Almost 1,400 foreign vacationers who chose to visit Vietnam’s key tourist destinations on New Year’s Day were heartily welcomed by local authorities.

In Ho Chi Minh City, more than 1,000 tourists were greeted with a warm welcome ceremony hosted by the municipal Department of Tourism and tourism association at Tan Son Nhat International Airport upon their arrival.

The first international tourists of the southern metropolis in 2015 departed from the UK, France, Germany, Taiwan and Hong Kong, according to the ceremony organizers.

They will tour Ho Chi Minh City and take package trips across the country.

Many British holidaymakers who arrived on Vietnam Airlines flight VN50 said they were surprised by the rapturous welcome by the host country.

“These tourists are the very first out of the 4.7 million international arrivals Ho Chi Minh City is projected to receive this year,” said Van Thi Bach Tuyet, director of the city’s tourism department.

Tuyet said the municipal tourism industry will diversify its products and introduce more attractions to impress worldwide tourists.

“We will boost sea travel and organize culture-tourism events such as the ao dai [Vietnam’s traditional dress] festival, or southern cuisine and fruit fests,” Tuyet elaborated.

“These events will promote the image of Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular.”

Elsewhere, in the central province of Quang Nam, a group of 68 Polish holidaymakers were the first to tour the province’s UNESCO-recognized Hoi An Old Town on New Year’s Day.

The provincial tourism department also hosted a ceremony to welcome the visitors, who excitedly watched and cheered the music-dance performance on stage.

The Polish holidaymakers also took part in bai choi, a folk game that is considered a gem of the Hoi An Old Town.

Under consideration for UNESCO recognition as an intangible world heritage, bai choi encompasses folk card playing and impromptu, sharp responses by the hosts. Players sit in nine to 11 small sheds, where they listen attentively to the host shouting out the name of the card he/she has drawn.

To boost suspense and engagement from the players, the host recites a line of a poem or folk song which contains the card’s name.

The winners were happy to receive signature Hoi An lanterns as gifts.

In the central city of Hue, which is the capital of Thua Thien-Hue Province, a group of international tourists were also welcomed by local authorities at Phu Bai International Airport. The holidaymakers were presented with flowers, souvenirs and wishes for the New Year.

Most of the tourists did not leave the airport immediately but stayed to watch a lion dance performance and took photos with local students in their traditional violet ao dai.

Dutchman Jhond Robert said he was totally attracted at first sight as the girls wearing ao dai handed over flowers and gifts to the tourists with sunny smiles in a festive atmosphere.

Dament Pran, a French tourist, meanwhile said the presents given by Hue were his very first New Year gifts for 2015.

Other tourist attractions across Vietnam also reported positive results on New Year’s Day, with a number of international visitors choosing to take a holiday in the Southeast Asian country.

Nearly 1,000 tourists visited Phong Nha and Tien Son caves, part of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the central province of Quang Binh. A third of these holidaymakers were from many countries, according to the site managers.

The resort city of Nha Trang in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa, meanwhile, received fewer tourists than last year, especially those from its main market of Russia, due to the ruble crisis, according to local tourism officials.

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