Ninh Binh Province's Tourism on Path of Integration

Ninh Binh Province's Tourism on Path of Integration 

Ninh Binh is endowed with abundant and diverse resources for tourism. Many tourist spots of the province are well known to both domestic and foreign visitors, such as Hoa Lu ancient capital, Trang An grotto complex, Tam Coc-Bich Dong, Cuc Phuong national park, Phat Diem stone cathedral and Van Long submerged natural preservation zone.

Ninh Binh is rich in historic and cultural heritage. The latest statistics show that there are 975 relics in the province, of which 80 have been classified at National Level. The province is proud to host many traditional festivals imbued with the identity of Vietnamese village culture and the quintessence of the water rice civilization, the radiant Hoa Binh and Dong Son civilizations.

With these abundant tourist resources, Ninh Binh is able to offer various tourist activities such as historic-cultural tourism, spiritual-festival tourism, ecological tourism, mountain climbing, craft villages, bathing treatments, and weekend tourism such as entertainment, fishing and golf.. All of these activities greatly appeal to visitors all year round.

In order to develop tourism in the right direction and effectively realise the local tourist potential, the Standing Party Committee of Ninh Binh province promulgated Resolution No. 03/TU dated December 21, 2001 on the development of tourism to 2010; the Provincial People’s Committee also issued Decision No. 568/2002/QD-UB dated April 10, 2002 on the incentives for investment in industrial and tourist zones.

Under the guidance of the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, Ninh Binh’s tourist sector has made considerable efforts in the management and exploitation of tourism potential, and has recorded some initial accomplishments. The master planning of the province’s tourist development to 2010, the detailed planning of Tam Coc-Bich Dong, Trang An grotto complex, Yen Thang lake, Kenh Ga-Van Trinh tourist zone, as well as other infrastructure building projects have been approved by relevant agencies. At present, 18 domestic investors have registered to invest in tourism in Ninh Binh with total capital of VND585.584 billion. Many projects have entered the implementation phase while other completed projects have been effectively operated.

The tourism sector is providing consultation services for the province via the formation of the State Steering Commission of Tourism. The Steering Commission has adopted an annual tourist agenda and making some early acheivements in the effective development of Ninh Binh tourism. As of September 30, 2004, 48 business establishments were providing tourist services in the province, of which 38 establishments conducted permanent business with more than 560 bedrooms and 180 rooms of international standard.

These acheivements aside, the pace of tourism development in Ninh Binh has not met its potential. Under the guidance of the Central bodies and the Resolution of the Provincial Party Committee’s Congress, Ninh Binh’s tourism sector has identified and segmented its development objectives into two phases:

The 2004-2005 phase:

-          Promulgating and completing the mechanisms and policies of investment incentives; mobilising all capital sources for infrastructure building, recruitment and training of qualified management officers and professional staff to meet immediate and long-term requirements.

-          Completing infrastructure construction for key tourist zones such as Tam Coc-Bich Dong, Trang An grotto complex; building infrastructure for the tourist zones of Kenh Ga-Van Trinh, Van Long, Hoa Lu Grotto, and Dich Long; and developing feasibility studies for the remaining zones.

-          Diversifying tourist activities; improving tourist services; developing high-quality tourist products to attract more visitors, and striving to receive 1,000,000 visitors by 2005, including 300,000 international visitors.

The 2006-2010 phase:

-          Completing the overall project to build three tourist zones, namely Tam Coc-Bich Dong, Trang An and Hoa Lu ancient capital, for the millennial anniversary celebration of Hoa Lu-Thang Long-Ha Noi.

-          Completing the infrastructure construction for other tourist zones in Ninh Binh town centre, Tam Diep town, Yen Thang Lake and Yen Dong; improving the management capacity and attracting more visitors to fulfill the target of 3-4 million visitors by 2010, including 800,000-1,000,000 international arrivals. 

• Nguyen Ngoc Luyen, Deputy Director of Ninh Binh Provincial Tourist Department