Quang Ninh (VNA) – The northern province of Quang Ninh enjoyed abustling year with some 50 cultural, sports and tourism events and around 12.2million visitors when it hosted the Visit Vietnam Year 2018.

A cuisine festival, a paragliding competition, a photo contest, a ceremony toannounce and present certificate recognising Cua Ong Temple as a specialnational relic site, a firework festival, and the 2018 cherry blossom-Yen Tuyellow ochna flower festival, were a few to name.

As many as 12.2 million tourists visited the locality in the year, up 24percent year on year, including 5.22 million coming from 150 countries andterritories worldwide. They are estimated to contribute 23.6 trillion VND (1.01billion USD) to the tourism revenue, the highest figure ever recorded.

The province has focused on improving transport infrastructure. Theinauguration of Ha Long-Hai Phong Expressway on September 1 and the upcomingoperation of Van Don International Airport and Ha Long-Van Don highway areexpected to bring more tourists to the locality.

“Well-developed infrastructure facilities and high-quality tourism productswill make tourism in Ha Long and Van Don fare well, contributing to thedevelopment of the provincial tourism sector,” said Ta Duc Quyet, Director ofMai Quyen Tourism One Member Limited Company.

Under the Overall Plan for Tourism Development inQuang Ninh to 2020 and Vision to 2030, Quang Ninh strives to become aninternational tourism centre and a leading tourism destination in Vietnam withmodern infrastructure and diverse, high quality and competitive tourismproducts. 

It has been implementing 56 solutions and sub-projects for achieving thattarget.

Quang Ninh has paid special attention toimproving the tourism environment and enhancing communications to populariselocal tourism and call for investments in the sector.

Also, the province is focusing on developing four main tourist zones, namely HaLong with the centre being Ha Long Bay, Mong Cai-Tra Co with border tourism,Van Don-Co To with island and resort tourism, and Uong Bi-Dong Trieu-Quang Yenwith the Yen Tu cultural and spiritual tourism site as the main attraction.

Until the end of this year, the province will outline a plan for the tourismpromotion programme in 2019, and make meticulous preparation for the closingceremony of the Visit Vietnam Year 2018 and the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) whichwill take place in Ha Long city from January 14-18.

The ATF is an important forum to introduce Vietnam’s tourism brands tointernational friends.-VNA