Hanoi (VNA) – TheMinistry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has selected the top 10 culture, sportsand tourism events in 2016, based on the vote of 125 journalists representingmedia agencies across the country.

The list of events is as follows:

* Outstanding culture events

- The practice related to the Vietnamesebelief in worshiping Mother Goddesses of the Three Realms was recognised as theintangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

- “The royal literature on Hue royalarchitecture” and “Woodblocks of the Phuc Giang School” in the central provinceof Ha Tinh were recognised as the documentary heritage by the Memory of theWorld Committee for Asia and the Pacific.

- The Hanoi Opera House hosted top-notchtheatre shows. Various art performances were presented at the Hanoi Opera Houseafter the decision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organiseregular drama, chamber and traditional opera shows.

* Outstanding tourism events

- Vietnam’s tourism sector welcomed a recordnumber of 10 million foreign tourists within a year for the first time, andregistered 400 trillion VND in revenue, four years ahead of the schedule set inthe national tourism strategy to 2020, with a vision to 2030.

- The Politburo approved a Resolution onturning tourism into the country's spearhead economic sector.

- Up to 36 hotels from three to five stars inVietnam were withdrawn their star-level certificates in a campaign to change“Vietnam tourism image”.

* Outstanding sports events

- Shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh won the first-everOlympics gold medal for Vietnam after claiming the men’s 10m air pistol title,and a silver medal in the men's 50m air pistol at the Rio Olympics 2016 inBrazil.

- At the Paralympics 2016 in Brazil,weightlifter Le Van Cong won the first-ever Paralympics gold medal for Vietnam,breaking the world record in the men's 49kg category after lifting 183kg.

- Vietnam U19 secured a ticket for the finalround of the FIFA U20 World Cup.

- Nguyen Thi Anh Vien successfully won a goldmedal for the first time at the 10th Asian Swimming Championships 2016 inTokyo, Japan.-VNA