The Central Highlands province of Dak Nong will develop a newly-discovered volcanic cavern system into a national geographical park, said Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Ngoc Le.

The 25-km-long, 5-km-wide cavern system in basalt stones, the result of a seven-year study conducted by Vietnamese and Japanese researchers, runs along the Serepok river to Dray Sap waterfall in Krong No district.

It has high geographical heritage value, suitable for ecological and discovery tourism.

The discovery of the system and feasibility studies to turn it into a national geographical park have great significance to the socio-economic development of Dak Nong and the Southern Central Highlands, and contributes to preserving natural and cultural heritage values.

Dak Nong, one of the poorest provinces, has already long been considered a potential province of tourism with many waterfalls and beautiful scenery.

With the newly-discovered volcanic cavern system, it’s time for the province, whose economy is largely reliant on forestry and agriculture, to take tourism economy into its account.

In the time to come, the locality will intensify investment in upgrading infrastructure and increasing the quality of tourism products and services.

Besides, the province is working on a file asking for UNESCO’s recognition of the epic of the M’Nong ethnic minority group as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Dak Nong now has eight national historical sites.-VNA