Staring from 5.30 am on April 20, thousands of people gathered at the historic Dinh Tien Hoang Kinh royal temple at the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital Cultural and Historical Site, to join in a special palanquin procession. The procession is an important ritual and dates back more than a thousand years. The annual gathering aims to commemorate and honour the merit of national hero Dinh Bo Linh (924-979), who defeated 12 warlords to unite the country, afterwards declaring himself Emperor Dinh Tien Hoang and naming the country Dai Co Viet (Great Viet) - the first centralised feudal state in what is today Vietnam. The activities aim to strengthen tourism development cooperation between cities and provinces around the country possessing World Heritage Sites, attract tourism investment, and raise the profile and image of the country and the Vietnamese people. Hundreds of activities will be held during the tourism year, such as the Bai Dinh Pagoda Festival, the Trang An Festival, the Hoa Lu Festival, the Kinh Thien (Revering Heaven) Palace Festival, the Miss ASEAN pageant, the Tam Coc - Trang An tourism week, a week of Cuc Phuong National Park, the National Marathon, exchanges between World Heritage Sites, a conference on Hat Xam (Xam singing), and a trade and tourism fair, among others. The year will be an opportunity for Ninh Binh’s tourism sector to draw local and foreign visitors and promote its tourism development, contributing to the province’s socio-cultural development./.