On Thursday, an online meeting took place in Da Nang, Ha Noi, and Ho Chi Minh City to review the performance of the nation’s culture, sports, and tourism sector over the past year. 

Vice Chairman Dung (in white shirt) at the online meeting

In Ha Noi, the meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, whilst in Da Nang it was co-chaired by the Deputy Director General of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, Mr Ha Van Sieu, and the Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairman, Mr Dang Viet Dung.

It was reported that last year Da Nang recorded numerous significant achievements in its culture, sports and tourism activities.  In particular, the city welcomed 5.51 million visitors from both home and abroad, up 17.7% against 2015.  Thanks to this, the city’s tourism sector earned 16,000 billion VND in revenue, an increase of 24.7% compared with the previous year.

Over the past year, great efforts were made to preserve and restore numerous historical relic sites across the city. 

The 5^th Asian Beach Games (ABG5) were held in the city between 24 September and 3 October, and they proved successful thanks to the joint efforts of relevant national ministries and agencies.

The city’s ‘Cau Ngu’ (Fish Worshipping) Festival and ‘bai choi’ (singing while acting as playing cards) were recognised as national intangible cultural heritages by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc spoke highly of the remarkable achievements recorded by the nation’s culture, sports and tourism sector over the past year.  He remarked, “For this year, the focus will be on promoting the development of the national cultural sector, and issuing a special mechanism to attract more talent into this sector.  Importance will also be attached to ensuring cohesion between culture and education, developing tourism as the national spearhead economic sector, and building a civilised tourism community.  Greater efforts should be made to increase the number of visitors who want to stay longer in the country, and to raise the volume of those returning to the country”.

Mr Phuc stressed the need for the national Culture, Sports and Tourism sector to publicise the upcoming 25^th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, and effectively advertise the country’s images to international friends.  In addition, the sector was urged to organise more sporting activities for the public, and to achieve more in the country’s key sports.