After eight years at cashier at a Texas university, Lieu Nguyen leaves her second home.

For eight years, cashier Lieu Nguyen was a “second mother” to thousands of students at Texas Christian University. But she has decided to retire, letting her 5,000 Facebook followers know it’s time for a new phase in her life.

Read the story by Olivia Caridi from TCU360.

Photo from Lieu Nguyen facebook page.

From WIRE REPORT

 
Vietnam’s badminton pride, Nguyen Tien Minh, jumped two places to fifth in the most recent Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.

The bronze medal he won at the BWF World Championships in Guangzhou, China, early this month helped him take the leap. He is the only Vietnamese player in the top 100, and the fifth spot in the world will give him some advantages at international competitions.

He now plays for the Pune Pistons of the Indian Badminton League (IBL). He told local media that he was feeling “pretty tired” after the BWF World Championships, partially due to his travel schedule.

From WIRE REPORTS

The Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics has successfully created a special academic environment where scientists and university lecturers conceive new ideas and train rising talent, according to its executive director.

 Professor Le Tuan Hoa made the claim at a ceremony held to review its two-year performance.

Also addressing the event, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan assured that, along with the National Key Program on Math Development, the organization is contributing towards a better future for math students in Vietnam.

He said his ministry would prioritize the development of five science-technology fields, including math research.

Over the past two years, the math group has attracted 137 researchers, including 40 foreign and overseas Vietnamese mathematicians. It also has published 21 research papers in prestigious foreign math magazines and held 17 short-term training courses.

The institute organized eight conferences and workshops, notably the France-Vietnam math conference in the central city of Hue and the eighth National Mathematical Congress in the southern city of Nha Trang, with some 700 delegates taking part.

In addition, a number of scholarships have been awarded to students excelling in math and science.

Kenney Tran, the manager of a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market store manager in Downtown Los Angeles, has a tough job as it is. And while some welcome Wal-Mart’s entry into the increasingly crowded local market scene, Tran and his staff of 65 must brace for criticism from some who don’t want the store in Chinatown.

Read the story by Richard Guzman from L.A. Downtown News.

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market store manager Kenney Tran prepares for the opening of the Downtown store. It could come as soon as this week. Photo by Gary Leonard

From WIRE REPORTS

Vietnam received more than 677,000 foreign arrivals in the early days of August, up 22 percent from against the same month last year, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Photo from Travelblog.

The August figure raised the total number of foreign visitors since early this year to nearly 4.9 million, up 7.9 percent compared to last year’s same period. Most of the visitors came from Russia (up 63.1 percent), China (33.1 percent), Indonesia (25.6 percent), Thailand (24.2 percent) and New Zealand (21.9 percent).

The tourism sector has achieved nearly 68 percent of the set target of 7.2 million for the whole year.

Meanwhile, the total number of domestic tourists also increased by 11.7 percent to 29.3 million, accounting for 83.7 percent of the set target. Total revenues from the tourism sector are predicted to reach about $65 billion this year, up 22.5 percent over last year.

Tourists flock to Phu Quoc prison

The historical relic site of Phu Quoc prison has so far this year welcomed more than 75,000 visitors, including 3,400 international arrivals.

Phu Quoc prison is one of the most popular destinations for visitors when they set foot on Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang.

During the wars of resistance against French colonialists and U.S. imperialists, many Vietnamese revolutionaries were detained and tortured in the prison, some 4,000 of whom lost their lives there.

The prison has since been named as a heritage site, and its 12 sections have been restored. Many now preserve historical evidence of the atrocities that took place in the prison.

The restoration and decision to open the site to visitors benefits historical research and ensures that the prisoners will never be forgotten.

Can lower prices help promote Danang tourism?

Danang, despite recent successes, is still pondering the best strategies for enticing tourists in greater numbers to visit the city and its surrounds.

Boosting low-season arrivals is particularly important to maintaining the city’s  tourism industry growth. Many local travel operators offer heavy discounts, but do the cheaper prices also result in a lower quality of services?

Danang, which aims to host major domestic and international events, received a record 2.6 million visitors in 2012, earning $282.000.

Major events such as the annual international fireworks competition and maritime tourism festival ensures the city is packed during peak periods but does not help balance seasonal variations.

The storm season, lasting from September to December, is especially difficult for the city’s tourism industry.

Vuong Van Dung, Hoang Tra Tourism Company Ltd.’s deputy business director, says his company follows the industry-wide low season discount trend by offering 20 percent off ticket prices for the Danang — City of Bridges tour.

He said he believes promotion programs should have begun much earlier in the year to facilitate more effective tie-ins and links with other service providers.

Danang’s tourism industry could be overheating. The city’s hotel room numbers exploded from 6,000 in 2010 to 10,000 last year, and 2013 is expected to add 1,800 more. The boom is concentrated at modest budget levels, and Danang still lacks accommodations rated at three stars or above.

The room supply surplus also contributes to dramatic low season discounting, and Danang Tourism Association Secretary General Trinh Bang Co warns promotions and sales are only stopgap measures.

Stimulating demand over the longer term requires developing unique tourism products and services capable of earning prestige. Such a strategy also is more likely to encourage return visits.

His association is jointly running a program that monitors prices and tour operator standards in the city.

Tran Chi Cuong, deputy head of the Municipal Department of Tourism, Sports and Culture, says his department is carefully scrutinizing industry discounting to ensure the reputation of the city’s tourism brand is not tarnished by low-season desperation.

The information it collects will be publicly available to both local residents and visitors, empowering them to take action if any businesses fail to honor their discount guarantees.

VN tourism not ‘well known’ enough

Experts and enterprises at a recent conference agreed that Viet Nam’s existing tourism trademark was still not well known.

According to participants at the Thursday function to define the trademark, tourism enterprises and localities have not paid enough attention to promoting the trademark, despite rapid development of the industry in the past five years.

They said more money should be invested in local and foreign advertising, including the use of TV clips.

It was agreed that developing a better tourism trademark should be based on the existing trademark itself, the regions and tourist enterprises. The present trademark is said to be too weak to lure tourists.

“The problem lies in policy,” said Pham Trung Luong, deputy director of the Tourism Development Research Institute. “Enterprises are allowed to use only 5 percent of their incomes on advertising.”

Nguyen Van Tuan, director general of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said Vietnam was developing three main streams of tourism products – the sea, culture and ecology.

The tourism products of these three streams will be the key to developing a stronger trademark.

Sai Gon welcomes 2.4 million foreign guests

Saigon has handled more than 2.4 million international visitors in the first eight months, the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported.

The figure went up 1.4 percent against the same period last year and representing 60 percent of the yearly target. In August alone, around 290,000 foreigners arrived in the city of whom 224,385 traveled by air.

The number of both domestic and foreign visitors increased sharply in August, thanks to declining tour prices as the local authorities deployed a string of tourism promotion programs and aviation airlines, transporters, hotels and restaurants offered price discounts.

The local tourism industry was estimated to earn $2.6 million in the first eight months, or a year-on-year increase of 15 percent and representing 68 percent of the whole-year target.

Vietnam War veterans and their families who visited the traveling replica of the Vietnam Wall this past week in Whitefish, Mont., were overcome by emotions as they studied the 58,000-plus names on it.

Read the story by Tara Oster from KPAX.

Vietnam wall replica leaves emotional wake in Whitefish. Photo from KPAX.