B: 2019 is wrapping up at VOV with a lot of warm season’s greetings we received from our listeners around the world.
A: Radhakrishna Pillai of India wrote: “My hearty congratulations to Voice of Vietnam for the marvelous and fantastic programs aired throughout 2019. It is a pleasure that your efforts provide a great deal of knowledge about Vietnam and contemporary issues. Thank you so much for the creation and presentation of VOV’s amazing programs. I wish you all very happy, prosperous, colorful and healthy holidays. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.”
B; Hafizur Rahaman of India wished us a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020. He said “Side by side we’ve been there for each other/But also deep within the heart, when we were apart/Such a good and strong friendship/Let it be forever/No matter what the future may hold/Let’s keep our friendship forever/HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
A: Rahaman also sent us several reception reports of our broadcasts on the frequency of 7220 and 7280 khz. Thank you very much for your greetings and reception reports. We hope to continue to receive your feedback on our program and wish you a great year 2020.
B: In a letter to VOV this week, Roger Roussel of Canada sent us a season’s greeting card saying: “Always happy to send you reception reports from Canada. I really enjoy to listen to your very interesting broadcast. Keep up the wonderful job.”
A: Mr. Roussel also reported listening to our broadcast on the frequency of 7315 khz on November 29th and 30th. He wrote his reception report on a paper with a letterhead marking his 40 years of shortwave listening 1979-2019.
B: It’s really great to learn that you have been a Dxer for 40 years, such a long time. We hope that you will keep listening to our broadcast on shortwave and support our internet version at vovworld.vn and our mobile app, VOV media.
A: We’d like to thank other listeners : Abdul Mannan of Bangladesh, Shyamal Kumar Banerjee and Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India, and M Saleem Akhtar Chadhar of Pakistan for sending us Christmas and New Year’s greetings.
B: Many of our listeners this week asked about how Vietnamese people celebrate the New Year.
A: There are a lot of New Year’s celebration activities underway around Vietnam helping us enjoy a happy holiday.
B: But in recent years, many Vietnamese people have been travelling on the New Year instead of staying home to observe traditional rituals.
A. A survey on bookings by Agoda shows many Vietnamese favor celebrating New Year’s Eve in Asian cities. The world's leading accommodation reservation site had crunched booking data for December 31 to identify the 10 most popular destinations to ring in the New Year. Three of them were Asian tourist hotspots Bangkok, Singapore, and Taipei City of Taiwan, China. The remaining seven were all Vietnamese destinations.
B: Ho Chi Minh City is the most popular destination for Vietnamese travelers for New Year’s Eve, thanks to its eye-catching fireworks, Agoda said.
 Notre Dame Cathedral, a renowned tourist spot in Ho Chi Minh city (Photo: zing.vn) |
A: Phuc Yen, an emerging eco-tourism destination in the north, was second on the list. The rest of the top 10 were major tourist destinations in Vietnam, including Hanoi, Da Nang, Phu Quoc Island, Nha Trang, and Vung Tau, a popular beach town in southern Vietnam.
B: Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam has been on the rise. In the past 11 months, Vietnam welcomed nearly 13 million guests from Asia. Of the amount, arrivals from some markets including China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), Malaysia, Thailand, among others, increased steadily.
B: The upward trend is attributable to the burgeoning investment and trade environment with the influx of investors, businessmen and foreign workers.
A: An estimated 18 million foreign visitors came to Vietnam this year, up more than 16 percent from last year. Vietnam aims to attract 20.5 million international visitors and serving 90 million domestic travelers next year. Next year, Vietnam will host a number of major events expected to draw tourists, including the Formula 1 Vietnam Grand Prix and the National Tourism Year.
 A Ferrari F1 racing car on display in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake area. (Photo: VNA) |
B: According to Formula One’s schedule for 2020, the first ever Vietnam Grand Prix will be the third among 22 races of the year, an unprecedented number of yearly races in the event’s history.
A: Vietnam becomes the 34th host nation, with its Grand Prix taking place in the capital Hanoi in early April. Preparations have been in full swing since March this year for a thrilling street race, west of Hanoi, around a 5.5 km track located near the My Dinh National Stadium.
B: The Hanoi race will be followed by China before the second new addition, the returning Dutch Grand Prix, takes place in early May to kick off the European leg of the season.
A: Apart from Vietnam in Southeast Asia, Singapore will host a race in September – the only night-time Grand Prix in the world. The 2020 Grand Prix calendar will begin in Australia in mid March and ended in Abu Dhabi in late November.
B: This week, Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India and other listeners wanted to know more about foreign students in Vietnam.
A: There are nearly 21,000 foreign students studying in Vietnam. Vietnam is a low-cost option, has good English-language levels in many organizations, is perceived as an important business region and is safe and welcoming. A number of study tour programs in Vietnam have been organized by universities in the US, the UK, Singapore and Germany.
B: Favorite destinations for foreign students in Vietnam include FPT University in Hanoi and Ton Duc Thang University, the University of Social Sciences and Humanity of the Ho Chi Minh City National University, RMIT, the Economics University, and the Fine Arts University in Ho Chi Minh city.
A: Thank you all for your reports and feedback. We’ll send you QSL cards to confirm them. Once again, we’d like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2020. We hope to continue to receive your support and feedback on our programs on shortwave, on the internet and on mobile app.
B: We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVworld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you all for listening. Goodbye until next time.