Beautify destination landscapes with endemic plants

Visiting Ha Long Bay, visiting caves, spectacular lakes, feeding monkeys, taking check-in photos... always leaves interesting emotions for tourists. This is a way to exploit the value of endemic plant species for tourism development that needs attention.

At the beginning of the summer vacation, Mr. Hoang Van Manh ( Hanoi ) took his group of children to visit Ha Long Bay as a reward after a hard year of studying. What surprised him was that Ha Long's landscape was decorated with beautiful natural flowers. "On the rocky islands, the sightseeing routes, flowers bloomed. More specifically, through the tour guide, I learned that these are endemic plants, of great value, widely recognized by the scientific community. Ha Long Bay is much more beautiful than 7-10 years ago" - Mr. Manh shared.

Wildflowers bloom on Ha Long Bay in the summer.

"We are conserving cottonwood and many valuable genetic resources to beautify the landscape and serve tourism. It is meaningful that their values ​​have been preserved and practically promoted in this way. This is also a form of promoting the biodiversity value of Ha Long Bay" - Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh, Deputy Head of the Professional - Research Department (Ha Long Bay Management Board) shared. Indeed, the conservation and promotion of the value of valuable genetic resources from endemic plant species of the World Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay in this way is gradually bringing encouraging results. The value of endemic plant species further beautifies the destination, creating meaningful check-in points for tourists' trips. In May and June, the peak of summer tourism is also the time when cottonwood trees on Ha Long Bay bloom. The landscape of the destinations is beautified by the red and white colors of a series of cottonwood trees. To achieve the results as today, the project to preserve and promote the value of cotton trees has been implemented by the Ha Long Bay Management Board since 2015-2016. Accordingly, the Board has researched the growth and development characteristics of this narrow endemic species in the Vietnam Red Book. After successfully propagating from seeds, cotton trees have been planted in many different locations, such as: 200 trees in Dau Go, Hon Luot; over 100 trees in Sung Sot, Titop, Me Cung, Bai Dong... and other tourist attractions. In addition to cotton trees, in the summer, visitors to Sung Sot, Titov... will surely be surprised to admire the large, yellow flowers, flowers in clusters, white, yellow, squirrel-tail shaped blooming on the sightseeing route, on the rocky island cliffs. The highlight is the Ha Long palm, a plant endemic to Ha Long Bay. To create a landscape, Ha Long palm is propagated by fruit and then planted in locations such as Cat Lan, Cua Van. The project was researched and implemented in the period of 2009-2010 with only 100 initial trees. Later, the project continued to be implemented in two forms of conservation: translocating palm trees to open places with beautiful landscapes and preserving them in place by protecting, monitoring and tracking growth on site. Thanks to that, Ha Long palm trees are now widely developed and often blooming at tourist destinations such as: Titov, Bo Hon, Lom Bo, May Den, Hang Trai, Chan Voi, Cat Lan... One of the beautiful flowering tree species that many people are interested in and enjoy is the spotted slipper orchid, listed in the IUCN Red List. This species has been researched and implemented for conservation by translocating. In 2016, orchids were experimentally planted in Cong Dam with about 100 trees with the aim of increasing the number in a natural area.

Sightseeing route in Thien Cung - Dau Go, cotton flowers are blooming in summer.

Seeing positive results, since 2017, the Ha Long Bay Management Board has conducted surveys, collected samples and expanded the orchid conservation model with more than 500 individuals. Thanks to that, in the areas of the Cua Van Floating Cultural Center, Cong Dam, on the cliffs along the length of the fishing village at an altitude of 4-5m above sea level, many orchids have grown well and bloomed, very convenient for observation and photography. In addition, many precious and endemic plants with beautiful shapes or flowers such as: Ha Long Cycad, Ha Long Acanthopanax, Ha Long Jasmine, Ha Long Fig... are also being researched and planted in destinations with beautiful landscapes, increasing the attractiveness of the Heritage. Notably, many flower species are currently being researched and planted in strips, over a wide area, to create landscape effects. For example, cotton trees are planted in large patches in the Nui Luot area to create the effect of a vast field of cotton trees. However, this approach initially brought practical results in promoting and advertising biodiversity values, but currently such projects are still limited due to lack of real attention and lack of funding.