

     Six Senses - Con Dao

The list consists of 25 eco resorts around the world which were voted by the National Geographic Magazine. Along with Six Senses, there are the representatives of Indonesia, China, India, South Africa, Greece, Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand...

Here are top 10 of the best resorts in the world that has been selected for your summer holiday this year.

1. Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve in South Africa 

                                   Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat 

2. Misool Eco Resort in Indonesia

                                                               Misool Eco Resort

3. Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica in Peru

                                                              Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica

4. The ocean eco resort at the Conservation Ecology Centre in Victoria in Victoria, Australia. 

                                                      Mark Watson, Victoria Tourism 

5. The Zone of Shelter on Milia Mountain, Greece

                                       Vassilis Kotrotsos, Milia Mountain Retreat

6. Jicaro Island Ecolodge in Nicaragua 

                                                       Jicaro Island Ecolodge in Nicaragua 

7. Yangshuo Resort in Guangxi - China

                                                   Dorothea Schmid, Redux

8. Jetwing Vil Uyana in Sri Lanka

                                                                           Jetwing Vil Uyana

  

9. The border farm eco resort in Poland

                                                            Eco-Frontiers Ranch

10. The camping land Damaraland in Namibia

                                                    Dana Allen, Wilderness Safaris

11. The Bulunggula resort in South Africa 

                                                 Mike Cohen, Bulungula Lodge

12. The Eagle View Camping Zone in Kenya

                                                        Basecamp Eagle View

13. The eco resort Feynan in Jordan

                                                                 Feynan Ecolodge

14. Cristalino Jungle Lodge in Brazil

                                               Samuel Melim, Cristalino Lodge

15. Laguna Lodge in Guatemala

                                                 Laguna Lodge Eco-Resort & Nature Reserve

16. Resurgence in New Zealand

                                                   The Resurgence, New Zealand

17. Six Senses in Con Dao, Vietnam

                                                              Six Senses ,Vietnam

18. Chumbe Island Coral Park Resort in Zanzibar

                                             Hauke Dressler, Getty Images

19. Three Camel Lodge in Mongolia

                                               G. Gan-Ulzii, Three Camel Lodge

20. DumaTau in Botswana

                                                Mike Myers, Wilderness Safaris

21. The eco resort Cree Village in Canada

                                                                     Dave McKechnie

22. Turtle Inn in Belize

                                                     Francis Ford Coppola Resorts

23. Hacienda Santa Rosa in Mexico

                                                            Starwood Archive

24. The eco resort Pacuare in Costa Rica

                                                                Pacuare Lodge

25.  Cam District  in Kabini , India

                                                   Orange County Resorts & Hotels Ltd

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7 countries are to be considered exempt from applying for visa by the Government

The Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has directed departments to assess the political, economic and security impact after exempting visa for Japanese, Korean, Russian tourists and those from 4 North Western countries during the past time.

At the meeting of the state steering committee regarding tourism lately, it has been proposed that the government need to consider and deliver policies in order to enable international tourists to visit Vietnam by means of visa exemption for tourists from some important markets such as Japan, Korea, Russia and 4 North Western countries), adjust their temporary residential period to be 30 days instead of 15 days as before.

The Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has directed Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Department of Culture Sports and Tourism to assess the overall impact of visa exemption for citizens of the above seven countries and specify course of action in the up-coming time, submitted to the government.

In April, Vietnamese Tourism Association h as proposed to the government continuing visa exemption for the seven countries on the condition that the directed Minister of Foreign Affairs suggests that the experiment of freeing visa for the seven countries, which costs Vietnam 50 million USD.

As Mr. Vu The Binh, the Vice president of the tourism association said, unless the government accepts visa exemption, Vietnam has lose its competitive advantage over the countries with open visa  mechanism for foreign tourists. For example, 55 countries benefit from visa exemption in Thailand and 155 countries in Malaysia.

He also said that Vietnam in comparison with neighbouring countries has not been such a tourist attraction yet. In addition to complicated visa procedure, this makes tourists seem to be unimpressed. Furthermore, among the seven countries mentioned above, Korea, Russia and Japan are all potential markets for Vietnamese tourism. In 2012, the sales /revenue gained from tourists of the three countries is 2 billion USD while VAT gained is 200 million USD.

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Hanoi is upgrading toilets for tourists

The Hanoi Department of Culture Sports and Tourism has proposed establishing a project to improve and repair 7 toilets in the center area which complies with the standards of tourist service.

The capital’s tourism has conducted a survey public toilets which serve tourist in the Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem lake area, recorded the deteriorating situation of these facilities. Therefore, Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has proposed establishing an improvement and repair project to Hanoi People’s Committee according to the standards provided by Administration of Tourism.

The toilets expected to be upgraded and located  in Phung Hung flower garden, Phung Hung- Cua Dong crossroads, Hang Khay, Hang Giay, Gia Ngu.

In 2013, Administration of Tourism has set a target of 100% qualified toilets at tourism sites throughout the country available for tourist service.

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The grilled "spade-fish" :The unique taste of the Port City

According to the traditional medicine book, spade-fish is considered as a precious medicine which can cure sonasthenia, neurasthenia, be good for women before and after giving birth. Spade-fish’s gall has the effect of relieving stress, fatigue, back pain and neck strain. Therefore, when cooking spade-fish, it’s very important to split its gall.

Because this kind of fish is strong, not everyone can treat it. It’s necessary for experienced people to do that. There are some cases that the gill, intestine and gall of spade-fish all were removed but the fish still live strongly as normally. At that time, the fish’s fin will put on the air and maybe cut our hand.

There are a lot of spade-fishes in Hai Phong so that cooking this dish is the way to assert the unique of this port land. It’s very essential to be careful when processing spade-fish because if we cannot split the gall of the fish, it will make the dish bitter. The removed gall can be used for macerating in alcohol with lemongrass bulbs. The spade-fish is grilled with galangal bulbs and me (a special condiment of Vietnam). With this method of cooking, the dish is going to have a typical taste, crispy at the outside, soft at the inside and can be eaten even small bone.

Usually, grilled spade-fish eat along with salted mangoes or salted figs. Thus, we can taste the salty, sour and acrid flavor of salted fruits and the sweet flavor of the fish at the same time. All the flavors are intertwined and not make you feel depressed.

If sitting with friends, one plate of grilled fish along with some glasses of wine will bring an unexpected interest. The most fastidious person has also to be satisfied with this dish when looking at the yellow and enjoying the typical flavor. The grilled spade-fish can split and dip in soy sauce. More sophisticated, we can roll spade-fish in vegetable, mix with a piece of cucumber, pineapple and star-fruit, it will make the dish more delicious.

If you want to enjoy this unique grilled dish, you can visit the Hong Kong Hotpot Restaurant at 372 Lach Tray, Ngo Quyen District. In the middle of the Port land, it’s really delightful to enjoy the food and watch the Chinese beautiful aquarelle pictures.

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THE ART PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION OF PHONG NHA – KE BANG

On 24th May, in Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh Literature and Art Club held the Opening of Art Photography Exhibition “The Natural World Heritage Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park – the unique beauties”.
This is one of the meaningful activities towards the 10th anniversary of the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park from the day it has been recognized as the Natural World Heritage. 

Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is the complex of caves which have unique features regarding geological landforms and biodiversity. 
Therefore, during last time, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park is the ideal and interesting destination for scientists, explorers and a lot of domestic and foreign tourists.

With the purpose of promoting closely the values of the Natural World Heritage Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park to tourists, during last time, through the exploitation and put into use of new tourism products, Quang Binh province has encouraged both domestic and international photographers coming and discover the mysterious beauty of this Natural World Heritage by the way of artists’ lens.

The art photography exhibition “The Natural World Heritage Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park – the unique beauties” attracted more than 200 works of artists. Through selection, the organizing committee displayed 80 works of 17 authors who are photographers in the province.

Besides introducing to the audience the unique beauty of the heritage, the organizing committee also emphasized two main topics of the exhibition that are the diversity of geological landforms and biodiversity and the preservation and development of the values of the Natural World Heritage Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park.
The exhibition opens until 4th June .

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LAO CAI: SUCCESSION THANKS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY TOURISM

The names such as Cat Cat, Sin Chai, Ban Den, Trung Do, Ta Chai, Na Hoi, Ban Pho...of Lao Cai province now become closer and more familiar with both domestic and foreign tourists. It’s because there is a significant growth of community tourism.

A right direction Recognizing the particular strength of community tourism, in 1998, Lao Cai  constructed a pilot model of community tourism at Cat Cat, Sin Chai (San Sa Ho – Sapa), and on the first step, it contributed to improve the local people’s life.  However, since the day Spanish Government funded for the project “Increase the capacity of Vietnamese tourism in the implementation of tourism development strategy for the period of 2011 – 2020, 2030 vision focused on policies for social responsibility”. Lao Cai is one of the provinces which gets benefits from the project’s activities, mainly as supported training for presenter, supported training capacity improvement for women in tourism development, supported training regarding green tourism brand, established Mong’s Khen club at Sapa...These activities have had a positive impact to the development of tourism in particular and the growth of economy and society in general. Until now, the province has built 13 community tourism destinations, mainly in Sapa district and Bac Ha district. According to the leader of the Department of Culture, if in 2010, there were just 30 households getting license for doing business the service of temporarily reside at home, there have been nearly 100 households so far. Thanks to participating in tourism activities, local people have more jobs and income. Some households are from famine to dramatically improved living standard. The average revenue of each household reaches 25,000,000–27,000,000/year (Ta Van Commune), 35,000,000–40,000,000/household/year (Trung Do Commune). Apart from raising income for the residents, with the participation of the project, Lao Cai also encourages the local people to consciously restore, preserve, maintain and protect the traditional cultural beauty, their lifestyle and their production methods for creating typical tourism products, bringing visitors the opportunity to explore directly and increasing the temporarily residing time of visitors. Development in depth The development of community tourism in depth is the sustainable growth direction which Lao Cai has posed. Accordingly, in the period of 2013-2017, Lao Cai focuses on investing identically regarding emplacement, infrastructure, products and service for developing 3 community tourism centers at Ta Van Giay (Ta Van – Sapa), Trung Do (Bao Nhai – Bac Ha) and Lao Chai (Y Ty – Bat Xat).  At present, Ta Van Giay is the best option for domestic and foreign tourists, tourists at weekend...Therefore, the special tourism products which the village concentrates developing, are traditional cuisine, temporarily reside and folk games. Unlike Ta Van Giay, Trung Do village (Bao Nhai – Bac Ha) has the specific characteristic of river route for tourism from Chay river to Lung Khau Nhin (Muong Khuong), through Ban Me (Si Ma Cai) to Coc Ly, Bao Nhai (Bac Ha).  For this reason, the typical tourism products of this place include yacht tourism on Chay river with the wild beauty of poetic river, spirit tourism to Trung Do temple where the general Vu Cong Mat protected the Northwest in Le – Mac dynasty, and the indispensable attraction of house on stilts and the folk music of Tay people. In particular, Lao Chai 1 (Y Ty – Bat Xat) is hoped to bring to the tourists the simple and pristine beauty of terraced fields, the spectacular waterfalls, the rice bruisers by water power, the Trinh Tuong unique house architecture, and the traditional foods of the ethnic. The tourism experts expect that Ta Van Giay – Trung Do – Lao Chai tourism route will become the community tourism tour in depth, create the attraction for visitors who stay at Lao Cao for a longer time and spend more their money.

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VIETNAM – LAOS - THAILAND COOPERATE FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

From 21th to 22th May, 2013, the Quang Tri Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, along with the Board of Management of the GMS Sustainable Tourism Development Project in Quang Tri province organized the conference of unifying the coordinating exhibiting plans and tourism promotion at the Lao Bao Tourist Information Centre among the 3 provinces: Quang Tri (Vietnam), Savannakhet (Laos) and Mukdahan (Thailand).

Previously, the participating parties had a field work at the building of Lao Bao Tourism Information Center which was funded by ADB. At the conference, 3 provinces all agreed to coordinate with each other for introducing destinations, the typical tourism products, historical landscapes, the content of promoting image and promoting method of tourism information of 3 provinces at Lao Bao – Quang Tri Information Center. 

Moreover, at the conference, all the parties unified some collaborative content at “The conference of tourism development cooperation among 3 provinces Quang Tri - Savannakhet – Mukdahan” which was hosted by Mukdahan province in Thailand. (The preparatory conference will be held from 10th to 11th July, 2013, and officially held from 7th to 10th  August, 2013 at the Grand Hotel - Mukdahan).

At the end of the conference, the representatives of three institutions of  state tourism management signed the Memorandum of the contents which were unified and adopted by the parties. 

The cooperation of tourism development among Quang Tri - Savannakhet – Mukdahan and other neighbouring provinces will create a potential market including people of 3 countries and international visitors to this tour. The effective exploitation of tourism route throughout the East-West Economic Corridor not only meets the needs of tourists, but it also contributes to  generate the conditions for the development of other types of tourism services, brings to the residents the opportunity to do business and benefits for the tourism industry of the local at the corridor, productively contributes to the economic – social development of each local. 

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