Quang Ninh receives 1.8 million foreign visitors in 9 months

 

 

About 1.8 million foreign tourists visited Quang Ninh in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent, the Department of Culture Sports and Tourism reported.

Quang Ninh greeted nearly 346,000 visitors in September 2012, bringing the figure for the first nine months of the year to more than 5.41 million, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent.

Over the past nine months, the number of foreign tourists reached more than 1.78 million, showing a year-on-year rise of 6 percent.

The industry earned more than VND 3,2 billion in 9 months, up 16 percent compared with the same period last year.

Quang Ninh tourism sector has currently imposed lots of measures to increase the quality of the local business environment, implemented projects to protect Ha Long Bay’s environment and created more tourist products and tourist sites as well.

Especially, the Department of Culture Sports and Tourism has restored lots of billboards with hotline number for tourists in tourist attractions across the province. The hotline is manned by representatives of the Department of Culture Sports and Tourism who will assist solving any problems tourists might encounter online. The province also expects to receive critical comments on tourism services via these hotline numbers to have practical and effective solutions to all problems related to tourism service quality.

Source: QNP

 

Awaking Ninh Thuan tourism

Ninh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Director Pham Quoc Anh talked about the preparation of the second culture, sports and tourism festival of the Cham ethnic group in an interview with Vietnam Economic News' reporter Thanh Tam.
Which outstanding points will the 2012 culture, sports and tourism festival of Cham ethnic minority group create to attract tourists?
The festival will see provinces and cities where Cham people live, such as Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Phu Yen, Dong Nai, An Giang, HCMC, Quang Nam and Tay Ninh.
The festival will take place from October 14-16, 2012 at four locations. There are two outdoor locations, including the Po Klongirai Tower tourist area and the stadium in Huu Duc Village and two traditional villages, including My Nghiep brocade fabric village and Bau Truc pottery village in Phuoc Dan Town, Ninh Phuoc District, Ninh Thuan Province.
Exciting activities will be included in the festival, such as the opening ceremony associated with art and traditional costume performance programs of Cham people; introducing the Cham food culture; workshops on Cham cultural preservation and development; and promoting tourism in cultural heritages of Cham people.
The festival will be held before the Kate traditional ceremony of Cham people, with the participation of provinces and cities where Cham people live, Cham cultural researchers, artists and intellectuals. The festival continues to be the occasion to honor and promote culture, sport and tourism activities of Cham people to the country as well as visitors.
In addition to beautiful landscapes, Ninh Thuan also has unique Cham cultural treasures. Has Ninh Thuan exploited these potential assets for tourism development?
Nature has bestowed a diversity of natural landscapes on Ninh Thuan with famous beaches, such as Ninh Chu, Ca Na, Vinh Hy and Binh Tien and unique natural landscapes, such as Nam Cuong-Mui Dinh tourist area covering on an area of hundreds of hectares of natural sand dunes, Phuoc Binh National Park with 513 species of plants and 170 species of rare animals, Chua Mountain and South Central Sea. In addition, Ninh Thuan also has a community of architecture and rich cultural festivals of Cham people. However, much potential is still in the form of raw resources and have not been developed. Therefore, although the number of tourists to Ninh Thuan increases by the year, this figure only reached 820,000 in 2011.
The number of tourists to Ninh Thuan in 2011 was low. What is the reason of this limitation?
Ninh Thuan tourism has potential but local government has not paid much attention to the development of tourism. Plus poor infrastructure, inconvenient transportation, monotonous tourism products and limited investment capacity, Ninh Thuan tourism needs to be waken up.
What specific plans will Ninh Thuan implement?
According to socioeconomic development strategy of Ninh Thuan until 2020, with a vision to 2030, tourism is ranked second in the four economic pillars and six key economic sectors. This is a huge advantage. Ninh Thuan targets to reach 1.3-1.4 million of visitors until 2015, of which international visitors account for 14-15 percent; and by 2020 receiving 2.5-3 million of visitors, contributing 8 percent of GDP and solve employment for 10 percent of labor. To achieve these targets, tourism needs to be developed comprehensively to exploit advantages, including marine tourism, eco-tourism, and cultural tourism and travel services. Ninh Thuan tourism in the coming years will develop due to three directions. Firstly, it is necessary to construct and upgrade transport infrastructure connected to tourist areas and train professional human resources. Secondly, the construction of highly competitive and attractive tourist services and the mobilization of investment capital to build unique local products will be focused on. Thirdly, the construction of advanced forms of tourism, such as golf courses, hotels and resorts to attract high-income tourists will be developed.
In addition to three fundamental directions for sustainable tourism development, it is necessary to have the consensus of all involved sectors in the province to build brand for Ninh Thuan tourism. When advantages have been exploited, Ninh Thuan tourism will have opportunities to sustainable develop.
 
Source: VEN

It's boom time in Sa Pa's hills

As many as 10,000 visitors are expected to travel to the highlands of Sa Pa on the coming National Day holidays this weekend, said Lao Cai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism director Tran Huu Son.
Situated in a picturesque part of the northern province of Lao Cai, Sa Pa was the site of a French resort during colonial times, and has since become one of the most popular travel destinations in the country, said Son.
He added that visitors to Sa Pa Township were increasing thanks to expanding homestay services; about 40 per cent of visitors had registered tours to Sa Pa's villages, a 20 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2010.
About 100,000 visitors came to the area during the first six months of the year, which is as high as the total number of visitors throughout 2008.
Son said nearly 100 households in Sa Pa were running homestay services which can serve a total of 1,000 guests.
Communes with homestay services include Ban Ho, Cat Cat, Ta Van and Ta Phin.
Nong Van San, who has been running a homestay service for three years, said visitors staying at his home had helped to increase his family's income. The service had actually brought the family more than incomes from other traditional jobs.
Communes in Bat Xat and Bac Ha districts located 20km and 70km from Sa Pa have recently developed homestay services and can serve up to 100 guests at a time.
According to Luc Xuan Thuong, a senior official of Bac Ha's Ta Van Chu Commune, running a homestay service is not difficult, and about 70 households in the commune are running the business.
"Traditional wooden houses which are equipped with mattresses, blankets, pillows and a clean toilette can be used for a homestay," said Thuong.
Lo Thi Mao, a tourguide from the Viettravelmate company, said many foreign tourists were also opting to stay at ethnic people's houses in villages to get an insight into rural life.
 
Source: VietNamNet/VNS