Ha Van Sieu, deputy head of the Vietnam NationalTourism Administration, said at the event that the mountain, 600m above sealevel and 10km from downtown Da Nang, will become a key destination along withworld heritage sites in Hoi An town and the provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, QuangBinh, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen.
“The mountain has been a lung for Da Nang withits rich biodiversity and the Nature Reserve. That’s why the Government hasdecided to add it to the National Tourism plan, with the aim of hosting 4.6million tourists in 2030,” Sieu said.
“Son Tra and Da Nang will be at the crossroadsof Vietnam’s road and sea tourism as the city is situated in central Vietnam andlinks with the national highway and railway systems as well as deep sea ports,”he said.
Sieu said Son Tra alone is designed toaccommodate 300,000 tourists in 1,600 luxury hotel rooms.
By 2030, the mountain is expected to earn tourism revenues of 4.3 trillion VND(190.3 million USD) and create 2,800 jobs, he added.
As planned, the Son Tra Mountain, which coversan area of 4.439ha, will have 1,056ha earmarked for development as a nationaleco-tourism and luxury resort in central Vietnam.
Da Nang’s tourism department has said that itwill introduce the Son Tra Sunset Tour later this year as the newest tourismservice.
The tour will allow visitors to enjoy abreathtaking sunset panorama and a bird’s eye view of Son Tra peninsula as wellas a corner of the city from 600m above sea level, the department said.
The Son Tra Mountain is already a popular tourist destination, with 10,000tourists visiting every month.
The mountain shelters nearly 300 red-shankeddouc langurs, which were declared endangered by the International Union for theConservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2013.
The city has approved a long-term plan (until 2030) to protect biodiversity inthe Son Tra Nature Reserve.
The Son Tra Peninsula Strategic Vision Plan,which was designed by the US’s Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), hasbeen awarded an excellence prize by the American Institute of Architects (AIA),the city’s construction department announced on February 15.
According to the government’s 2020-30 master planfor the tourism development in the central region, Da Nang, Son Tra andfavourite tourism destinations like Hoi An, My Son Sanctuary and Hue MonumentComplex will welcome six million foreign tourists and eight million domesticvisitors, earning tourism revenues of 2.1 billion USD by 2020 and creating80,000 jobs in the process.
Da Nang, which is situated in the East-WestEconomic Corridor, will help boost caravan tours and links with Mawlamyine andDawei in Myanmar; Khon Kaen and Bangkok in Thailand; Savanakhet in Laos; SiamReap in Cambodia; and the localities of Hue, Hoi An and Binh Dinh.-VNA