Theopening week for National Tourism Year-Thanh Hoa 2015 is taking place inThanh Hoa from April 3-10, and is being marked with 10 events, whichinclude a requiem for war martyrs; the 50th anniversary of the Ham RongVictory; the announcement of the Ma River tour; and the Festival of theIntangible Cultural Heritage of Vietnam recognised by UNESCO.
Earlier,Thanh Hoa presented master plans on developing tourism in the provinceuntil 2020 with a vision to 2030 to improve the quality of tourism, thepaper said.
Accordingly, Thanh Hoa has completed 11 generalprojects and 17 particular projects on upgrading tourism sites andconnecting tourism services.
The province has embarked on a driveto improve its business and investment climate, strengtheninginvestment, extending relations, and seeking investments to upgrade itstourism infrastructure. The province has attracted 66 tourism projectswith total registered capital of 23.28 trillion VND — thirty of them arealready licensed and under construction.
Additionally, theprovince has focused on upgrading cultural sites, historical sites andmain tourist attractions such as the Ho Dynasty Citadel World CulturalHeritage, the Special National Site of Lam Kinh, the Cam Luong fishstream tourist site, Ba Trieu Temple, and exploiting sea tourismpotential.
After implementing the resolution of the partycommittee of Sam Son town on building a tourism brand name, the tourismservice’s quality in Sam Son beach has been improved. Along the102-kilometre coastline of Thanh Hoa province, Hai Hoa tourism zone inTinh Gia district, Hai Tien tourism zone in Hoang Hoa, and Tien Trangtourism zone in Quang Xuong district have also contributed to awakeningThanh Hoa’s tourism potential.
Over the last five years, ThanhHoa has worked to preserve around 200 relics at a total expense of 400billion VND (18.6 million USD). The quality of human resources in thetourism industry has gradually improved. The province currently has16,000 people working in the industry, 72 percent of whom arewell-trained. Thanh Hoa has around 672 accommodations offering 14,000rooms.
The province recorded over 482,000 tourists in 2001 with101 billion in tourism revenue. The figure rose to 4.5 million touristsin 2014, with 2 trillion VND in tourism revenue.
Located in the middle of Ninh Binh province and Nghe An province, Thanh Hoa has favourable conditions for developing tourism.
Hostingthe 2015 National Tourism Year with the theme ‘Connecting WorldHeritage’ affirmed Thanh Hoa authorities and local people’s goal ofbuilding the province to become one of Vietnam’s major tourism areas.
Inthe 2015 National Tourism Year, 12 events are expected to be organisedunder the instruction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism,along with 12 others by Thanh Hoa province. The highlights of the eventsare the opening and closing ceremonies for the national tourism year inMarch and December, in addition to the 50th anniversary ceremony of theHam Rong victory.
The other 15 cities and provinces with worldheritage sites will also organise events as part of the nationalprogramme including Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, and theprovinces of Phu Tho, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Ninh Binh, NgheAn, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Gia Lai and LamDong.
The province hopes to turn tourism into a key economicsector by 2020 and draw as many as 650,000 international visitors and 17million domestic travellers by 2030. The province is focusing onexploiting traditional values, calling for domestic and foreigninvestment, and cooperating with other provinces to preserve and promoteheritages, as well as ensuring social security.
According toPham Duy Phuong, Director of the Thanh Hoa provincial Department ofCulture, Sports, the province will also focus on preserving historicalsites, tourism attractions and ancient villages, promoting the value ofintangible cultural heritages; developing tourism products andcooperating with other provinces in developing Vietnam’s tourismindustry.
Thanh Hoa has 1,535 historical and cultural sites, 145of the sites are national sites. The Ho Dynasty Citadel, one of its mostattractive destinations, was recognised by UNESCO as a world culturalheritage site in 2011. Along with the tourism destinations, Thanh Hoahas nearly 200 traditional festivals and unique cultural treasures.-VNA