Ha Long Bay - 30 years of world natural heritage

Nearly 5 centuries ago, on an occasion visiting Ha Long, the great poet Nguyen Trai praised Ha Long Bay in the poem Van Don.

" The road to Van Don is full of mountains and wonders of the earth standing in the high sky " Indeed, in the middle of a blue sea and clear water... thousands of rocky islands rise up, creating a unique natural wonder in the world - Ha Long Bay. Exactly 30 years ago, the masterpiece of nature on the sea of Quang Ninh was recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage for its exceptional and global value.

With an area of over 1,550km2, including 1,969 large and small islands, Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh) is known for its "unique" beauty, with towering stone pillars rising from the sea, overwhelming anyone who visits. The beauty of Ha Long Bay lies in four values: geology, geomorphology, aesthetic value, cultural - historical value and biodiversity value. That is also the strength for Quang Ninh to build "Four Seasons Wonder" tourism products.

According to the Ha Long Bay Management Board, the bay area has a geological history of about 3 billion years and has clear data for at least the past 500 million years. These are the imprints of geological evolution and tectonic movements left behind by faults, folds, grabens, ramparts, basins and formations marking profound changes in the paleogeographical situation of the area. The geological diversity of Ha Long Bay includes diversity in material composition; architecture, structure and geological evolution; diversity in ancient and modern sedimentary environments with special paleogeographical periods that have created diversity in terrain, geomorphology and natural landscapes.

The outstanding global geological and geomorphological value of Ha Long Bay is confirmed by the fact that it is a mature karst landscape in hot and humid tropical conditions, invaded and transformed by the sea many times. Ha Long Bay is also a place where almost all the basic forms of karst topography such as karst plains, funnels and valleys, karst peaks and towers gather. There are up to 60 caves in the bay, belonging to three groups: ancient underground caves, karst floor caves, and frog-jaw caves.

Not only that, Ha Long Bay also contains full of outstanding global geological and geomorphological values. The Ha Long Bay Management Board has continued to clarify the basic values of Ha Long Bay in terms of aesthetic landscape, geomorphology, cultural history and biodiversity, especially geomorphology. The scientific profile of Ha Long Bay has been supplemented and strengthened once again. On December 2, 2000, at the 24th Conference of the World Heritage Committee, Ha Long Bay was recognized as a World Natural Heritage for the second time with its geological and geomorphological values.

In a flash, 30 years have passed since it was first recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage in 1994. Ha Long Bay has gone from being a heritage of a small country in Southeast Asia to a heritage of all mankind. The reputation of Ha Long Bay has also spread far and wide with international tourism products. For foreign tourists coming to Vietnam, Ha Long Bay is a destination not to be missed. Many tourists have booked services 3-6 months in advance to admire the surreal beauty of the new natural wonder of the world, Ha Long Bay.

Over the past 30 years, tourism products on Ha Long Bay have been constantly diversified, improving the quality and emotions for the experiencer. If in the past, the tourist boats operating on the bay were wooden-hulled boats, painted in many colors, built in many different sizes, now Ha Long Bay has a fleet of more than 500 boats that are gradually being replaced by steel-hulled and white-painted boats with improved equipment and quality, ensuring both aesthetics and safety for tourists. In addition to traditional tourism services such as cave tours, mountain climbing, swimming, kayaking, rowing boats, speedboats, overnight stays... on Ha Long Bay, a number of new tourism products have been developed, meeting the market segment of tourists with high spending ability such as discovery cruise products; experiencing Ha Long Bay from above with seaplanes, helicopters; restaurant cruise products with Ha Long culinary experiences combined with enjoying music and visiting the beauty of Ha Long city at night...

During the peak season for international visitors, hundreds of cruise ships, from day boats to night boats to luxury and classy yachts depart from Tuan Chau wharf, creating a vibrant scene in Ha Long. According to the Ha Long Bay Management Board, in the 30 years since Ha Long Bay was recognized as a World Natural Heritage, with efforts in managing, preserving and promoting the value of the heritage, Ha Long Bay has become a bright spot on the national and international tourism map.

Recognized three times by UNESCO as a world natural heritage, Ha Long Bay is famous worldwide for its exceptional global values, making it an unmissable destination for international tourists when coming to Vietnam. From 1996 to November 2024, Ha Long Bay welcomed over 56.7 million visitors, including more than 30.7 million international visitors. In recent years, this destination has also caught the eye of the super-rich - the world's most sophisticated spenders. Many billionaires have chosen Ha Long Bay as the setting for their important events.

In 2019, Ha Long Bay hosted billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham Hotspur Club. In early 2024, Indian billionaires confidently chose Ha Long Bay as their wedding destination. In August 2024, the billionaire of the large Indian pharmaceutical corporation Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited brought 4,500 employees to Vietnam, Ha Long Bay was one of the three chosen destinations. According to information from the Ha Long Bay Management Board, in late 2024 and early 2025, some billionaires around the world will experience unique, high-class products exclusively for super-rich guests on Ha Long Bay.

According to the Head of Ha Long Bay Management Board, Vu Kien Cuong, currently tourism activities on Ha Long Bay are mainly concentrated in the tour itinerary number 1 and number 2 with an area of about 143km ² . Thus, we have only exploited ¼ of the heritage area. The world natural heritage of Ha Long Bay has outstanding values including: geological and geomorphological values, aesthetic values, cultural - historical values and biodiversity values. In which, aesthetic values and geological - geomorphological values are two outstanding global values recognized by UNESCO in 1994 and 2000 respectively. In terms of space, the bay has a total area of 1,553 km ² with 1,969 large and small islands, of which the heritage area has an area of 434 km ² including 775 islands. The remaining area in the heritage area (nearly ^300km2 ) is considered to be an area with pristine landscapes, with many beautiful sandy beaches, pine forests, and many potential points for developing high-end tourism products, but is currently left open and has not yet fully exploited its potential.

Lying peacefully next to Ha Long Bay, Bai Tu Long is a beautiful, pristine bay, possessing many islands with diverse vegetation, and the rich cultural life of the indigenous people. However, Bai Tu Long is still like a sleeping muse. Connecting Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long not only reduces the burden on the core heritage area, but also awakens the untapped tourism potential of Bai Tu Long Bay.

According to the Department of Tourism of Quang Ninh province, in the first 11 months of 2024, there were nearly 18 million visitors to Quang Ninh, of which international visitors reached about 3.46 million. Ha Long Bay alone welcomed 2.79 million visitors, international visitors accounted for more than 50%. In particular, the number of international visitors increased sharply in the fourth quarter of this year, accounting for 80% of the total number of visitors to Ha Long Bay. Many tourists come to Ha Long Bay not just once but many times. The tourism products on the bay are being exploited mainly on route 1 (Stone Dog Island - Dinh Huong Island - Ba Hang fishing village - Ga Choi Island - Thien Cung Cave - Dau Go Cave) and route 2 (Soi Sim Island - Ti Top Island - Sung Sot Cave - Bo Nau Cave - Luon Cave - Me Cung Cave).

There are currently more than 500 cruise ships operating in the bay. During the peak tourist season, especially in the summer, some famous attractions in the bay such as Dau Go Cave, Thien Cung Cave, and the beach on Ti Top Island are overloaded, causing tourists to have a bad experience. Mr. Vu Kien Cuong - Head of Ha Long Bay Management Board - said that when calculating the story of opening the space connection between Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay with suitable tourist routes, the problems will be solved: reducing the load on Ha Long Bay and awakening the tourism potential of Bai Tu Long Bay.

Waste is always a difficult problem for tourist destinations and Ha Long Bay is no exception. The bay area is large, connected to sea areas, urban areas, and large residential areas. The heritage area alone is ^434km2 wide, with many rocky islands, complex climate and oceanographic conditions, making it difficult to collect waste and protect the environment.

In recent years, Quang Ninh has implemented many solutions to reduce waste in the bay, raising awareness among people and tourism workers. In particular, the province has issued standards on materials used to make buoys in brackish and saltwater aquaculture, strictly handling violations of illegal aquaculture, using foam buoys in aquaculture activities to ensure environmental landscape, limiting the risk of dispersing waste and foam buoys to the Ha Long Bay heritage area.

In parallel, the Ha Long Bay Management Board has implemented waste collection in socio -economic areas on the bay, collecting waste at the foot of the island and on the sandbank to prevent the spread of waste to the water surface. In 2019, the program "Ha Long Bay without plastic waste" was launched with the message "do not use disposable plastic products in service and tourism activities on Ha Long Bay". After 5 years of implementation, more than 270 tourism and aquaculture businesses have signed a commitment not to use disposable plastic products in tourism service activities on Ha Long Bay.

"Up to now, tourism businesses and tourists have become accustomed to not using disposable plastic bottles and boxes to store food and drinks when going down to the bay. Even each tourist is a supervisor, they are ready to remind or not use the services of units that do not comply with environmental protection in the bay", said Mr. Vu Kien Cuong. In the coming time, Quang Ninh will continue with the orientation of developing green tourism, building a sustainable tourism development strategy to protect the values of the world natural heritage of Ha Long Bay.

Surpassing major cruise brands in the world such as Disney Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and Virgin Voyages, Grand Pioneers cruise ship became the World's Best Green Cruise Line 2024. This is the first cruise ship in Ha Long Bay to receive this prestigious award. World Cruise Awards is part of the World Travel Awards system, the gold standard in the cruise industry. This is the 4th time this award has been held to honor outstanding brands in innovation, sustainability and service quality.

The awards are voted for by industry experts and the public, with the nominee receiving the most votes in a category being named the winner. The awards are also a testament to the efforts of local authorities and tourism businesses for a green and sustainable Ha Long. Mr. Luong The Tuyen, Deputy Director of Viet Thuan Transport Company Limited, shared that the core philosophy of Grand Pioneers Cruise is "We only exist when we protect nature". This is the guiding principle for all activities of the cruise, from applying advanced green technologies to implementing long-term protection measures for the natural environment of Ha Long Bay.