Quang Ninh Tourism: Determined to reach the target of 19 million visitors.

With just over a month left until the end of 2024, this is also the crucial time for Quang Ninh's tourism sector to strive to achieve its goal of welcoming 19 million tourists, including 3.5 million international visitors . Despite remaining difficulties and challenges, the tourism industry is demonstrating great effort and high determination, befitting its position as one of Quang Ninh 's growth pillars.

Attracting cruise ship passengers

Recognizing that the autumn-winter tourist season is also the peak season for the international tourist market, Quang Ninh's tourism industry is making strong efforts to promote activities, connect with markets, continuously diversify tourism products, enhance experiences, extend the length of stay, and increase the spending capacity of tourists.

Accordingly, the 2024 cruise season kicked off in October with many international cruise ships bringing tourists from Asia, Europe, and America to Ha Long, which is also the main group of tourists for Ha Long tourism during the annual cruise season. These positive developments and the addition of new international shipping routes are expected to contribute to realizing the goal of welcoming 3.5 million international tourists to Quang Ninh in 2024. It is projected that by the end of 2024, Ha Long International Cruise Port will welcome approximately 10 large cruise ships from world- renowned corporations and brands such as Mein Schiff 6, Celebrity Solstice, etc., bringing tens of thousands of international tourists to Quang Ninh.

Two international cruise ships carrying over 4,700 tourists arrived in Ha Long City.   Image:   Hoang Quynh

Ms. Jasmin Olivo (American citizen) shared: "This is my first time in Vietnam. I was really looking forward to visiting this heritage bay, and indeed, the natural scenery and the quality of service here did not disappoint me. Ha Long Bay is incredibly majestic, and the caves are magnificent. We were extremely impressed. I will definitely return here with my family if we have the chance."

In particular, following numerous efforts to connect Quang Ninh and Guangxi (China), on November 16th, at Ha Long International Cruise Port, a cruise ship from Beihai City (Guangxi, China) brought over 1,100 passengers to Quang Ninh, marking the opening of the Ha Long - Beihai sea tourism route. It is expected that during the peak season in November 2025, there will be three Beihai - Ha Long cruise ship trips per week. This will promote tourism cooperation, effectively exploit two-way tourism, and lead to the development of new cruise routes from China to Quang Ninh. It will also open opportunities for tourists to experience international sea travel itineraries from Ha Long (Vietnam) to destinations around the world, including Beihai.

On November 16th, a cruise ship from Beihai City (Guangxi, China) brought over 1,100 passengers to Quang Ninh.   Photo: Hoang Quynh

Besides traditional major markets, Quang Ninh's tourism sector is very interested in promoting and boosting the Indian and ASEAN markets, especially attracting the potentially lucrative Halal tourism sector. In recent months, the number of tourists from India, the Philippines, Malaysia, etc., has been increasing sharply, with many luxury groups and high-spending tourists visiting Quang Ninh. The South Korean and Taiwanese (China) markets are also showing many positive signs, and the provincial tourism industry has intensified efforts related to travel activities for tourists entering Vietnam through the Mong Cai international border gate.

Speed ​​up in the final month of the year.

In October alone, destinations in the province welcomed 1.13 million domestic and international tourists. Cumulatively over the first 10 months, Quang Ninh's tourism sector welcomed over 16.7 million visitors, a 20% increase compared to the same period last year, including over 3 million international visitors. Total tourism revenue reached over 40.1 trillion VND, a 38% increase year-on-year. The growth rate of the tourism industry is basically on track to meet the set targets. However, to achieve the goal of welcoming 19 million visitors, the tourism sector and localities in the province are still making concerted efforts and implementing effective solutions.

The cultural performance and exhibition space showcasing the ethnic groups of Binh Lieu district will be held on weekends in November and December as part of the Binh Lieu District Culture and Tourism Week 2024, contributing to attracting tourists during the autumn and winter travel season.   Photo: La Lành (Binh Lieu Information and Culture Center)

Accordingly, the last month of the year is the peak season for MICE tourism – tourism combining conferences, seminars, and events – attracting a large number of visitors to Quang Ninh. With its synchronized infrastructure, high-quality services, and a series of cultural, sports, and tourism events, the tourism industry has the opportunity to accelerate its visitor numbers. To attract tourists to Quang Ninh, especially MICE visitors, the province will organize a series of prominent events such as: the Korean and Vietnamese Music Festival; activities commemorating the 30th anniversary of Ha Long Bay being recognized as a World Heritage Site; autumn tourism in Uong Bi; the Asian Police Taekwondo Championship and a music event to promote the tournament… At the same time, it will diversify tourism products; research and encourage the organization of several sports events such as: Marathon, pickleball, chess…

The province also organized working groups to directly promote tourism at industrial parks, large domestic economic groups, and foreign businesses with abundant customer sources and a demand for sightseeing, relaxation combined with year-end conferences; and promoted potential markets in the South such as Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai.

At the same time, promoting stronger tourism linkages and cooperation between businesses and localities has been bringing many large groups of tourists to Quang Ninh. This helps to expand the scope, leverage the strengths of localities, create diverse and attractive tourism products, enhance competitiveness, mobilize resources, create a strong promotional force for the common destination, attract investment, and promote the spread of socio-economic development across localities and regions.

International tourists enjoy the experience of kayaking in Ha Long Bay.   Photo: Phan Hang

Alongside this, the tourism industry continues to promote the development of diverse, unique, and highly competitive new tourism products, especially high-end resort tourism products connecting Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay. Notably, the new "Heritage Journey" connecting Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay has been put into operation, offering an attractive experience for tourists. This is currently the only sea route that allows tourists to admire all the famous and characteristic locations of the World Natural Wonder Ha Long Bay, along with pristine areas in Bai Tu Long Bay that have not yet been developed for tourism, such as the open-air geopark, semi-mangrove forests, ancient fishing villages, and natural coral reefs…

In particular, on November 20th, in Ha Long City, the Department of Tourism, in coordination with the Quang Ninh Tourism Association and Sun Group, organized the ceremony to announce the cooperation program to stimulate tourism "Quang Ninh - A Four-Season Destination". This tourism stimulus program will be implemented from now until the end of 2024, with a series of products and services for tourists offered with discounts of up to 50%.

In addition to deep discounts, Quang Ninh province is also promoting the diversification of tourism products to increase new experiences for tourists, such as: urgently putting into operation three beaches in Ha Long Bay - Soi Sim, Hang Co, and Trinh Nu; organizing art performances combined with light refreshments in some suitable caves in the bay; identifying seven pristine island areas and beaches for the billionaire and ultra-luxury segment, which includes the top 1% of the world's population...

Over 13,500 athletes from 55 countries participated in the 2024 Halong Bay Heritage Marathon, which took place on November 17th.   Photo: Ta Quan

Despite the remaining difficulties caused by Typhoon Yagi, with utmost effort and feasible and effective solutions, Quang Ninh is determined to achieve the target of welcoming 19 million tourists in 2024, contributing to the achievement of socio-economic development goals and continuing the province's 10 consecutive years of double-digit growth.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/du-lich-quang-ninh-quyet-tam-can-dich-19-trieu-khach-3330724.html