In the last week of August and the beginning of September, Ha Long City hosted two new festivals for the first time, offering locals and tourists exciting experiences during this year's autumn-winter tourist season. This is not only a positive step towards realizing the goal of the "Ha Long - Festival City" project but also contributes to achieving the city's target of welcoming 10.3 million visitors this year.
Vibrant and unique new festivals
Accordingly, on August 24th, the Sailing, Paragliding, and Jet Skiing Festival, themed "Crossing the Waves of Ha Long - 2024," will feature 50 different types of watercraft. Visitors will be treated to captivating performances of various water and aerial sports . In the air, there will be synchronized paragliding demonstrations carrying the national flag, while on the bay, sailing teams will parade, perform artistic jet ski demonstrations, parade with the national flag, and display displays of flares and LED-lit national flags. These activities will extend from the Tuan Chau area and the Ocean Park beach, with the focal point being the coastline opposite the Ha Long Flower Park.
Following that, on September 1st and 2nd, coinciding with the National Day holiday, visitors to Ha Long City continued to immerse themselves in the colorful atmosphere of the Hot Air Balloon Festival with the theme "Heritage City - The Colors of Ha Long," featuring a variety of activities such as: hot air balloon rides, hot air balloon tours, and a hot air balloon lantern night with the participation of 20 hot air balloons of various colors and sizes.
The festival takes place in both of the city's tourist centers: the Bai Chay area at Ocean Park beach and the Hon Gai area at 30/10 Square. Visitors to the festival can not only admire and explore the sights but also have the opportunity to experience hot air balloon rides. This time, in addition to hot air balloon activities, there will also be paragliding (powered paragliding) flights from Bai Chay across Cua Luc Bay to 30/10 Square and back.
This autumn and winter, following the two aforementioned festivals, Ha Long City promises to extend its vibrant atmosphere with a series of other cultural and tourism events. Most of the activities and events in the 92 programs and events aimed at stimulating international, national, provincial, and local tourism will take place in Ha Long in the second half of the year, promising great appeal to tourists. These include: the Korean and Vietnamese Music Festival, the Vnexpress Marathon Amazing 2024, the Tuan Chau - Ha Long 2024 Trianthlon 51.1, and the Quang Ninh Food Festival 2024…
Ha Long City itself also plans to organize many more festivals in the last months of the year, such as: the Mid-Autumn Festival and artistic light show by the heritage bay in the 8th lunar month, the Ripe Guava Festival in September, the Flower Festival at Quang La Flower Paradise in December… Thus, the festival space will not only focus on the coastal area but also expand to the hilly areas in the north of Ha Long, associated with the special and famous agricultural products of this region.
Speaking to the press, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Long City, said that in order to continue creating unique and high-class tourism products to attract tourists, the city will also create conditions to attract investors to stage and organize programs for producing films, music, entertainment, and live performances associated with the culture of the islands and the traditional culture of ethnic minorities in the area.
The door is wide open.
As the province's largest tourism center, Ha Long City aims to welcome 9 million visitors this year, including 1.7 million foreign tourists. In the first six months of the year, Ha Long is estimated to have welcomed 5.8 million visitors, with the target of 1.7 million foreign tourists already achieved. Therefore, with the province's overall goal of welcoming 19 million visitors this year, an increase of 2 million compared to the initial plan, Ha Long has been assigned the highest target of an additional 1.3 million visitors, bringing the total to 10.3 million, including 2.1 million international tourists, an increase of 400,000 compared to the initial plan.
The results of tourist arrivals in Ha Long over the past two months show that the local tourism industry continues to thrive and flourish. Specifically, the number of tourists visiting Ha Long in July reached 1.8 million, and in August it is estimated to reach nearly 1 million. The cumulative number for the first eight months is 8.7 million, achieving 84.5% of the annual plan; total tourism revenue reached 19,213 billion VND, equivalent to 140% compared to the same period last year.
This year's extended September 2nd holiday can be considered a peak period for attracting tourists to Ha Long before entering the low season at the end of the year. According to reports, during the holiday, the occupancy rate of hotels in the area reached approximately 80-90%. Popular destinations include Ha Long Bay, Sunworld Ha Long Complex, and the Quang Ninh Museum.
Although autumn and winter are typically the low season for tourism in Ha Long Bay due to the declining appeal of beach and island tourism, with the goal of welcoming 1.6 million visitors in the last four months of the year, the opportunity for local tourism to reach its target ahead of schedule is well within reach.
From around October, Ha Long enters its peak season for cruise ship tourists. In the latter months of this year, the province also plans to open additional sea tourism routes from Beihai City, Guangxi (China) and Guangzhou City (China) to Ha Long City. And from October 2024, the province will also cooperate with businesses to open more flight routes through Van Don International Airport, such as: the Wuxi, Jiangsu, China - Van Don, Quang Ninh route; and the Jeju, South Korea - Van Don, Quang Ninh route.
At the same time, we will continue to connect with tourism businesses, open other international tourist routes from China and South Korea, and domestic flights from the southern region to Quang Ninh via Van Don International Airport. The majority of these tourists will also flock to the Ha Long tourist center.
In addition, to further enhance the attractiveness of Ha Long tourism, new tourism products in Ha Long Bay and tourism products developed in the northern mountainous areas of the city are being actively implemented by relevant units and localities to resolve obstacles, complete and put into operation soon.
Strengthen inspections and crack down on violations.
Following recent decisive actions, in mid-August, the city issued another document on rectifying the local tourism business environment. Accordingly, with the aim of restoring order in the management of tourism business activities in the area, the city will regularly conduct surprise inspections, strictly handle violations, and resolutely close down or suspend operations of establishments that violate regulations and negatively impact the tourism business environment.
The city has assigned specific responsibilities to local authorities in managing and implementing various tasks, such as: advertising, promotion, and artistic performances; strict control of market prices; management of taxi operations and parking lots; environmental and landscape management, especially waste disposal; decisively addressing touting, soliciting customers, begging, and street vending; building a civilized culture of behavior in tourism activities; ensuring safety and preventing drowning for residents and tourists visiting Ha Long; and strengthening efforts to combat fraud in online tourism business activities.
The local authorities also requested the Provincial Tourism Association to strengthen its advisory role, providing information to branches, restaurants, hotels, and tourists about businesses that meet the operating requirements in the city to ensure consumer rights when visiting Ha Long; and to coordinate in handling tourist feedback promptly and effectively; and to direct branches and travel agencies to strictly comply with legal regulations in tourism service business activities in the area…
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