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Together with Da Nang and Phan Thiet, Nha Trang is considered an attractive destination that foreign tourists cannot ignore, especially for visitors from Russia.
With a long and clean coastline as well as lots of famous places such as Hon Mun Marine Protected Area, Hon Mot Island, Hon Tam Island, the Cham Po Nagar Towers, Institute of Oceanography, Hon Nhi Island, Hoa Lan Stream Tourist Site, Yangbay Waterfall, and Vinpearl Land, the city of Nha Trang and Khanh Hoa Province in general have increasingly brought into play its advantages to promote tourism development. The image of Nha Trang has become increasingly familiar to foreign tourists, especially Russian tourists.
In late October 2011, Russia's OrenAir Airlines began to offer direct flights between the city of Krasnoyarsk to Cam Ranh International Airport in Khanh Hoa, serving tourists from the Far East Region of Russia who toured the Vietnamese cities of Nha Trang and Phan Thiet during their winter vacation. Currently, OrenAir Airlines offers one round-trip flight to Cam Ranh International Airport everyday and in the future, it will expand this service to serve tourists from nine cities in the Far East Region of Russia such as Khabarovsk, Vladivostoks, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo. Pegas Turistik, a Russian travel company, currently arranges nine flights from the Far East Region of Russia to the Cam Ranh International Airport every week, 70 percent of whom stay in Nha Trang.
Truong Dang Tuyen, the director of the Khanh Hoa Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, said that in the first six months of 2012, the province received more than 1.12 million tourists, up 8.14 percent compared with the same period last year, including 266,000 foreign tourists, up 36 percent, with their stay in the locality totaling about 2.6 million days, up 18.67 percent. Total revenue from tourism reached an estimated VND1.24 trillion, up 15.6 percent. This year, Khanh Hoa expects to welcome about 2.35 million tourists, including 500,000 foreign tourists; and revenue of the provincial tourism sector is projected to reach VND2.5 trillion. Satisfactory results of the first six months have made Khanh Hoa's tourism sector confident of its ability to realize the targets set for the whole year. In the first half of 2012, the number of foreign tourists to the province increased and most of them were Russian tourists with a long stay. In the first six months of 2012, Khanh Hoa received about 35,000 Russian tourists, and in June alone, more than 2,500 Russian tourists came to Nha Trang. The Kemerovo Airport of Russia has launched a new flight route to Cam Ranh. Last year, Khanh Hoa was visited by more than 60,000 Russian tourists.
Russian tourist Sergei Udovichenko said that Vietnam remained an attractive destination for Russian tourists. The cost of tours to Vietnam and prices while in the country remain reasonable and security in Vietnam is ensured; Vietnam has lots of beautiful tourist sites; Russian tourists enjoy the sea in Nha Trang and highly appreciate the hotels and restaurants for their quality services. Exhibitions and tourism promotion activities in Russia have made Vietnam and Nha Trang known to a growing number of Russian tourists. Most Russian tourists like swimming in sea, sunbathing and enjoying seafood.
Survey results show that Russian tourists account for a considerable percentage of tourists staying in Nha Trang's hotels such as Michelia, Sunrise and Yasaka Saigon. At Yasaka Saigon for example, Russian tourists account for 40 percent. Natasha, a Russian person who works in the field of tourism, said that Russian tourists like the weather and the sea in Nha Trang as well as tourist sites in the city such as Nha Phu Lagoon, Hon Mun Island, Hon Nhi Island and the Cham Po Nagar Towers. Russian tourists highly appreciate security and service quality in Nha Trang and they are willing to introduce it to their friends and relatives. Russian tourists are generous and this is a favorable condition for Nha Trang to increase revenue from tourism.
Many tourist sites as well as hotels and restaurants in Nha Trang provide tourists with information in Russian about things such as tour-guides, services and menu. The demand of the Vietnamese tourism sector in general and that of Khanh Hoa Province for tour-guides who can speak Russian is increasing as Russia emerges as one of the top ten markets in terms of the number of tourists to Vietnam.
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