The Italian daily paper La Repubblica recently ran an article entitled “Hoi An – Intersection of the Far East”, portraying the ancient city as a tranquil and idyllic place worth visiting in central Viet Nam.
It went on to say that Hoi An is an intersection of culture between Viet Nam and China, Japan, the Netherlands and India. Coming here, visitors travelling by bicycles or on foot can get a feel for Vietnamese history as the city itself serves as a museum with its rows of colonial houses.
Thousands of multi-coloured lanterns are hung at night, giving visitors an experience of living in a fairy world.
Referring to a guidebook of tourism and culinary attractions, visitors were urged to explore Hoi An’s UNESCO heritage sites.
Over the past few months, La Repubblica has featured places of interest in Ha Noi, Sa Pa, Ha Long Bay, the Mekong Delta, and Mui Ne coastal resort town.
The State television station RAI broadcast several documentaries about Viet Nam’s scenic locations and welcoming people.
The Vietnamese embassy in Italy also worked with other local groups to organise workshops on Viet Nam’s tourism in a bid to further promote Vietnamese destinations to Italian tourists.
According to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, the number of Italian tourists coming to Viet Nam has grown over the past years, from 31,300 in 2012 to over 50,000 in 2013, though these figures still represent a limited proportion of the nearly 6 million foreign arrivals in the country.