Festival could bring 50,000 to ancient vietnames city HANOI - Fifty thousand visitors are expected to descend on Vietnam's Hoi An during its week-long Journey from the Past cultural festival, and many hotels and guesthouses say they are already fully booked. More than 2,000 local people are participating in the festival to highlight the daily activities of people in the ancient city during the 17th century. Streets have been closed to vehicles for the event, which kicked off on Tuesday, to allow pedestrians to relax as they walk around the town. At night, visitors get a vision of the past as thousands of lanterns illuminate ancient buildings and monuments. Activities during the festival include cultural exhibitions and shows such as Coastal Villages' Cultural and Sports Festival, Traditional Tet Festival, Ancient Town's Mid-Autumn Festival and Ancient Town at Night. Journey to the Past, which continues until April 1, was chosen as one of the 15 traditional festivals across the country to support the national tourism promotion Vienam - a Destination for the New Millennium. One of the important aims of festival organisers is to preserve the city's ancient culture. "Hoi An's tourism can be developed by preserving values from the past," chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Nguyen Su, told Viet Nam News Agency. Good management and preservation of cultural monuments was one of the main factors that qualified the town for UNESCO recognition as a World Heritage Site last year. The title is attracting large numbers of tourists to the town. In the first ten weeks of the year alone, 44,000 tourists visited Hoi An for a year-on-year increase of 15 per cent. Vietnam news Agency, March 31, 2000.