For centuries, Thuy Xuan Village residents in ancient town Hue have gotten busy when the Lunar New Year draws close as demand for incense sticks soars. 

The Thuy Xuan incense village is located about seven kilometers southwest from Hue in central Vietnam. These days the village's traditional vocation has become a tourist attraction, especially during Tet, or Lunar New Year festival, season. Visitors can admire and take pictures of the colorful array of incense sticks displayed and watch how these are made.

While villagers have been earning a living by making incense sticks for the better part of a millennia, it only became a tourist draw a decade or so ago.

The village's proximity to Vong Canh Hill and the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc of the Nguyen Dynasty, Vietnam's last imperial family (1802-1945), has facilitated its growing attraction.

Mostly handmade, the incense sticks are offered by millions of people to ancestors at home and to various deities in temples and pagodas across the country, especially the Buddha.

Visitors to the village these days can also try their hand at making incense sticks, an experience particularly appealing to foreigners.

Some manually operated machines are used in making the incense sticks.

The process of making incense starts with making a dough, with ingredients including schisandra, cinnamon, cardamom, clove and star anise.

The dough is later attached to bamboo sticks which are exposed to sunlight for days.

Half the length of the incense sticks are dipped into a dyed solution.

The sticks are spread out to dry under the sun.

Recognizing their tourism potential, villagers these days arrange the incense sticks in an exhibition area in the manner of bouquets.

The Thuy Xuan incense village charges no admission fee and tourists can take pictures for free, too. Villagers benefit from the publicity, and many visitors buy some of their products before leaving.