Quang Ninh plans 88 tourism promotion activities in 2021

Quang Ninh (VNA) – The northern province of Quang Ninh, home to the world heritage Ha Long Bay, plans to organise 88 events and programmes to promote local tourism, including 35 at provincial level and 53 at district and communal levels.

In the first phase until May, the locality will organise 31 events and programmes, 15 at provincial and 16 at local level, with a highlight being the Ha Long Culture-Tourism Week 2021.

In the second phase from June to the end of the year, the province will hold 57 events and programme, with highlights being the National Sea Kite Festival 2021, the Yen Tu – returning to Buddhism land in autumn 2021, and a Carnival programme in winter 2021.
Alongside, the province will conduct a number of activities to introduce its tourism products and destinations, while holding tourism promotion activities in other localities including Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang and Quang Binh.

The province will focus on promoting spiritual, culinary, seas and island and cultural tourism as well as entertainment and resorts areas, along with offering discounts from 30-50 percent to visitors.

Director of the Quang Ninh Tourism Department Pham Ngoc Thuy said that this year, Quang Ninh tourism sector will continue to focus on luring domestic visitors, foster connectivity with other localities, call on the engagement of local travel firms to create unique and attractive products, and support local tourism firms.

Quang Ninh expects 10 million visitors in 2021, becoming the leading choice for Vietnamese and foreign tourists.

On April 2, the Halong Street Travel Fest No.2 opened in Ha Long city as part of the tourism promotion activities of Quang Ninh.

Themed “Heritage Spring Festival,” the event will last three days, introducing cuisine, art and folk games of different regions in the locality.

On April 3 night, a music festival will be held with the participation of rapper JustaTee, singers Phuong Ly and Duong Tran Nghia, and Cannes dancing team.

On Vietnam’s northern coast, Quang Ninh is building a community-based tourism development project that aims to welcome 1.7 million domestic tourists and 1.1 million international holidaymakers by 2025, with the local tourism sector earning 5.9 trillion VND (254.5 million USD) in revenue.

By 2030 it is to welcome 3 million domestic visitors and 1.8 million foreigners, with revenue reaching 12.1 trillion VND.

Community-based tourism is expected to generate 4,200 jobs by 2025 and 9,500 by 2030.

Quang Ninh is endowed with natural advantages for sea and island tourism. It has a coastline of more than 250 kilometres and more than 2,000 islands and islets which account for two-thirds of the total number in Vietnam.

It is home to popular destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Bai Tu Long, Ha Long Bay National Park and some islands.

In particular, Ha Long Bay literally “descending dragon” bay, was twice recognised as a World Natural Heritage site by UNESCO 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.

In 2018, Ha Long Bay made it into the top 15 Instagrammed global cruise destinations based on a survey of 1.8 million posts tagged on various ships and ports by travel cruise site SeaHub.

In 2019, British travel magazine Rough Guides included Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay in its selection of the 100 most beautiful places to visit next year. It describes “the scattering of limestone pinnacles jutting out of the smooth waters of Ha Long Bay”, around four hours east of Hanoi capital, as an “incredible sight”.

Most recently in 2020, Ha Long Bay was named amongst the 50 most beautiful natural wonders on Earth selected by US-based magazine Insider./.