Ha Long Bay gets new helicopter tour

Ha Long Bay (Source: VNA)

Quang Ninh (VNA) - The Northern Vietnam Helicopter Company under the Vietnam Helicopter Corporation has launched its Ha Long Bay scenic tour service - Halong Heli Tours in northeastern Quang Ninh province.

Customers can book the country’s first helicopter ride-hailing service through the FastGo app.

The service uses a Bell 5050 helicopter which is a new model from US Bell manufacturer. Its cabin is covered by glass to ensure wide vision for visitors. All of the Ha Long Bay scenic tour has insurance for customers.

Two helicopters will always be at Tuan Chau heliport to serve customers at any time without earlier announcement. Customers could have three options for their trip including 12, 25 or 40 minutes with different journeys to meet their demands. The service packages includes sightseeing tours, charter flights, A-B transfer tours, aerial survey tours, event tours, wedding photography and filming tours.

At the launching ceremony, the Northern Vietnam Helicopter Company signed a cooperation agreement with the FastGo Vietnam Joint Stock Company.

Under the agreement, the co-branding project will provide customers with a helicopter ride-hailing service through an app named FastSky.

Ha Long Bay literally “descending dragon bay” is a must-see destination in Quang Ninh. It was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and 2000.

The bay spans 1,553 square kilometres and includes 1,969 islands of various sizes. It features thousands of limestone karsts and islets in various shapes and sizes. The limestone in the bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The geo-diversity of the environment has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea biosystem. Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.

In April 2019, US-based newspaper Business Insider made a list of 35 most beautiful natural wonders around the world, in which Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay claimed a place.

According to the news website, the beauty of Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh makes it one of Vietnam’s top tourist sites. It also recommends that tourists see the UNESCO-recognised site’s awe-inspiring limestone towers by boat.

Previously, Ha Long Bay was ranked 14th in Business Insider’s list of the 100 most beautiful UNESCO World Heritages in 2018.

Endowed with natural advantages for sea and island tourism, the northeastern province of Quang Ninh is working to promote its tourism brand abroad and become an international tourism hub by 2030.

The province has a coastline of more than 250 kilometres and some 2,000 islets, two-thirds of the total in Vietnam.

The spectacular stretch of coast connects the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay with majestic natural scenery, Bai Tu Long Bay, Van Don and Co To islands and Tra Co beach with Cat Ba National Park in the northern port city of Hai Phong.

As an important centre of the northern key economic region with its unique and rich geographical, environmental and resource features, the province boasts natural strengths for sustainable socio-economic development. 

A project to promote green growth in Ha Long Bay has been implementing in Quang Ninh from November 2015 to December 2019, under the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). 

Under the Quang Ninh’s socio-economic development plan for 2020, with a vision to 2030, the province is determined to promote Ha Long city as a smart city, especially in the areas of healthcare, education, e-government, transportation, finance-banking, and taxation, among others.

In 2018, the province hosted the National Tourism Year under the theme “Ha Long – Heritage, Wonder, Friendly Destination”. It welcomed a record of over 12 million tourists, up 24 percent year-on-year.