Hundreds of visitors from many countries were warmly welcomed at the Noi Bai
and Tan Son Nhat International Airports in the morning of January 1 2011.

From
the early morning, officials of the HCM City Department of Tourism were at the Tan Son Nhat Airport
to welcome 160 visitors from Taiwan
on a flight of Vietnam Airlines, who arrived at the airport at 9.30am.

Not
so long after that, 300 visitors from the US,
Britain, France and the Netherlands
arrived at the airport from a flight from Hong Kong.

Welcomed
by flowers, gifts and congratulations from tourism officials as well as
traditional dances and songs, many tourists were very surprised.

“Friendly
and thoughtfully welcoming is the way we impress international visitors and
improve the images of HCM City and Vietnamese people in the eyes of
international friends,” said HCM City Department of Tourism’s deputy director
La Quoc Khanh.

The
same day, Vietnamese airlines and travel firms welcomed their first foreign
visitors.

Saigontourist
welcomed a group of eight Australian visitors at the Noi Bai airport. They came
to Vietnam
for a 17-day tour. On December 31, Saigontourist also greeted 750 visitors in a
cruise ship named Europa in Ha Long.

Vietravel
also welcomed its first 27 foreign visitors of 2011 from Italy, who will travel Saigon – Phu Quoc – Hoi
An – Hue city – Hanoi
– Ha Long – Sapa within 13 days. Vietravel organized a special New year party
on Phu Quoc Island
for them.

Welcoming
the first foreign visitors was the first event of many in the tourism sector to
advertise the image of Vietnam
in 2011.

PV