A corner of Hoi An ancient city (Photo: VNA)Quang Nam (VNA) – The central coastal province of Quang Nam hasattained significant achievements in preserving its Hoi An ancient city and MySon Sanctuary after 20 years they received the UNESCO World Heritage Sitesstatus.
At a conference held in the province on September 7, the provincial People’sCommittee reported that more than 182.5 billion VND (79.4 million USD) has beenspent to restore 459 relic sites in Hoi An ancient city since 1999. The moneywas mobilised from the state and provincial budgets, foreign capital and thecity’s corresponding fund.
Particularly, the province approved a project on urgent restoration ofhistorical sites which are at high risk of collapse. Nearly 36.5 billion VNDhas been splashed out for the restoration work of 72 sites.
In the past two decades, 11 Cham towers in the world heritage site My SonSanctuary were repaired at the total cost of nearly 166.9 billion VND.
Along with the restoration work, the province has madeefforts to promote the cultural values of Hoi An ancient town by developingstandout tourism products like “full moon at the ancient city”, “pedestrianstreet”, “a day working as a farmer in Tra Que village”, and “a day as afisherman in Cu Lao Cham (Cham island)”, or tours to traditional craft villages.
Last year, the ancient city welcomed more than 2.3 million visitors as comparedto nearly 100,000 arrivals in 1999. Good tourism services have helped raise thelocals’ average income to 46 million VND a year.
Better tourism and transport infrastructure coupled with stellar culturalperformances at My Son Sanctuary have made the area become more attractive toboth domestic and local visitors. In 2018, almost 399,600 travellers came tothe site and generated 62.17 billion VND in tourism revenue.
As for Cu Lao Cham, which was recognised as a World Biosphere Reserve by theUNESCO ten years ago, the province has paid due attention to protecting marinespecies, mountainous areas and rainforest ecosystems.
According to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Van Tan,preservation work and development of tourism products have affirmed the risingposition of the two cultural heritages and Cu Lao Cham biosphere reserve on thetourism map of the country as well as the region.
Meanwhile, UNESCO Head of Office in Vietnam Michael Croft spoke highly ofefforts and contributions of individuals and organisations in the locality topreserving and promoting values of the heritages.
On the occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairspresented certificates of merit to five oraganisations and six individuals, andthe provincial People’s Committee awarded certificates of merit to 25organisations and individuals for their endless efforts in preserving values ofthe world heritage sites.-VNA
VNA
