Ninh Binh expects to welcome 7.8 million tourists in 2020

Ninh Binh province, which is hosting the 2020 National Tourism Year, strives to welcome about 7.8 million tourists in the year, including approximately one million foreigners.

Ninh Binh is home to Trang An Landscape Complex - which is recognised by UNESCO as the world’s mixed cultural and natural heritage, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. (Photo: VNA)

In 2019, the northern province served 7.6 million visitors, a year-on-year rise of 3 percent. They included 970,000 international holidaymakers, up 10.7 percent, according to the provincial Department of Tourism.

The tourism sector grossed 3.6 trillion VND (155 million USD) in revenue, up 12 percent against the previous year.

Ninh Binh was listed as one of the 50 best spots to visit in 2018 by the US travel site Insider.

The province is home to Trang An Landscape Complex - which was recognised by UNESCO as the world’s mixed cultural and natural heritage, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. The complex was also used as a location for the movie Kong: Skull Island, one of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of 2017.

The 2020 National Tourism Year will feature the theme “Hoa Lu – ancient capital of a thousand years” with 27 activities, including Bai Dinh pagoda festival – which is scheduled to open on January 30, Hoa Lu festival from April 1-3, and Trang An festival from April 10 to late May 2020.

The Miss Capital ASEAN 2020 final round, the “Yellow Tam Coc - Trang An” tourism week, an international workshop on “xam” singing, a music exchange between provinces having world heritages and twinning localities at home and abroad, the second Trang An marathon tournament, and Ninh Binh trade and tourism fair are also among the planned events.

Other activities include Dau temple festival, Duc Thanh Nguyen temple festival, Thai Vi temple festival, display of Ninh Binh antiques, the Hoa Lu Volleyball Cup 2020, a photo competition themed “Ninh Binh land and people”, an international symposium on the preservation of world cultural and natural heritage values in combination with sustainable tourism development, among others.