Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – The Hue Monuments Conservation Centre will offer free tickets for Vietnamesevisitors during the first three days of the 2018 Lunar New Year (February16-18).

A number of royal activities under the Nguyendynasty (1802-1945) will be held such as ‘bai vu’ – a folk game often played onthe full moon night or in the first day of the year to find good luck, ‘xamhuong’ (players throw dices to take slabs carved with red Chinese characters incorresponding to degrees of a former examination system), poetry response, andcalligraphy.

The illumination of ‘Ky dai Hue’ (Flag Tower)and the experience of paintball game, which were opened to visitors from February12 night, were definitely a highlight of the Tet celebration at the imperialrelic site.

Earlier, the centre re-enacted a ceremony toplant a Neu pole at the citadel on February 8 and held various royal rituals inaddition to art and culture activities such as wrapping Chung cake (atraditional cake made from glutinous rice dedicated to Lunar New Year), musicperformances, calligraphy, and folk games.

The ancient imperial city of Hue in the centralprovince of Thua Thien-Hue was recognised as an ASEAN Clean Tourist City at theASEAN Travel Forum and Travex International Tourism Trade Fair in Thailand atthe end of January.

In 2018, Thua Thien-Hue strives to welcome about4-4.2 million tourists, a year-on-year rise of 10 percent, with 40-45 percentbeing international vacationers. Tourism revenues are projected to increase 15percent to reach 4-4.2 trillion VND (175.2 – 183.5 million USD).

This year, the Hue Monuments Conservation Centrewill continue promoting the tour “Hue – one destination, five heritageelements”, including Hue imperial relic complex, “Nha nhac” (Hue royal courtmusic), woodblocks and imperial records of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945),Han (Chinese scripts) poetry inscribed on the Hue royal architecture, whichwere recognised by UNESCO as world heritage items.

In the first month of 2018, the centre welcomed302,000 visitors, including 262,000 international holidaymakers, showing ayear-on-year rise of over 30 percent.

During the first three days of the Lunar NewYear 2018, the centre is expected to serve more than 30,000 visitors with over80 percent being foreigners.-VNA