Thai Nguyen's rich and diversified resources are most favourable for developing various kinds of tourism. The province is endowed with colourful culture of ethnic minorities and famous landscapes such as Coc Mountain Lake, Phuong Hoang Cave, Mo Ga Stream, Than Sa relics, etc.
In particular, the Museum in Thai Nguyen city introduces cultural heritages of 54 Vietnamese nationalities and Tan Cuong tea region – “first class tea”. The province has over 800 relics ( 510 historic, 12 archaeological, 16 architectual, 233 religious and 39 scenic beauties). Among them Dinh Hoa Revolutionary Zone is most famous together with 28 relics of national and 97 others of provincial standards.
The province has issued several mechanisms and policies to develop tourism. For its part, tourist service has recommended Thai Nguyen authorities to develop and upgrade infrastructure for tourism such as tourist project in Phu Dinh revolutionary zone, road to Phuong Hoang cave – Mo Ga stream, parking area North of Coc mountain lake, historical relics at Khau Ty, Tham Khen and Tin Keo. Presently, the province has 212 tourist hostels with 3,400 rooms and plans to develop more facilities. With Thai Nguyen Tourist Association established in 2011, tourist service has been promoted successfully.
In recent years, Thai Nguyen has developed tourist tours in linkage with travel agencies, promoting tourist potential. Many events have been organized to attract tourists to Thai Nguyen, highlighting cultural values, sightseeing and recreation. As a result, the number of tourists increases year on year (8-10 percent by local and over 10 percent by foreign tourists). In 2014, the total number of tourists was over 1.8 million with over 70,000 foreign tourists and total income of over VND100 billion. Thai Nguyen tourism continues its growth and contributes significantly to socio-economic development. The province has several successful tourist companies such as Dong A Trade and Construction Joint Stock Company, Coc Mountain Lake Joint Stock Company.
Nonetheless, the achievements fail to match existing potential. Tourist service is small in size, poor in diversity and quality, less attractive to tourists, especially foreign tourists. Business efficiency remains low contributing less to socio-economic development. Meanwhile, due to the failure in issuing specific policy for attracting investments, tourist infrastructure and service remain poor. The province has 212 hostels, only 40 hostels of one-star and 4 hostels of three-star. Tourist promotion is inadequate, while tourist products and staff remain few and poor.
In fact, Thai Nguyen has a tourist master plan of 2006-2010 in vision of 2015 and strategy until 2020 with eight solution packages. However, due to limited local resources, solution packages cannot be materialized. Therefore, developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector requires both effective State management and joint efforts of the business community, especially tourism sector businesses.
Duy Binh
Vietnamese
