QuangNinh (VNA) - The Prime Minister has approved a master plan for HaLong city of the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh to 2040 with a visiontowards 2050, aiming to develop the city into a world-class tourism and servicehub.

Themaster plan targets to raise status for Ha Long city in particular and QuangNinh province in general in the region and the world by developing the localityin a sustainable manner, meeting green growth and climate change adaptationrelated-requirements.

Underthe master plan, Ha Long will be converted into a civilised and friendly seatourism city with synchronous and modern socio-economic infrastructure systems,where the World Natural Heritage Site Ha Long Bay is preserved.

The city, which has an administrative boundary of 27,753 hectares, is expectedto become a national service-tourism urban area and a driving force forregional growth.

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

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

Endowedwith natural advantages for sea and island tourism, the northeastern provinceof Quang Ninh is working to promote its tourism brand abroad and become aninternational tourism hub by 2030.

Underthe Overall Plan for Tourism Development, the province prioritises developingtwo projects, namely Van Don International Airport and a resort complex with acasino.

Alongwith expanding the sea and island eco-tourism area of Van Don, Co To and MongCai, Quang Ninh province is branching out tourism products like Yen Duccountryside tourism, Binh Lieu eco-tourism, discovering Ha Long Bay by kayaksand seaplanes and Ha Long Park.

Also,tourism promotion campaigns in key markets like China, Japan, Singapore and theUnited Kingdom have been paid due attention, coupled with human resourcestraining in line with the standards set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports andTourism.

Localtourism has created a lasting impression on both domestic and foreigninvestors. They said they were impressed by the excellent products, vibrantcultural activities and hospitable and professional tour guides.

The“transition to a green economy" project piloted in Ha Long will be a keypillar of the green growth process in the whole province in the future.

Aproject to promote green growth in Ha Long Bay has been implementing in QuangNinh from November 2015 to December 2019, under the support of the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency (JICA).

QuangNinh 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 HeritageSite of Ha Long Bay with majestic natural scenery, Bai Tu Long Bay, Van Don andCo To islands and Tra Co beach with Cat Ba National Park in the northern portcity of Hai Phong.

Asan important centre of the northern key economic region with its unique andrich geographical, environmental and resource features, the province boastsnatural strengths for sustainable socio-economic development.

In2015, with the support from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the localauthorities adjusted its green growth action plan, setting concrete objectives,which are expected to be realised by 2020.

Thenumber of tourists visiting Quang Ninh in the first nine months of this year isestimated to top 10 million, an increase of 25 percent over the same periodlast year. Of this, foreign tourists account for over 3.6 million, rising 19percent.

It expects to welcome a total of 12 million visitors, including five millionforeigners, this year on the back of its hosting of the National Tourism Year2018 themed “Ha Long-Heritage, Wonder, Friendly Destination”, with more than 50cultural, sport and tourist events held throughout the province.

Last year, some 9.87 million tourists visited the province, including 4.28million foreigners. More than 70 percent of the tourists took in sea and islandtours. The province raked in nearly 18 trillion VND (792 million USD) fromtourism.-VNA