Vietnam-Japan cultural
exchange days to take place in Hoi An ancient city, the central province
of Quang Nam, are expected to attract more foreign tourists,
particularly those from Japan, to destinations in the central region.
During the event, the eighth of its kind in Hoi An, a series of
programmes imbued with the Vietnamese and Japanese cultures will be
presented such as performances of folk dancing, traditional music,
dragon dance, traditional costumes, tea drinking ceremony and
calligraphy as well as a festival with flower garlands and coloured
lanterns on river.
Besides, the Iwamikagura royal singing and dancing troupe and the
Daisuwataiko drum group from Japan will join the event for the first
time.
Starting from 2003, the annual event is to tighten friendship between
Vietnam and Japan and offers an opportunity to promote Hoi An, a world
heritage site, to international friends, said Vo Phung, Director of the
Hoi An Culture and Sport Centre.
Established in the 16 th century, Hoi An ancient city used to be an
international commerce hub on the East-West trade route. It was
Vietnam’s most prosperous trading port under the Nguyen dynasty as ships
from Japan, China, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands docked in Hoi An
for goods trading.
A number of existing archaeological sites and architectural projects
proved that Hoi An was a site for convergence and interface between the
Cham, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese cultures.
Moreover, Japan and central Vietnam in general and Hoi An in particular
treasured a time-honoured traditional relationship, prompting the
Japanese to visit the land where their ancestors used to travel to,
Toshikazu Suzuki, Director of the Japan human resource training and
consultancy institute in Vietnam, said at a workshop themed “Central
Vietnam – A destination for Japanese tourists, potential and solution”
held in Quang Nam province last May.
However, poor services, which fail to meet Japanese visitors’ demand,
are blamed for the low number of Japanese tourists, who account for
about only four percent of the total one million foreign arrivals to the
central region.
Also at the workshop, the three central localities of Quang Nam , Thua
Thien-Hue and Da Nang mapped out a plan, aiming at attracting 1 million
Japanese tourists to the region each year. The localities will
accelerate tourism promotion in Japan , open their tourism offices in
Japan and organise Japanese language courses for their small traders and
tourist guides./.
Source: VN+
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