Westerners love Tet

Hungry for Tet, celebrating Vietnamese Tet

The calligrapher street in Ho Chi Minh City every Lunar New Year is a place that attracts a large number of domestic and foreign tourists.

Mr. Didier B. Boissonnet (French nationality) said that this is the second year he has stayed to experience the traditional Tet holiday of Vietnam and is truly "fascinated" by the atmosphere of the Vietnamese Tet holiday. He said that 6 years ago, he and a group of friends, after retiring, traveled to Vietnam, then fell in love with this place and this year stayed to celebrate Tet again.

“We chose Vietnam as our first destination when traveling to Asia right after the Covid-19 pandemic. Then the scenery, climate, food and people here were so attractive that I returned to Vietnam for the second and third time… As Vietnamese people say, it is destiny or fate, 3 years ago I met in the coastal city of Nha Trang ( Khanh Hoa ), and made this place my second hometown. Last year, I stayed to celebrate Tet with my wife's family in Khanh Hoa, also buying everything from flowers, banh chung, home decorations… This year, we will also be in Vietnam, but we will travel. We will go to Hoi An, Hue, Quang Tri…, where there are many traditional Vietnamese folk activities during Tet to experience. For example, the boat racing festival, Sinh village wrestling festival, playing bai choi in Hoi An, Thanh Toan tile bridge…”, with his incomplete Vietnamese, occasionally inserting many sentences in English, Mr. Boissonnet still made us feel his excitement when mentioning festivals in central Vietnam that he wants to see.

Tourists experience traditional Tet cultural space at Ba Na

Mr. and Mrs. Boissonnet are renting an apartment near Dam Market (Nha Trang), where he has many French friends living in the coastal city, so the family will buy some traditional French and Vietnamese dishes such as foie gras, seafood, banh chung, pickled onions and wine... to organize the New Year's Eve party. After that, the couple will take the train to Da Nang , Hoi An, Hue to experience Tet in many places.

For foreigners who have lived in Vietnam for a long time, the feeling of Vietnamese Tet is no different from that of Vietnamese people. It is the hustle and bustle but excitement of the days before Tet. Mr. Chinoros Benjachavakul (Vietnamese name is Nguyen Ba Ty), HR Director of CP Vietnam, shared that in 20 years of living in Vietnam, the number of times he stayed to celebrate Vietnamese Tet can be counted on one hand. This year, due to his mother's poor health, he wants to spend as much time with her as possible, so he will return to Thailand during Tet holidays. But he is enjoying Vietnamese Tet to the fullest, because Vietnamese Tet to him is the days before Tet, right now.

“My Vietnamese Tet usually comes a little early, with activities of giving Tet gifts to the poor and those in difficult circumstances. That is a very important activity of the company. And on Tet itself, if I am in Vietnam, I go to the pagoda, go to Nguyen Hue flower street to watch people enjoy spring, take many beautiful moments that only exist during the Tet holidays. I really like the spring atmosphere on the flower streets in Vietnam. Along with that is the quiet, peaceful atmosphere at the pagodas. I often visit Vietnamese pagodas on Tet holidays. Those places always give us energy to start a new year with the most luck and peace,” he said.

Khov MengLay (20 years old), a Cambodian student, has just finished his last Vietnamese class before the Lunar New Year holiday. This is the second year Khov MengLay has celebrated Tet in Ho Chi Minh City with his foster parents in Nha Be District. “I really like Vietnamese Tet. It feels like everywhere is filled with a joyful atmosphere. The streets are beautifully decorated and airy, with not as many vehicles as usual. This time I have a day off from school, so I have more time to visit my foster parents and hang out with Vietnamese friends. Everyone chats and eats Vietnamese food together. What I like most is that when people come to visit, they send each other good wishes and lucky money. In Cambodia, Khmer Tet falls in April, people often go to the pagoda and wish money to the elderly. In Vietnam, both children and adults like us also receive lucky money. I hope to have the opportunity to go to many other places to experience the Tet atmosphere in many localities in Vietnam,” the young Cambodian man shared.

Many foreign tourists travel and stay to celebrate Vietnamese Lunar New Year as an interesting experience.

Laotian student Yaovapha is also excitedly counting down the days until the Lunar New Year holiday. For the first time celebrating Vietnamese New Year 2024 with the Lao Student Association in Ho Chi Minh City, Yaovapha was able to fully enjoy a dynamic Ho Chi Minh City by participating in entertainment programs at many popular tourist destinations in the city: Visiting flower streets, taking Tet photos, experiencing city tours... The long break has created conditions for Laotian youth to discover many interesting things in the most vibrant economic center of Vietnam.

“In my opinion, Vietnamese Tet is an interesting traditional beauty. Vietnamese traditional Tet has many differences from Lao Tet. In Ho Chi Minh City, normally, we only feel the hustle and bustle of life, but during Tet, everyone gathers, eats, plays together, and is very emotional. The warmth, peace, meaningful wishes, gifts, and lucky money of Vietnamese people when celebrating Tet really make a big impression on me. I especially like banh chung because it has a similar flavor to cakes in Laos, making me feel like I am in my hometown,” Yaovapha happily said.

More and more Western tourists are "crazy" about Tet

Mr. Didier B. Boissonnet commented that the lively but warm atmosphere, especially the attitude of respecting the traditional New Year through the meticulous decoration of the Vietnamese people, has created curiosity and desire to learn and explore among tourists. “Not only with the Lunar New Year, but also on the occasion of the recent New Year, many places in Vietnam also organized to welcome foreign visitors very loudly. In Nha Trang, for the first time I saw the performance of the world-famous DJ and music producer Alan Walker. Vietnam is doing a very good job of creating something new and youthful to attract tourists,” Mr. Boissonnet added.

As one of the units promoting the "Westerners celebrate Tet" tour for many years, Vietluxtour has recorded many European tourist markets "loving" Vietnamese Tet, especially Poland. Polish tourists love to travel to Vietnam with sightseeing, resorts in famous coastal areas, enjoy cuisine and experience the diversity, uniqueness and difference in the culture of the South - Central - North regions. Customers love Vietnam's sea because it is beautiful and sunny. Vietluxtour usually has peak season for Polish tourists from October to March of the following year.

Vietnam is increasingly attractive to foreign tourists because of its rich culture, landscapes... In photo: foreign tourists visit the Temple of Literature (Hanoi) on the occasion of Lunar New Year 2024

Mr. Tran The Dung, General Director of Vietluxtour, said that as soon as there was new information about the short-term visa exemption policy for tourists from Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, Vietluxtour coordinated with partners to renew products and update new preferential policies for partners and customers. The company is busy preparing all services to welcome a group of nearly 100 Polish tourists to Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate Tet from January 20. The group traveled from Thailand to Cambodia and had the longest tour of Vietnam (8 days). After arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, the Polish tourists will go to My Tho, then to Phan Thiet for a 4-day vacation.

On this journey, passengers will join Vietluxtour's "Westerners celebrate Tet" tour with traditional Vietnamese Tet cultural experiences such as: enjoying Tet dishes such as banh tet, banh chung, braised pork, pickled onions and receiving lucky money. In previous years, Vietluxtour has received very positive feedback from tourists after experiencing Tet in Vietnam, so the company always maintains this activity every year to increase the diversity and uniqueness of its products as well as bring foreign tourists beautiful impressions of Vietnamese culture.

“This Lunar New Year, in addition to the trend of choosing sightseeing products and experiencing Tet in the three regions, we see that tourists also tend to choose relaxation products with high-end services. Besides package tours, many tourists prefer open, on-demand tours (F&E, tour option - NV) designed to serve groups, especially overseas Vietnamese,” said Mr. Tran The Dung.

Sun Group representatives also noted that the trend of foreign tourists celebrating Lunar New Year in Vietnam in the past 2 years has shown signs of increasing. Especially the markets of Korea, China, Taiwan - markets that celebrate Lunar New Year like Vietnam. They choose Da Nang and Phu Quoc for spring travel because there are direct flights, easy to travel, and short flight times. It is forecasted that the number of tourists from these markets to Sun Group's destinations in Da Nang and Phu Quoc will increase compared to last year due to the increase in the number of international flights.

“In Phu Quoc, if last year at this time there were only about 8 international flights arriving and departing each day, now it has increased to 25-28 flights arriving and departing each day. The entertainment activities that tourists love in Phu Quoc are watching fireworks every night, going to the night market by the sea, watching world-class shows like Kiss of the Sea and Symphony of the Sea, or taking the world's longest 3-wire cable car to Hon Thom Island. In Da Nang, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2025, in 7 days from January 27 to February 2, there are expected to be 449 international flights landing at Da Nang airport. Sun World Ba Na Hills tourist area is always a favorite destination, especially with the tulip festival this Tet holiday,” said a representative of Sun Group.

Foreign tourists visit the Tet flower market at September 23 Park (HCMC) in 2024

Rich destinations for tourists to enjoy and experience

Meanwhile, with the forecast that the number of international visitors during Tet this year will grow quite well compared to last year's Giap Thin Tet, destinations are also increasing their human resources and building many programs to bring the most unique experiences, only available during Tet for tourists. Many traditional and folk festivals and unique cultural activities are carefully "arranged" by many localities to welcome visitors.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Hue Flower Street with the theme "Brocade and flower country, happy spring in harmony" from January 27 to February 2 (December 28 to the 5th day of the Lunar New Year) will be a space filled with flowers and unique miniature landscapes. This is a familiar meeting place that attracts millions of visitors every year. In particular, District 8 stands out with its unique "on the wharf, under the boat" flower market. For many years, this place has been an ideal meeting place for unique ornamental flowers and fruits from the West, Central and Northwest regions. This is also a cultural destination with activities such as art performances on boats, the experience of wrapping banh tet and admiring works of art from flowers and fruits.

Going to the Southeast region, Tay Ninh treats tourists from all over the world with the Ba Den Mountain Spring Festival and more than 115,000 blooming tulips. In Phu Quoc, on New Year's Eve there will be 3 fireworks displays, high-class shows in Hoang Hon town, enjoying special craft beer produced in Phu Quoc and watching entertaining shows at Sun Bavaria GastroPub restaurant, experiencing cuisine at Vui Phet coastal night market, taking a 3-wire cable car to Hon Thom. Right before the Lunar New Year, Sun Group launched 2 new products: Phu Quoc Brewhouse craft beer factory in Hoang Hon town and Ciao Beach club in Hon Thom.

Going north, stopping in the Central region, Da Nang - one of the most attractive international tourist destinations during Tet - is also holding a series of events to welcome visitors from all over the world. Impressive is the tulip festival with 36,000 flowers at Sun World Ba Na Hills; the Tet market with regional specialties, participating in wrapping banh chung, banh tet and praying for a peaceful new year at Linh Ung Pagoda. At Danang Downtown, visitors will "party" with the Tet festival program with Vietnamese traditional costumes, experience folk activities such as asking for calligraphy... At Bien Dong Park (Ngu Hanh Son District), the image is being recreated with the theme "The scent of Tet in the past, the color of spring today". There, you can see the image of your grandmother's old house, the bustling countryside market with sellers and buyers, "only 3 days of Tet" activities such as making banh in, making jam, wrapping banh tet, banh chung...

Foreign tourists on a journey to explore Ngu Hanh Son (Da Nang) on ​​the occasion of New Year 2025

100 km from Da Nang, tourists can go to Hue to enjoy the cool weather of Hue. This is the first year Hue has become a centrally-governed city. With the advantage of rich cultural activities and festivals, coming to Hue at this time, tourists can also enjoy and participate in special spring activities in the places they pass through. From the space of the National Academy Square with the city's big spring festival, this year's New Year's Eve, Hue City reserved about 2,500 fireworks to shoot high-altitude fireworks from the central area, spreading to 3 major points: A Luoi mountainous district, Phong Dien town and Phu Loc district. This year, on the first day of Tet, Hue opens free of charge to welcome tourists to visit the relic sites from the Imperial City to the mausoleums and temples.

No less exciting, in the capital Hanoi, relics and tourist attractions managed by the city are also open to welcome visitors throughout Tet, with unique and attractive exhibitions and displays. Suburban areas of Hanoi such as Me Linh have colorful flower festivals; tours to famous flower villages such as Hong Van (Thuong Tin District), Phu Dong (Gia Lam District), Quang Phu Cau incense village (Ung Hoa District), Bat Trang pottery village... are suggestions for those who want to enjoy the Tet atmosphere with traditional flavors and identities.

Impressive destinations for the Year of the Snake are ready to welcome visitors. Lunar New Year is also an opportunity for visitors from afar to learn about the rich cultural treasure of the Vietnamese people.

If the Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese tourist markets choose Vietnam because of direct flights, short flight times and similar New Year customs, then for tourists from European, American or Australian markets, choosing to travel to Vietnam during the traditional New Year season is to explore the rich culture of the Vietnamese people, enjoy a very different spring atmosphere that is not available in their countries. In particular, Tet also coincides with the time when destinations in the Southern region such as Phu Quoc and Tay Ninh are in the most beautiful season of the year, with warm weather, very ideal for tourism.

Representative of Sun Group Corporation

The new visa policy will create conditions for partners to confidently promote sales close to the departure date, very suitable for charter flights, bringing a vibrant Lunar New Year season to the Vietnamese tourism industry. This is also one of the important factors helping businesses stimulate demand in the Polish, Czech, Swiss tourist markets... in the coming time.

Mr. Tran The Dung , General Director of Vietluxtour

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/khach-tay-me-tet-ta-185250118231422285.htm