Published:  00:00 Saturday - March 27, 2010

This year’s Ha Long Tourism Festival at the World Heritage site of Ha Long Bay will take Hanoi as its theme to celebrate the 1,000 birthday of the capital city.

According to Nhu Thi Hong Lien, Deputy Chairwoman of the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee, the province called on all economic sectors and domestic and foreign businesses to participate in the festival, which will take place in Ha Long city from April 29-May 2.

A highlight of the festival will be a street carnival during which symbolic images of Hanoi will be paraded alongside thousands of professional and amateur artists from both inside and outside the country.

The festival promises a series of diverse activities, including fireworks, boat races, a conference of the world’s most beautiful bays, an international tourism-trade fair, exhibitions, concerts and a beauty pageant.

The province’s tourism sector, travel agencies and relevant sectors are making preparations for the event with 8,000 hotel rooms and over 400 ships which can welcome 16,000 tourists at one time.

In the first two months of the year, nearly 760,000 visitors, including 328,000 foreigners visited Quang Ninh.