Welcome to paradise: A poster from the Viet Nam Culture and Tourism Festival in Japan.

The three-day festival in Tokyo begins today, June 22, while the one in Seoul will run from Friday to Saturday.

"About 30 Vietnamese tourism businesses have signed up to take part in the festivals, " said Nguyen Van Tinh, head of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry’s International Co-operation Department, which is organising the events.

"A 20-member art troupe will be performing in Seoul and Tokyo. We will introduce Vietnamese culture and tourism as well as investment opportunities."

The festival in Japan will be held in Ginza, with exhibitions and showrooms introducing Vietnamese culture, cuisine, tourism services and goods. In addition, there will be displays of traditional Vietnamese ao dai (traditional long dress) and design competitions.

To further promote Ha Noi’s millennium in October, 100 hoardings will be erected at 45 shinkansen (bullet train) stations.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh will also this week sign a tourism co-operation agreement with his South Korean counterpart.

South Korea ranks second behind China and Japan third in terms of foreign tourists visiting Viet Nam, which is why these festivals have been organised, Tinh said.

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and the Japan Association of Travel Agents inked a memorandum of understanding in 2008 to boost tourism in the two countries.

Viet Nam is being promoted as a must-see destination for Japanese tourists in the association’s "Visit the World Campaign", which aims to boost the number of Japanese holiday-makers travelling abroad from 17.3 million in 2007 to 20 million this year.

In the first four months of this year, about 178, 000 S Koreans came to Viet Nam, 31.4 per cent up on the previous year, according to VNAT. Meanwhile, about 147, 000 Japanese visitors came to Viet Nam in the first four months of the year, up 14.2 per cent.

Ha Noi, HCM City, Da Nang, the central province of Quang Nam – home to the ancient city of Hoi An – and Thua Thien - Hue are among the popular destinations for tourists from the two countries.

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