Nguyen Huyen Anh, Standing Deputy Director of Quang Ninh Provincial Department of Tourism, said that Quang Ninh is currently the locality with the largest number of highway kilometres in the country, which have connected Mong Cai International Border Gate - Van Don - Ha Long - Hanoi, and helped to shorten travel time from Hanoi to Ha Long to only 1.5 hours, and from Hanoi to Mong Cai to only 3 hours. Besides, the provincial authorities have paid great attention to developing provincial-level roads, especially from the province’s centre to the communes.

“Road transport is a factor that helps to develop community-based tourism in border and mountainous areas, especially in the living areas of ethnic minorities, like Binh Lieu District,” Huyen Anh explained.

Regarding air transport, Quang Ninh is home to Van Don International Airport. It takes passengers only 1 hour to travel from Van Don to Mong Cai international border gate and 45 minutes from Van Don to Ha Long.

Regarding sea transport, Quang Ninh has a system of specialised international passenger ports, such as Ha Long, Tuan Chau, and Ao Tien International Ports, which can take tourists to Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay, Co To and Van Don. The ports are also capable of welcoming international passengers from large cruise ships.

Quang Ninh is the only locality in Vietnam sharing land and sea borders with China, and the province is a trade gateway with ASEAN countries and the world. Thanks to its favourable geographical location, along with its synchronous transportation system between road, air and sea, Quang Ninh has prosperous conditions to develop tourism into a key economic sector.

Along with well-planned infrastructure, Quang Ninh Province boasts rich natural and cultural resources for sustainable development.

Deputy Director of the Quang Ninh Tourism Department Nguyen Huyen Anh said that Quang Ninh is proud to have the world heritage site of Ha Long, which has twice been recognised by UNESCO for its outstanding aesthetic, geological and geomorphological values. Next to Ha Long Bay are Bai Tu Long Bay, Van Don and Co To, with many scattered rock and earth islands where there are many breathtaking natural beaches.

Anh said perhaps there is no other places with more cultural and historical sites than Quang Ninh Province. According to statistics, Quang Ninh has more than 600 cultural and historical sites steeped in the culture of the northeastern coastal area and existing within the cultural space of the Red River Delta. Many of the sites are associated with the Tran Dynasty, the uniquely Vietnamese Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen school and Emperor Tran Nhan Tong — a great politician and man of culture. In addition, Quang Ninh is the converging point of culture of 22 ethnic groups. All these factors create unique tourism resources that few localities in Vietnam possess.

Thêm vào đó, Quảng Ninh còn hội tụ các nét văn hóa của 22 dân tộc sinh sống trên địa bàn tỉnh ... Tất cả đã tạo nên nguồn tài nguyên du lịch độc đáo và đặc sắc hiếm có địa phương nào trong cả nước có được.

According to the Quang Ninh Tourism Department, in 2019 the province welcomed 14 million visitors, including nearly six million foreign visitors, and generated tourism revenue of 3,568 billion VND (144.5 million USD), accounting for 10.7% of the province’s total domestic revenue.

Even during two difficult years caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Quang Ninh’s tourism industry has experienced periods of outstanding growth. For example, on peak days in July 2020, the province welcomed 100,000 visitors. The number of visitors to Quang Ninh increased even at the end of the year, the low season. After tourism was fully reopened, Quang Ninh immediately regained its spectacular growth momentum.

By the end of the first 9 months of 2023, Quang Ninh welcomed nearly 13 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 40%. Specifically, international visitors reached over 1 million, an increase of nearly 8 times over the same period of 2022. Total tourism revenue reached nearly 26,500 billion VND, up 35% over the same period of last year.

Quang Ninh is an attractive destination for international tourists from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, America, France, England, Germany, Taiwan (China), India, and Malaysia.

In addition, Quang Ninh’s tourism has been also continuously named in the categories of the World Travel Award, which is considered the Oscar of the world tourism industry. Along with Ha Long Bay recognised as “Asia's leading attractive destination in 2021”, Van Don Airport has been honoured in many categories of the World Travel Awards for five consecutive years (from 2019-2023). Meanwhile, Ha Long International Cruise Port was awarded the title “Asia's Leading International Cruise Port in 2021” and Premier Village Ha Long Bay Resort was honoured as “Asia's Leading Family Resort” for the second time in a row (in 2022 and 2023).

Thanks to efforts to develop Quang Ninh into a four-season destination, Quang Ninh has surpassed the heritage destination brand to position itself as a favourite four-season destination.

On August 8, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 2256/QD-UBND, approving the Project to restore and sustainably develop Quang Ninh tourism industry to 2025, with orientation to 2030. The project identified breakthrough solutions quickly recover and promote tourism development, towards developing Quang Ninh into a tourism centre connected to the region and internationally, the nation's leading tourist key area, and a high-end entertainment resort centre. Quang Ninh set a target of completely recovering its tourism industry and welcoming at least 16 million visitors by 2024, including at least 3 million international tourists.

Deputy Director in charge of Quang Ninh Provincial Department of Tourism Nguyen Huyen Anh said that thanks to the seaport system that can welcome large tonnage passenger ships, Quang Ninh can still welcome international cruise ships in the last months of the year. According to forecasts of travel businesses, more than 20 cruise ships with about 200,000 international visitors are expected to visit Quang Ninh in the last three months of the year.

“Up to this point, I think that Quang Ninh tourism does not have a low season”, noted Huyen Anh.

According to the Deputy Director in charge of Quang Ninh Department of Tourism, in the summer months, Quang Ninh attracted a large number of domestic tourists as a result of the habit of traveling to the beach in the summer. Meanwhile, many foreign tourists have chosen Quang Ninh as a vacation destination for the period from November to April next year.

According to forecasts of travel businesses, in the last three months of the year, there will be more than 20 cruise ships with about 200,000 international visitors.

In addition, Huyen Anh said to compensate for the low number of tourists at the time of season change in September and October, Quang Ninh has been launching many new attractive tourism products for many years, such as: Winter Carnival; marathon awards — including the Ha Long Bay Heritage Marathon, and VN Express Marathon; Co To - Green Island Imprint; music tourism.

Yen Tu scenic relic area with activities and rituals taking place throughout the year, such as: Buddha's birthday ceremony, Yen Tu - Back to the Land of Buddhism in the Autumn festival, and the ceremony to commemorate the attainment of Nirvana by Emperor-Monk Tran Nhan Tong. In addition, spiritual destinations throughout the province such as Cua Ong Temple, Ba Vang Pagoda, and Ngoa Van Pagoda are all ready to welcome visitors.

After COVID-19, the medical tourism, also known as the "healing tourism", is booming. Quang Ninh has caught up with this world trend and become a great destination for the "healing tourism", as it has great potential to become the capital of this new type of tourism with its beautiful and peaceful nature and resorts with qualified facilities, such as the Onsen Quang Hanh hot mineral resort and Legacy Yen Tu Resort.

When talking about the medical tourism, it is impossible not to mention Co To District. With a maritime climate and the best air index in the Northern, Co To has long been a favourite destination for sports lovers when choosing to trek across the island/through the forest, jogging, cycling, or exercising yoga.

Not only that, Quang Ninh is also becoming an attractive destination for golf tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and events) tourism, thanks to a synchronous connection infrastructure system, meeting 4-star and 5-star standards to serve high-end customers.

Nguyen Huu Thuy, Chairman of Quang Ninh Golf Association, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Golf Association, said that Quang Ninh Golf Association has nearly 200 golfers, regularly organises tournaments, and interacts with golfers inside and outside. These are favourable conditions to attract and promote golf tourism.

Regarding MICE tourism, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh, said that Quang Ninh has very good conditions to become a MICE centre of Vietnamese tourism. Quang Ninh features the world heritage site of Ha Long Bay; a large capacity accommodation system that meets the requirements of MICE — a type of tourism combined with seminars and conferences; and a convenient traffic connection system. In addition, Quang Ninh currently has a lot of experience with this type of tourism after organising the SEA Games and many large domestic and international conferences.

Resolution No.2256/QD-UBND has proposed four main product lines of Quang Ninh tourism: Sea and island tourism, Cultural and spiritual tourism, Community-based Ecotourism, and Border Tourism.

Nguyen Huyen Anh, Deputy Director in charge of the Quang Ninh Provincial Department of Tourism, commented: “In my opinion, these 4 product lines are not enough. Quang Ninh has the ability to develop many other tourism products such as MICE tourism, sports tourism; marathon; Golf tourism.”

In particular, in the last months of the year, tourism in the Mong Cai border region promises to attract many tourists with a series of attractive activities and programmes. Notably, from October 30, people will be able to drive their cars through Mong Cai International Border Gate to Dong Hung City and go deeper to Nanning City of China.

In contrast, Chinese tourists will also be able to drive through the border gate to Mong Cai and go as far as Ha Long City (Quang Ninh). In particular, self-driving activities, culinary and cultural experiences, and high-class tourism are the highlights that are expected to create excitement for the city's tourism industry.

In parallel with developing new tourism products suitable for all times of the year, Quang Ninh tourism is also closely linked with provinces in the Red River Delta region and with major tourism centres, especially Hanoi, to develop tourism. Along with that, Quang Ninh tourism continues to expand its market, going beyond the boundaries of traditional markets such as Japan, the Republic Korea, China, and Europe to seek new markets such as India and the Middle East.

Ms. Nguyen Huyen Anh said: "We are looking to exploit new customer markets such as Indian tourists, customers using Halal products, and Muslim tourists. This is a potential number of tourists because they travel in all four seasons. However, this number of visitors to Quang Ninh did not reach as expected. We will tailor our services to suit their culture.”

Published: October 2023
Content: NDO
Photo: THANH DAT, T.LINH, Quang Ninh Newspaper