Quang Ninh aims to welcome 15 million visitors this year, including 2 million foreign arrivals. (Photo: VNA)
Quang Ninh – The northern
province of Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO-recognised Ha Long Bay, welcomed about
1.7 million visitors and earned some 3 trillion VND (126.56 million USD) from tourism services in February.
In the first two months of this year, the figures
stood at 3.35 million tourists, doubling that in the same period last year, and
more than 6.5 trillion VND, respectively.
Apart from spiritual tourism, which often sees a
boom every spring, cruise services showed a strong recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The province has sketched out a project on
sustainable tourism development by 2025 with a vision towards 2030, which sets
the target of serving about 15.5 million holidaymakers every year from now till
2025, of whom at least 5 million are foreigners.
By 2030, the number of tourists to Quang Ninh is projected
to reach at least 25.4 million, including 8.6 million foreigners. The sector is
expected to contribute 11% to the locality’s gross regional domestic product
(GRDP).
Quang Ninh aims to welcome 15 million visitors this
year, including 2 million foreign arrivals, and rake in 32.4 trillion VND from
the industry.
To that end, it will organise nearly 200 cultural
and tourism events, notably the Carnival Ha Long, a trade fair and the Tran
Quoc Nghien Temple festival slated for April.
US magazine Travel Leisure has recently named Ha
Long Bay among the four idyllic seaside places across Asia to watch sunrise and
sunset.
According to the magazine, UNESCO World Heritage
site Ha Long Bay, with more than 2,000 limestone islands, is a tourism mecca in
Asia.
It recommends that the best way to avoid the bustle
is to dodge the day trips and do a two-night cruise. This will allow visitors
to take in clusters of islands too far for day-trippers or overnighters to get
to, and allow them to surrender to the rhythms of the sea and the sun.
“Once afloat you can watch both sunrise and sunset
from the deck—its ascent over the Gulf of Tonkin and denouement behind the slew
of islands, bays and iconic limestone outcrops. Then wait a while longer…
because it’s the blue hour, that twilight time between dusk and darkness, when
the locals believe Ha Long Bay is at its most beautiful,” the magazine said.
Other three places Travel Leisure recommends for
sunset and sunrise watching in Asia are Romblon Island in Philippines, Kuakata
Beach in Bangladesh, and Kenting National Park in Taiwan (China)./.
