Vietnam to promote World Heritage sites at ATF

The tourism authority has chosen the World Heritage sites, the 1,000-year-old capital of Hanoi and the unique central coast as Vietnam’s highlights at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2011.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, deputy head of the marketing department of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), told the Daily on January 10 VNAT, the tourism authorities of HCMC, Danang, Phu Yen and Nghe An, and around 40 travel firms and hotels would join the event in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh from January 15 to January 21.

The Vietnamese delegation will showcase Vietnamese tourism products and services, and work with foreign buyers at the ATF Travex, a three-day travel trade mart set for January 19.

ASEAN member countries are among the main source markets of the domestic tourism sector along with China, Europe, and Northeast Asia. Tourist arrivals from ASEAN, mostly Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, have also been on the rise in the past two years.

Cambodia is a case in point, with around 254,600 Cambodians visiting Vietnam in 2010, up 87% year-on-year.

The yearly forum will be attended by the 10 ASEAN countries to seek to promote ASEAN as a tourist destination. This year it goes with the theme “A World of Wonders and Diversity” and features other activities such as conference and travel exhibitions.

The ASEAN Tourism Conference will look into topics such as ecotourism and sustainable tourism in the region and management of tourism services in heritage sites.

According to a statement of the organizing committee, over 500 exhibition booths are occupied and around 1,000 buyers have put their names down to join the event.

Khanh Hoa welcomes great number of tourists

Over 25,000 tourists flocked to the central province of Khanh Hoa during the first three days of 2011, up more than 20% over the same period last year.

According to a report of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, of the total, foreign visitors rose by almost 80%. The province’s tourism sector earned VND22 billion in revenues. On January 4, the Ocean Princess cruise liner from Hong Kong including 750 tourists aboard arrived in Nha Trang Port, marking the start of high-class international seaway tourism in Khanh Hoa Province this year.

Last year, Khanh Hoa Province welcomed 15 cruise ships with 16,000 foreign tourists.

According to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2010 is the year that Khanh Hoa Province attracted the greatest number of foreign tourists, which reached 390,000, up 30% over 2009.

Princess Daphne Cruise Ship docks at Sai Gon Port

The Princess Daphne Cruise Ship docked at Sai Gon Port on December 30 with 530 passengers on board. 

Most visitors are from Australia. This is the first time Princess Daphne comes to Vietnam.

Saigontourist will conduct tours of Ho Chi Minh City, Cu Chi tunnels and My Tho City in Tien Giang Province for these visitors. They will also take part in a wide range of activities, such as shopping at Ben Thanh Market, watching water puppet show, walking around Cho Lon area, visiting Phuong Nam Lacquer Workshop and enjoying coconut sweets, fruits and honey of the Mekong Delta region.

The cruise will leave Ho Chi Minh City on December 31 and will return to Vietnam on January 15.

In 2010, Saigontourist received more than 60,000 visitors from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain who came to Vietnam by cruise ships. The company also joined the union of cruise ship suppliers in Asia to promote cruise tourism in Vietnam.

(Source: VOV)

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park   (World Natural Heritage List)
Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park lies in Quang Binh Province - the central Vietnam. Covering an area of about 200,000 hectares, Phong Nha – Ke Bang situated in Quang Ninh, Bo Trach, Tuyen Hoa and Minh Hoa districts, is 50km northwest of Dong Hoi City.

Phong Nha - Ke Bang can be compared to a huge geological museum thanks to its complicated geological structure with different categories of stone including sandstone, quartz, schist, siliceous limestone, granite, granodiorite, diorite, applet, pegmatite, etc. Phong Nha-Ke Bang is the oldest and largest tropical karst formed 400 million years during the main geological periods of the Earth, bearing the original topographic and geologic characteristics. Experiencing major tectonic phases, high mountain ranges and the depressed sedimentary basins were formed. These fluctuations have also contributed to the diversity of geology, topography, geomorphology.

Phong Nha - Ke Bang karst mountains can provide a lot of valuable information about the Earth's prolonged geological process through various periods, from the Paleozoic (about 400 million year ago) to the Carboniferous and Permian (340-240 million years ago). It is also noteworthy to mention a geological characteristic – the system of underground rivers and grottos in limestone mountains.

In the non-karst geomorphologic area, there are many low mountains covered by a floristic carpet. The erosion has created a number of abrasion-accumulation terraces along the valleys of the Son and Chay rivers and at the margins of the central limestone massifs. The transition terrain consists of a diversity of rock intercalated by limestone mountains.

Besides the historical value of geology, topography, geomorphology, Phong Nha - Ke Bang is also favoured with the mysterious and majestic landscapes by nature. The Phong Nha–Ke Bang Natural Park still hides various myths of nature. It also has spectacular karst caves formed for hundreds of millions of years.

Locating in the area with a high average rainfall, however, few rivers and streams can be seen because water is absorbed to run inside limestone mountains. Therefore over tens of million years, water has eroded rocks, creating numerous caves in the area. The Phong Nha grotto system has evaluated as the most value in the world by the British Cave Research Association (BCRA) which held several world cave records, as it has the longest underground river, highest and widest entrance, the most beautiful sand and rock banks, the most magnificent and fanciful stalactites and stalagmites.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang area is noted for its cave and grotto systems as it is composed of 300 caves and grottos, divided into three main systems: Phong Nha Grottos, Vom Caves, and Ruc Mon Caves.

The Phong Nha grotto system is 40km long in total, rising from south of Ke Bang Limestone Mountain. The main entrances are Khe Ry and En Grottoes situated at a height of 300m above sea level. The grottoes of this tree-branch system run in the direction of northeast-southwest.

The system of Vom caves is over 30km long, rising from Ruc Ca Roong Cave located at a height of 360m above sea level and ending with Vom Cave. The system runs south and north. Ruc Ca Roong River sometimes hides in mountains, sometimes appears in narrow and deep valleys, and flows into the Chay River at the entrance of Vom Cave.

The system of Ruc Mon caves that lies in the district of Minh Hoa is also a large cave. However, the information about this system is not abundant because few surveys have been conducted in this area so far.

Next to the Phong Nha Grotto is Tien Son Cave - also known as Dry Grotto or Upper Phong Nha, a famous beautiful cave in Phong Nha – Ke Bang area - where features spectacular stalactites and stalagmites shaped like several fairy-tales. In addition, the Thien Duong Cave remains untouched, with a very splendid beauty, longer and larger than Phong Nha or Tien Son Grottos. Especially, Son Dong Cave is one of the most newly-found caves in the national park that found by a British expedition in April 2009. It is regarded as the largest cave in the world. The biggest chamber of Son Dong is over five kilometers in length, 200 meters high and 150 meters wide.

With its characteristics of topography, climate, soil and hydrography, Phong Nha - Ke Bang boasts a rich, diversified and unique flora. Investigations show that Phong Nha - Ke Bang has a large tropical forest floor. It covers 96.2 percent of the natural area, of which nearly 90 percent is covered by primeval forests. The diversity of rare and precious species of animals and plants in Phong Nha - Ke Bang is corollary of its natural conditions, and is a feature of the forest ecosystem.

Statistics show that the flora of Phong Nha - Ke Bang belongs to 152 families, 511 branches, and 876 species, including 38 listed in Vietnam’s Red Book, 25 in IUCN’s Red Book (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) and 13 endemic species.

A very important discovery in this national park is three rare and precious species – Sao la, Mang lon and Mang Truong Son - were founded in this area. Especially, Sao la and Mang lon are new species discovered in the world. Of the 81 recorded reptile and amphibian species, 18 are listed in Vietnam’s Red Book and 6 in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. In addition, there are 259 butterfly species, 72 fish species including 4 endemic ones in Quang Binh only and one first found in Vietnam; 302 bird species including 15 species listed in Vietnam’s Red Book and 19 in IUCN Red Book. Particularly, black-comb blue pheasants (ga loi lam mau den), white-tail blue pheasants (ga loi lam duoi trang) and peacocks are the global-level endangered species. Phong Nha - Ke Bang is considered a huge biological museum in Vietnam.

With its vivid evidences of the Earth's formation, geological, topographic and geomorphologic history, mysterious landscapes and the bio-diversity of the national park as well as its unique historical and cultural values, Phong Nha – Ke Bang has been declared a world natural heritage by UNESCO at the 27th meeting in Paris in July 2003.

Halong Bays

Geographical position

Situated in the north-east region of Viet Nam, Halong Bay is a part of Bac Bo Gulf and comprises the sea area of Halong City, Cam Pha Town and a part of Van Don island district, Quang Ninh Province. It borders Cat Ba Island to the south-west, the mainland to the west with a 120km-long coastline.

Natural Beauty

Halong Bay covers a total area of 1,553km², including 1,969 islands of various sizes, 989 of which have been given names. There are two kinds, limestone and schist, which are concentrated in two main zones: the south-east (belonging to Bai Tu Long Bay) and the south-west (belonging to Halong Bay). The average geological age of the islands is between 250 and 280 million years old.

Halong Bay has been called by the great national poet Nguyen Trai: "a marvel of the earth erected towards the high skies". While exploring the bay, tourists will feel lost in a legendary world of stone islands which shapes change depending on the angle and the light. There are many names given to islands according to their shapes and forms such as Hon Dau Nguoi (Human Head Islet), Hon Rong (Dragon Islet), Hon Canh Buom (Sail Islet), Hon Trong Mai (Cock and Hen Islet)… But the beauty of Halong Bay does not consist only in the forms of its mountains, islands and the colour of its waters, but also in its infinitely rich system of grottoes and caves such as: Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace Grotto), Dau Go (Driftwood Grotto), Sung Sot (Surprise Grotto), Tam Cung (Three Palace Grotto), Trinh Nu (Virgin Grotto)…. Each is a grandiose and refined natural architectural creation.

Geological value

The most remarkable geological events of Halong Bay’s history in the last 1,000 years include the advance of the sea, the raising of the bay area and the strong erosion that has formed coral and pure blue and heavily-salted water. This process of erosion by sea water has deeply engraved the stone, contributing to its fantastic beauty. Present-day Halong Bay is the result of this long process of geological evolution that has been influenced by so many factors. It is because of all these factors that the tourists now visiting Halong Bay are not only treated to one of the true wonders of the world, but also to a precious geological museum that has been naturally preserved in the open air for the last 300 million years.

Value of biological diversity

Results of scientific research show that Halong Bay features ecosystems of a tropical ocean region such as ecosystem of coral reefs with 232 species of coral distributed mainly in the areas of Cong Do and Bo Hung. It is also home to 81 species of gastropoda, 130 species of bivalvia, 55 species of polycheta and 57 species of crab. The ecosystem of salt water-flooded forests chiefly concentrated in the zones of Tuan Chau, Cua Luc and Ba Che has the most diversified collection of species of salt water-flooded plant in North Vietnam. Also living in this ecosystem are a great many species of animals: migrating birds (200 species), polycheta (169 species), seaweed (91 species), reptile (10 species). Halong Bay also has ecosystem of tropical rain forests with various rare and precious creatures: deer, weasels, squirrels and in particular, white-tabby and red-haired monkeys. In addition, there is a system of small caves along the sea, which are the living and development places for many animals and plants: seaweed, water plant, algae, fish and shrimp. Deeper into the water, there are also many species of shrimp, fish, abalone and other sea-specialities.

Historical and cultural value

Halong is a place closely linked to Vietnam’s history with such famous geographical names as: Van Don (site of an ancient commercial port); Poem Mountain (with engravings of many poems by emperors and other famous people of the past); and Bach Dang River (the location of two fierce naval battles fought against foreign aggressors). This is not all, Halong has been proven by scientists to be one of the first cradles of human existence in the area, with such archaeological sites as Dong Mang, Xich Tho, Soi Nhu and Thoi Gieng…

On December 17, 1994, Halong Bay was recognised as world natural heritage for its natural beauty at the 18th meeting of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Thailand. On December 12, 2000, Halong Bay was recognised as world natural heritage for the second time based on its geological value at the 24th meeting of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Cairns, Australia. The recognised site covers an area of 434km², comprises 775 islands and forms a triangle: with Dau Go Island (Driftwood Grotto) to the west; Ba Ham Lake (Three Shelter Lake) to the south and Cong Tay Island to the east.