Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Phan Ngoc Tho presenting flowers to the first tourists visiting the heritage in the New Year. Photo: Hue Monument
Ancient and modern
As a Vietnamese native living and working abroad for more than 40 years, Mr. Truong Quan Phoi has just had the opportunity to return to his homeland on the occasion of the traditional Tet holiday. Not a native of Hue, but he chose Hue to enjoy Tet, because he wanted to visit the heritage complex and to learn about the history of Vietnam's last feudal dynasty.
"I have been living away from my home country for a long time. Now I just want to come back and visit many places to know more about my roots. I have watched a lot about Hue on TV and the Internet, but I was still surprised with Hue. The first impression is the greenery system. There are very few places where there are straight roads and thick green trees that shade the two sides as in Hue. I went on a path like that after visiting the Citadel and I felt very peaceful and at ease,” Mr. Phoi said.
Recreating the changing guards ceremony at the Citadel, an important ceremony of the old royal New Year
Hue heritages these last few days wear a more colorful outfit with flags and spring flowers. The Hue Monuments Conservation Center informed that, in addition to trying to recreate the old royal Tet for tourists to discover and experience, the Center also wishes to adorn the heritage sites in spring colors. In addition to the usual ancient features, the heritages carry new fresh colors for the New Year.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism stated that this year's Lunar New Year, visitors to Hue would have more experiences, more events to enjoy, especially in the area of Spring Flower Festival along the Perfume River at Ly Tu Trong Park stretching to the ironwood pedestrian bridge on the Perfume River and Nguyen Dinh Chieu pedestrian street. Here, every day, tens of thousands of locals and tourists come to have fun and join in traditional games...
Also, according to Mr. Phuc, Tet holiday is the best opportunity for Hue to promote the image of its people, culture and unique heritage to friends everywhere. Hue these days are more bustling, lively and more joyful. Every visitor to Hue is always welcomed as friends who visit and join in Hue’s Tet.
Vietnamese Tet scene at the Ao Dai show
Peaceful
The most "checked in" place is the pedestrian bridge on the Huong River. A tourist from the Netherlands walking on the bridge on the second day of the New Year said: “Standing here looking around, with the cool breeze blowing in makes me feel very fresh. Congratulations on being able to live in such a wonderful place.”
Mr. Truong Quan Phoi shared, “coming to Hue, I was led by the tourist guides here to an old house and experienced Hue's traditional Tet. Having lived far away from my homeland for a long time, I was worried that the family members gathering together in Tet would be lesser. Surprisingly, the cozy Tet atmosphere makes people like me, who have been away for a long time, wish that time would flow more slowly, so that we can live longer in this atmosphere.
Mr. Truong Quan Phoi said, “Hue is very green and clean, something that Taiwan - where I live - and many other places are not. I hope that Hue will try to preserve this, because the general rule is that economic development will make the environment more or less affected. Too much concrete will cause the city to lose its ancient look. If I have the opportunity, I will return to Hue and stay here longer to enjoy peaceful and still moments.”
Tourists visit Hue on Tet holiday
Mr. Tran Quang Hao, Director of Huetourist assessed that Hue is a cultural destination, along with natural landscapes and a clean, green environment. These are the factors that combine together to make Hue a friendly and safe destination that attracts tourists. The tour groups participating in the Lunar New Year have a common sense of love for Hue and regard Hue as their favorite destination in their tour.
According to statistics, there were 17,861 tourists coming to Hue in 3 days of Tet holiday, an increase of 177% compared to 2018, including 8,611 international visitors and 9,250 domestic visitors. In 7 days from February 2 to 8 (from 28th to 4th of the Tet holidays), there were 67,876 visitors including 48,187 international and 19,689 domestic visitors. The largest number of tourists come from: Korea, France, America and Germany.
Leaders of Tourism Department said that in the coming time, they will continue to orient and encourage tourism enterprises to build more products and types of tourism to develop sustainably in accordance with the objectives and strategies to make tourism become a key economic sector. Tourism will be sustainably developed under the criteria of preserving cultural heritage, and preserving and respecting environmental landscape and history, friendly people and culture-oriented services.
Story and photos: Duc Quang