Tourist ships on Ha Long Bay (Source: VNA) Quang Ninh (VNA) – The northern coastal province of Quang Ninhwelcomed 86,000 tourists, including 19,000 foreigners, during the three-dayNational Day holidays from September 1-3.
The figures represented year-on-years rises of 20 percentand 25 percent, respectively, according to the provincial Tourism Department.
The department attributed the increases to the inaugurationof Bach Dang bridge and Ha Long-Quang Ninh Highway, which has helped reducetravel time from Hanoi, Hai Phong city and Thai Binh and Nam Dinh provinces toQuang Ninh.
It also reported that the local tourism sector earned around170 billion VND (7.28 million USD) during this occasion. The number of touristsstaying overnight reached 40,000, and the rate of occupancy at local three- tofive-star hotels surpassed 80 percent.
Also during the three-day period, 1,400 ships took more than30,000 tourists, including 12,000 foreigners, on sight-seeing tours on Ha LongBay – a UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site in the province.
To lure visitors, hotels and entertainment complexes in thelocality launched numerous attractive promotion programmes.
New destinations in Quang Ninh also attracted tourists, suchas Van Don, Quan Lan, Minh Chau and Co To islands.
With a range of stunning landscapes, clear turquoise sea andspectacular limestone pillars together with numerous tourism investmentprojects, Quang Ninh boasts huge potential to develop tourism.
The province has a coastline of more than 250 kilometres andover 2,000 islands, two-thirds of the total number in Vietnam. The spectacularstretch of coast connects the UNESCO-recognised World Heritage Site of Ha LongBay with majestic natural scenery, Bai Tu Long Bay, Van Don and Co To islandsand Tra Co beach with Cat Ba National Park in the northern port city of HaiPhong.
Along with the renowned Ha Long Bay, Quan Lan, Minh Chau,Ngoc Vung, Dai beaches in Van Don island district and Tra Co and Vinh Thuc inMong Cai city have grown in stature among domestic and international touriststhanks to their breathtaking sea and coral reef.
Together with the Bach Dang bridge and Ha Long-Quang Ninh Highway,Van Don International Airport, which will begin serving commercial flights inlate 2018, is also expected to help attract more foreign holidaymakers to theprovince.
The airport is set to cater for nine air routes and becapable of serving some 7,000 passengers per day. It is hoped to have annualcapacity of 2 – 2.5 million passengers by 2020 and 5 million by 2030.
By 2020, Quang Ninh aims to welcome 15-16 million tourists,including 7 million foreigners, and rake in 30 trillion VND - 40 trillion VND(1.3 billion USD - 1.7 billion USD) in revenue. The tourism sector is expectedto contribute 14-15 percent to the gross regional domestic product (GRDP).
Last year, Quang Ninh received 9.87 million tourists,including 4.28 million foreigners, up 18 percent and 23 percent respectively.The tourism sector pocketed over 17.88 trillion VND (786.9 million USD), up 30percent compared to the previous year, and contributed 3.2 trillion VND (140.8million USD) to the State budget, accounting for 11.9 percent of the localbudget collection.
It welcomed 9.2 million tourists during the first eightmonths of this year, up 25 percent year-on-year and completing 77 percent ofits target for the whole year.
The provincial Department of Tourism reported that the number of internationalholidaymakers to the locality exceeded 3.2 million, a rise of 18 percentagainst the same period last year, and fulfilling 65 percent of the yearlytarget.
During the period, the local tourism sector completed 73 percent of the yearlytarget, earning more than 16 trillion VND (685 million USD), up 29 percentyear-on-year.
This year, the province aims to attract over 12 millionvisitors this year, including 5 million foreigners.-VNA
VNA
