Vietnam news highlights for May 1, 2023

Vietnam football team win the first SEA Games match

The Vietnamese U22 football team on April 30 beat Laos 2-0 in the second match (the team's first match) of Group B at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). The first win guaranteed Vietnam second place in Group B after Thailand. The Vietnamese U22 team will face Singapore in the second match on May 3.

Nearly 51,000 tourists visit Ho Chi Minh City Hall 

The headquarters of the HCM City People's Committee and People's Council. Photo: The Hanoi Times

Some 51,000 people visited the historical building, where the municipal People’s Committee and People’s Council are headquartered, on April 29-30. The building is on a free-entrance mode to welcome visitors during the national holidays, which last from April 29 to May 3. After the holidays end, the city will open the building for free entrance on the weekend to boost the number of travelers to the city.

The building was inaugurated during the French colonial in 1909 and remained the head office of the southern authorities until 1975. After the liberation of the South, the building has been the headquarters of the local authorities.

International travelers to Vietnam soar 20 times

The number of foreign tourists to Vietnam in the first four months jumped 19.2 times year-on-year to more than 3.68 million. Air transport remained the best way to arrive in Vietnam, as 88.7% of foreign visitors chose to fly to the country.

According to Google Flights, the major cities of Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City, and the southern island of Phu Quoc are the only four domestic destinations out of the ten most favorite places the Vietnamese want to come to in the summer.

Quang Ninh opens new coastal road

The northern province of Quang Ninh on April 30 inaugurated a coastal road connecting the two local cities of Ha Long and Cam Pha. The road is expected to improve the provincial transportation network and ease traveling conditions for tourists, increasing the number of visitors and enhancing economic activities in the province.

With an investment of VND2.2 trillion (US$93.7 million), the road is six-lane wide with a designed speed limit of 60 kilometers per hour. 

Annual canoe race held to celebrate Reunification Day

Binh Duong's canoeing racers compete in the sports event on April 30. Photo: The Hanoi Times

The southern province of Binh Duong on April 30 organized a canoeing race to celebrate the 48th anniversary of the national liberation and unification and the 137th anniversary of International Labor Day. Ten local teams partook in two categories of 500-meter sprint and the 3,000-meter marathon on the Sai Gon River that flows through Binh Duong’s city of Thu Dau Mot.

Half-a-ton bomb found on Hanoi’s Duong River

The military and local authorities had successfully moved a 500-kilogram unexploded bomb away from the neighborhoods in Long Bien District, Hanoi. The bomb was found near the bank of Duong River.

In Vietnam, some 40,000 people have died and 60,000 have suffered injuries from unexploded ordnances since 1975.