Quang Ninh (VNA) – The northeastern coastalprovince of Quang Ninh has launched a sight-seeing fee discount programme for arange of local destinations between September 9 and December 31.

Accordingly, prices of entrance tickets for destinations onHa Long Bay, the Quang Ninh Museum and the Yen Tu relic and scenic complex are reducedby 50 percent.

Notably, entry into destinations in the bay will be free ofcharge on Vietnamese Women’s Day (October 20), the mining sector’s traditionalday (November 12), Vietnamese Teachers’ Day (November 20), and the foundinganniversary of the People’s Army of Vietnam (December 22).

The programme was part of the provincial People’s Council’s decisionissued on September 8 for tourism promotion.

Earlier, the council approved a tourism promotion incentivefor 2020 worth about 200 billion VND (nearly 8.6 million USD) during itsmeeting in May.

Under the incentive, starting from May 15, all visitors,both Vietnamese and foreigners were exempt from entrance fees to Ha Long Bay,Quang Ninh Museum and the complex of Yen Tu monuments and landscapes until theend of the month and on major holidays in 2020.

Later, sight-seeing fees for Ha Long Bay were reduced byhalf to the end of September, while entrance fees for Quang Ninh Museum and YenTu complex were cut by half until the end of July.

In addition, passengers arriving at the Van DonInternational Airport receive free round-trip bus rides to Ha Long and Uong Bicities until the year's end.

As a result, tourist arrivals have been partly recovered,with the average number of visitors to Ha Long Bay per day reached 7,000 inJune. As of the end of August, more than 868,000 people visited the bay in thedaytime and over 4,000 stayed here at night.

However, the second wave of COVID-19 taking place at the endof July has led to a slowdown in local tourism activites as the number oftourists fell significantly. Hundreds of tourist ship owners registered for atemporary halt of their operation until the end of September to avoid monthly businessfees of between 7 and 10 million VND per ship.

Local tourism activities are expected to be resumed in earlyOctober.

According to statistics from the Quang Ninh People’sCommittee, the number of tourists to the province as of the end of Augustexceeded 5.7 million, decreasing by half year on year. As such, tourism revenuereduced by 42 percent to over 12 trillion VND.

During the period, Ha Long Bay and the Yen Tu relic andscenic complex welcomed 1.1 million and 238,000 visitors, down 62 and 73percent, respectively, year-on-year.

Quang Ninh is endowed with natural advantages for sea andisland tourism. It has a coastline of more than 250 kilometres and more than2,000 islands and islets which account for two-thirds of the total number inVietnam.

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

In particular, Ha Long Bay was twice recognised as a WorldNatural Heritage site by UNESCO in 1994 and 2000. The bay spans 1,553 squarekilometres and includes 1,969 islands of various sizes.

It features thousands of limestone karsts and islets invarious shapes and sizes. The limestone in the bay has gone through 500 millionyears of formation in different conditions and environments.

The site welcomed 4.4 million holidaymakers throughout 2019,including 2.9 million foreigners, and raked in 1.23 trillion VND from tourism.

Located 80 km from the mainland, Co To island is anotherattraction in Quang Ninh. The island district comprises Co To Lon (large Co Toisland), Co To Be (small Co To island) and 15 smaller islands.

Besides enchanting beaches, the island has natural forests,lighthouses, parks, wharves, fishing villages, bays and a rock garden.

Located in Bai Tu Long Bay, Quan Lan Island in Van Dondistrict has become an ideal destination in summer holidays thanks to itspristine beauty, clear blue seawater and fine white sand bank stretching alongthe green rows of casuarinas./.