Ninh Binh's tourism sector with new expectations

Creating momentum for new year

The year 2023 was an important year for the province's tourism sector to fulfill the resolution set by the 22^nd provincial Party Congress.

Right at the beginning of 2023, Ninh Binh's tourism picture was beautified with bright colours as both number of visitors and revenue increased sharply and services continued to grow.

Last year, the province welcomed nearly 6.6 million tourist arrivals, a 1.7-fold rise as compared to the previous year and 23.33% higher than the yearly plan.

The number of tourists staying overnight in Ninh Binh reached 1.3 million, a 1.5-fold increase from 2022.

Total revenue from tourism activities hit 6.5 trillion VND (266.6 million USD), a two-fold rise from the figure of 2022 and 56.5% higher than the yearly plan.

Bui Van Manh, Director of the Department of Tourism, said the outcomes were attributed to the right direction of the tourism sector, and the effective business strategies of local units and enterprises.

In 2023, numerous tourism products were launched, while local tourist sites were upgraded and luxury accommodation establishments were developed, such as Minawa Kenh Ga Rresort and Emeralda Tam Coc Resort.

Besides, Ninh Binh has paid due attention to organising a wide range of cultural activities in an attempt to introduce and popularise the values of tangible and intangible cultural heritages and local landscapes to tourists, thereby luring more investment into the tourism and culture sectors.

In 2023, the province also issued some policies to stimulate the tourism sector's development.

Making greater efforts for new targets

Upholding the successes in 2023, many local travel and service companies have been determined to reach new targets this year.

Representatives of some local firms said the second Ninh Binh-Trang An Festival - the opening activity of 2024 - attracted a large number of visitors to Ninh Binh. This was seen as a momentum for local businesses to make greater efforts to achieve the set targets.

Director of the Department of Tourism Bui Van Manh said the province has set a target of receiving 7.5 million tourist arrivals in 2024, including 900,000 foreign visitors, and earning 8.25 trillion VND (338.2 million USD) in revenue.

The sector will pay due attention to upgrading local accommodation establishments, improving the qualifications of the workforce and building new tourism products to lure more tourists to Ninh Binh, he added.

Translated by Nguyen Thuy