Net proceeds from this event will be donated to the National Fund for Vietnamese Children.

Tickets are on sales at Royal Thai Embassy, at 04 823 5092/3 ext 140 and at the Melia Hotel, at 04 936 5226/7 as well as at the club.

Football fans book Thai tours

Many Vietnamese are travelling to Thailand to cheer for the football squad during the upcoming 24th SEA Games. Saigontourist has booked tours to Bangkok and to Nakhon Ratchasima where the games will be held. Tourists will also visit the ancient capital of Ayuthaya and the floating market of Damnoen Saduak.

Vietravel reports that around 50 visitors in HCM City have already booked SEA Games tours, with the firm planning to bring a total of 800 tourists to Thailand. The Thai Tourism Administration has helped local tourism companies survey Nakhon Ratchasima and provide reasonably priced tickets for the football matches. The tours are priced from US$350 to $395 per person for five days, including tickets to two matches. Transviet offers a three-day, one-match ticket tour for $299 per person.

New cable car planned for Ba Na

Plans are in the works for a 4.8km cable car system with a capacity of 1,000-1,500 visitors per hour at Ba Na Mountain. It would carry visitors from the foot to the top of the mountain in Da Nang. The system will be put into operation in 2008.

The investor, Ba Na Telpher Joint-Stock Company, will also kick off construction of a multi-functional entertainment and tourism complex consisting of a resort, villas and other facilities at the foot of the mountain. The ecotourism resort is expected to be completed by 2009. More than US$200 million will be needed to complete the project, which should help turn Ba Na into a national tourism centre.

Another 769m telpher system built five years ago is currently carrying visitors from the Vong Nguyet Hill (1,320m high) to the top of Ba Na Mountain.

Cruise ships to call on Quang Ninh

The cruise ships Princess Ocean and Morning Shine were scheduled to take some 700 Chinese tourists to Ha Long between September and December. Quang Ninh Tourism Department said these were part of the Beihei-Ha Long sea tour, the most popular tourist sea routes in the province. The other sea tours linking Quang Ninh with Chinese provinces include the Ha Long-Hainan route that has been temporarily suspended and the Hong Kong-Hainan-Ha Long route.

Quang Ninh and the Beihei tourism authority from Guangxi Province said they were also promoting a new programme to link attractions in Quang Ninh with those in HCM City to offer Chinese tourists a wider choice.

City mulls pedestrian-only streets

HCM City authorities are considering banning motorcycles on several streets in District 1. The streets proposed include Dong Khoi, Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chau Trinh, Nguyen An Ninh and Luu Van Lang. The streets would be divided into lanes. To avoid traffic congestion, motorcycle prohibition will be enacted on weekends. In preparation for a pedestrian quarter downtown, another scheme will be introduced to forbid automobile use on the same streets.