Transport infrastructure

Recently Mong Cai has been a tourism hotspot and the city’s tourism sector has been booming, with the total number of visitors to the city from the start of the year until the National Day holiday reaching 1.8 million, up 191% from the same period last year. During the National Day holiday alone, Mong Cai welcomed 100,000 visitors, 40,000 of whom stayed overnight.

The main destinations in Mong Cai include the Mong Cai International Border Gate, markets, pedestrian streets, food areas, the Sa Vi Border Propaganda Information Cluster, Vinh Thuc Island, Tra Co-Binh Ngoc Beach, Xa Tac Temple, Tra Co Communal House, Tra Co Church, and the Po Hen Historical Site.

With the Van Don-Mong Cai Expressway, it only takes visitors about 1.5 hours to travel from Ha Long and 3.5 hours from Hanoi to arrive at Mong Cai to enjoy a complete experience of the land at the tip of the country, featuring the sea, mountains and forests, as well as shopping in the border area.

The Van Don-Mong Cai Expressway is regarded as one of the important drivers of Mong Cai’s tourism development. With beautiful road views, the expressway has addressed two obstacles preventing tourists from coming to Mong Cai: its remote location and a tiring journey with slopes and passes.

The decision to use public investment to lead investment is the foundation for creating many breakthroughs in Quang Ninh's infrastructure. With the cooperation of large private economic corporations such as Sun Group, Quang Ninh is now in the top 5 localities with the highest urbanization rate in the country, with a nearly-200km-long chain of highways. The province also owns the first private airport honoured by the World Travel Awards (WTA) as "Asia's Leading New Airport 2019" and the first cruise port in Vietnam capable of welcoming the world's largest and most modern cruise ship to Ha Long Bay.

The well-invested infrastructure system on international trade connectivity has helped Quang Ninh reap many achievements. Since the opening of Van Don International Airport, the number of visitors to Quang Ninh has increased significantly.

Many other key projects have a positive impact on tourism activities, such as Van Don International Airport, Ha Long International Cruise Port, Tuan Chau International Cruise Port, Ha Long-Hai Phong Expressway, Bach Dang Bridge, Bac Luan II Bridge, Ha Long-Van Don Expressway, and Love Bridge. 

In particular, Quang Ninh Province has enormous advantages in transportation infrastructure with highways, seaports, and international airports, being developed synchronously, connecting major economic centres throughout the province. The province has huge advantages in developing MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) tourism.

According to the provincial People's Committee, in 2023, the locality targets to welcome 15 million tourists. In the first nine months of this year, Quang Ninh Province received more than 13 million visitors, more than 1.47 times higher than the same period last year, of which international arrivals reached about 870,000. During the period, total tourism revenue was estimated at around 26,460 billion VND, up 34.8% year-on-year.

According to the plan, in the third quarter of this year, Quang Ninh will greet about 4.13 million visitors, and earn 9.8 trillion VND in tourism revenue. In the first nine months, the province served nearly 13 million visitors and earned 26,460 billion VND in tourism revenue.

To achieve these goals, Quang Ninh Province’s tourism sector has promoted the development of services and trade and attracted investment in building modern commercial centres and supermarkets in Ha Long, Cam Pha, Dong Trieu, Dam Ha, Tien Yen, and Van Don. 

To realise the target of welcoming 15 million tourists this year, the Provincial People's Committee has requested the Provincial Tourism Department to coordinate with relevant departments, branches and local authorities, to organise events to attract more tourists to the locality, especially during the autumn-winter and at the end of the year.

Infrastructure opens the way not only for the development of tourism but also contributes significantly to attracting investment capital, as well as promoting the province's overall economic development. Despite facing difficulties and challenges due to COVID-19, investment attraction in Quang Ninh Province has still grown strongly in recent years. By the end of August 2023, in the province, there were 16,718 businesses and dependent units registered, with a total registered capital of 341 trillion VND.

In the first nine months of the year, attracting domestic investment capital outside the budget reached over 45.3 trillion VND, up 5.5% compared to the plan and up 33.8% over the same period; Attracting foreign investment FDI achieved clear results, estimated at 853.93 million USD, reaching 85.4% of the plan.

Quang Ninh Province is also planning to develop road tourism along the Ha Long-Van Don-Mong Cai route. The goal is to increase tourism growth in the province by 15-20%. At the same time, it will effectively exploit the region’s strengths, create a chain of unique destinations throughout and develop tourism equally in localities.

According to the plan of the Quang Ninh Department of Tourism, the development of tourism products along the expressway will follow two directions: Building a thematic road about products along the route and forming specific products for each district.

As in Quang Yen town and Uong Bi City, spiritual-cultural-historical tourism, fine-art ceramics and countryside tourism will be developed.

Ha Long City will exploit the value of Ha Long Bay, resorts, island ecology, sightseeing cruises, commerce, shopping and MICE.

In Van Don district and Cam Pha City, the resort model, sea cuisine, and sightseeing cruises will be developed.

The districts of Tien Yen, Ba Che, Binh Lieu, Dam Ha, and Hai Ha will promote eco-tourism, community and experience tourism.

Meanwhile, Mong Cai City will boost entertainment activities, marine cuisine, and casinos.

Therefore, Quang Ninh Province will develop tourism products along highway routes, including eco-tourism products, sea tourism, historical-cultural and spiritual tourism, and adventure tourism.

The tours will start from the main departure locations, including Van Don International Airport, Hanoi, Ha Long, and Mong Cai. Tour packages will connect the main departure locations with other tourism resources while maximising transportation infrastructure and highways, to shorten travel time and bring the best experience to visitors.

According to Pham Ngoc Thuy, former director of Quang Ninh Department of Tourism, it is necessary to foster the dissemination of information, on the benefits of the expressway system to localities where the expressways pass through, to implement tours along the Ha Long-Van Don-Mong Cai Expressway. In 2023, a rest area along the Ha Long-Van Don-Mong Cai Expressway will be built according to the approved planning, while transportation infrastructure connecting the highway with other destinations will be completed. Thus, travelling to all tourist destinations in Quang Ninh will be more convenient.

Quang Ninh Province is building a system of large billboards and signposts about tourist attractions at localities along highways so that tourists can easily know about these sites. Thereby, creating a friendly, lovable, and visit-worthy image of the land known as a “miniature Vietnam”.