Ha Giang – an ideal destination in the North with marvellous landscapes

The mountainous province of Ha Giang aims to turn its tourism into a key sector in economic development, to be a tourist destination of domestic and international stature. Cultural tangible and intangible values preservation and promotion are essential to tourism development, requiring close attention of provincial administrative bodies.
In the first 9 months of 2009, tourists travelling to Ha Giang estimated 207,535 arrivals, of which Chinese visitors were 35,000; Germany, French and Japanese visitors were 2,500; and domestic visitors reached 170,000. Tourism revenue gained VND175.3 billion.
Ha Giang has long been well-known for its marvellous landscape which still remains natural, not being suffered from impact of urbanisation. Visitors from everywhere are charmed with famous tourist spots in Dong Van District as Lung Cu Flag Tower, Dong Van Ancient Street, Residence of Vuong Family, Quan Ba Mountain, Ma Pi Leng Pass; religious sites including Mau Temple, Hai Co Temple, Thac Con Temple, Sung Khanh Pagoda, Binh Lam Pagoda; and cultural ethnic villages of the Dao, Mong, Lo Lo…
In order to effectively develop Ha Giang’s tourism service sector, it is vitally important to work closely with tourism businesses within the country and abroad, to cooperate with northern mountainous provinces to form interesting tourist routes and offer traditional and typical tourist products.
In 2009, by hosting and participating in many conferences on tourism cooperation, Ha Giang has been attracting reputable travel firms as ToPas, Victoria, Caritas… to develop long-term investment projects in tourism area.
Traditional festivals, sophisticated and colourful costumes are considered great advantages of the provincial tourism, creating novel attractions to tourists. Mr. Hoang Xuan Luong, Deputy Head of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs, in a visit to Ha Giang, appreciated the imposing beauty of Dong Van Rock Plateau: “Dong Van Rock Plateau is a unique heritage of the world. It is our responsibility to work out policies to preserve its original characteristics…”. Truly, ones who have chance to set foot on the far-northern province would be astonished by outstanding landscape of Dong Van Rock Plateau. Paths looming in mist and curving round mountain slopes, mountainous markets animated and crowded with ethnic colourful-dressed people, interesting traditional products… mix together and make a miraculous picture. Ha Giang is becoming a promising tourist destination in the North.
Despite boasting excellent potentials, it is undeniable that there has been inadequate investment in tourism area. Few travel firms operating in the province leads to difficulties in offering tours. Besides, at some destinations including Lung Cu Flag Tower, Residence of Vuong Family, Dong Van Ancient Street…, the number of tour guides and accommodations are not enough to fulfill visitors’ demand. To boost the tourism sector and consider tourism as key strategy to improve cultural and socio-economic position of the province, it is necessary to preserve and uphold cultural values of ethnic minorities; build tourist cultural villages; develop new tourist routes; implement open policies to draw investment of domestic and oversea tourism companies. Meanwhile, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism should focus on developing the Trade and Tourism Promotion Center being a bridge linking Ha Giang with neighbouring provinces in the North and other domestic travel firms; popularises Ha Giang’s tourism potentials via mass media to attract more and more visitors…