About 25,000 tourists visited the Hue imperial relic site in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on National Day (September 2), according to Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre Phan Thanh Hai.
Free entrance tickets were offered to Vietnamese visitor at the imperial palace and monuments on the day. Meanwhile, local residents received a discount of 50 percent from September 1.
A string of royal activities have been restored on the occasion, including “doi gac” (changing working shift) festival and ceremonial music performance, Hai stressed.
The Vietnamese cultural heritage has been also nudged closer to visitors through exhibitions and royal art programmes, which feature cultural and historical values of the site.
The imperial relic site was recognised by UNESCO as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage in 1993. So far, nearly 150 facilities at the site have been upgraded with total investment of 1.2 trillion VND (52.7 million USD), comprising Ngu Phung pavilion, Long An palace, The Mieu temple, Tu Duc tomb and Phu Van Lau pavilion.
By the end of August, the Hue Monuments Conservation Center welcomed 2.2 million visitors, including over 1.1 million foreigners. The centre earned 222 billion VND (9.8 million USD) from tourism services in the period.
The Hue Imperial Citadel (Dai Noi) has been in top seven tourism attractions of Vietnam in 2017. It has attracted a throngs of visitors thanks to the tour “Hue-One destination- Five heritages”, including the complex of Hue ancient capital, Hue royal court music, moc ban (wood blocks) and chau ban (royal official documents) of Nguyen Dynasty, and poetry in Chinese-language scripts on Hue royal architecture which was recognised as world documentary heritage by UNESCO.
On the occasion of the National Day, Da Nang city also organised a line-up of cultural, entertaining and tourism activities.
Along with renowned destinations like Ngam Doi, Suoi Hoa, Hoa Phu Thanh, Than Tai Mountain and Ba Na Hills, tourists can choose Lai Thieu Da Nang eco-tourism site to spend their holiday. For spiritual tourism aficionados, Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountain) tourism site will be an ideal place to pay tribute on Vu lan (Ullambana) festival.
Exhibitions and antique fair are also underway in the city.
According to Vice Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Tran Chi Cuong, the city expects to receive 14,000 international visitors from September 2-4.