(HBO) - Hoa Binh is known as a place having abundant tourism resources with many beautiful landscapes and caves recognized as the national beauty spots. This is also the place where most important archaeological relics of the famous "Hoa Binh Culture” have been discovered.
Waking the potential up
Van Yen ferry station, one of the boat stops selected when carrying tourists on Da River of Hoa Binh - Son La route.
There are more than 70 caves containing the archaeological relics of the "Hoa Binh Culture” in the province. More than 40 relics at the national level and 27 relics at the provincial level have been renovated and embellished to develop tourism. In particular, Hoa Binh lake with the beautiful natural landscape, the water surface area of 8,000 ha and the capacity of 9.5 billion square meters of water was approved by the Prime Minister as the Master Plan for developing the national tourist areas in Hoa Binh lake up to 2030 in August 2016.
Strengthening the investment and the development, now there are a number of cultural, ecological, spiritual, sports and community tourist zones, routes and destinations which are in the operation to serve the tourists. They include Hoa Binh Lake tourist area, Phuong Hoang golf course (Luong Son), Mai Chau Ecolodge eco-resort (Mai Chau), Kim Boi Serena Resort (Kim Boi), the museum of Muong cultural space, the museum of cultural heritage of Muong ethnic people (Hoa Binh city), Tien pagoda (Lac Thuy), Thac Bo temple (Da Bac) and the community tourism sites in Lac and Pom Coong, Van and Hang Kia villages (Mai Chau); Luy Ai village (Tan Lac) and so on.
Strengthening the link for development
Hoa Binh is a mountainous province, which is adjacent to Hanoi Capital and it is also the gateway of the Northwestern region with a relatively developed transport network of road and waterway connecting with other provinces in the region, creating the great opportunity for cooperating to develop economy, especially in the field of tourism. In the process of turning tourism into an important economic sector of the province, Hoa Binh signed an agreement to participate in the cooperation program for the tourism development of 8 Northwestern provinces in June 2010. They include Hoa Binh, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang and Phu Tho provinces.
Mr. Luu Huy Linh, the Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism says that in recent years, the Department has strengthened the information exchange, sharing difficulties and cooperating to build tourism products that have the unique characteristics of the locality and the general strength of the whole Northwest region. They have been focusing on the investment in tourism infrastructures such as transportation, accommodation facilities, places of interest and entertainment, etc., especially the inter-provincial transport infrastructure and the roads connecting tourist sites and areas within the province in each locality.
The coordination of tourism promotion and organizing events in each province have well done. They have been focusing on developing tourism products with a brand name and high quality. They have also been focusing on the research to build tourist routes, destinations and areas in each locality, creating a highlight to improve the effectiveness of the linkage between the localities. In this route, the Department advised the Tourism Steering Committee of the province to develop the cooperation programs with other tourist centers such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Nam, Ha Tinh, Son La and Dien Bien, Lai Chau to share experiences and connect tours and travel routes in 2018. In addition, they have been expanding the cooperation of tourism development with other countries such as Hua Phan province (Laos), Russia, Tuv province (Mongolia) ... for the tourist market in Hoa Binh in particular and in the Northwest region in general.
Since the beginning of the year, the province has continued to coordinate with Son La, Dien Bien and Lai Chau provinces to build and put into operation the inter-lake waterway tourism route on Da River. Two major cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been participating in organizing the tourism promotion activities. They have coordinated to build tourism map of the eight expanded Northwest provinces ...
They have synchronous implemented the measures to arouse the potential, strengthening links for mutual development. Tourism in Hoa Binh has shown good signs. In the first 9 months of this year, it has estimated to welcome 2.5 million turns of tourists, of which, the international visitors are 290,000 and the domestic visitors are 2.21 million. The total revenue from tourism is estimated at 1,650 billion VND, reaching 82.5% of the year’s plan. It is expected that the number of tourists will increase at the end of the year, when the Week of the Provincial Culture and Tourism in 2019.
Spanning thousands of hectares and winding gracefully along mountain slopes, hillsides, and riverbanks, the terraced rice fields of Lac Son District present a stunning and captivating beauty. This region, renowned for its remarkable terraced landscapes, is also the centre of Hoa Binh Culture known for numerous archaeological sites.
The life of Mong people in Hang Kia and Pa Co communes of Mai Chau district has improved much thanks to tourism development.
The man-made Hoa Binh Lake, with a water surface area of approximately 9,000 hectares and a capacity of 9.45 billion cubic meters, stretches over 200 kilometers from Hoa Binh to Son La provinces. With the goal of developing into a national tourism area, the Hoa Binh Lake tourism area is expected to not only become the largest tourism centre in the province but also one of the 12 key tourist destinations in the northern midland and mountainous region of Vietnam.
Da Bia hamlet, now Duc Phong, in Tien Phong commune, Da Bac district, was once almost isolated from the outside as the only way to the hamlet was to get a boat ride across the Hoa Binh reservoir. However, as its tourism potential has been unleashed, the hamlet has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations on the tourism map. It has even received the ASEAN Community-Based Tourism Awards in 2019.
In the first 9 months of 2024, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province welcomed over 684 thousand visitors to visit and relax. In which, over 516 thousand domestic visitors and more than 168 thousand international visitors. Total revenue from tourism is estimated at over 821 billion VND.
Da Bac district, bestowed with stunning landscapes, is developing ecological and resort tourism offerings. Several tourist sites, put into operation this year, has attracted throngs of high-spending and young domestic visitors.
