SAPA

Sapa is a town in Lao Cai province, 400km Northwest of Hanoi. With a sub-temperate and sub-tropical climate, Sapa is pretty cool in summer with a temperature of 13-15^oC at night and of 20-25^oC during the day. In winter, being covered with fog, Sapa is very cold with the temperature sometimes dropping below 0^oC. Snow sometimes falls in Sapa. The town is famous for Tinh market (Love market) of mountainous ethnic people, nearly 100-year-old architectural works on the mountainside, mountain foods and many unique tourist spots such as Hoang Lien Son National Park, a 3,143m-high Fansipan Peak, which is branded “the roof the nation”, Ham Rong Mountain (Dragon’s jaw) with the climbing route with flowers blooming all year around, May Bridge, Bac Waterfall, Truc Forest (bamboo forest), Ta Phin cave and Cat Cat village…

DIEN BIEN

Dien Bien is a mountainous province in Northwestern border, about 500 km from Hanoi. It has a mountainous tropical monsoon climate. Dien Bien is always associated with Dien Bien Phu victory, in which Vietnam’s army and people defeated French colonialists in 1954. At present, in Dien Bien there are still vestiges of a thousand-kilo explosive charge blowing up on A1 hill, relics of Command Post of Vietnam’s army and people in Muong Thanh valley, Dien Bien Phu Museum (displaying 274 objects and 122 pictures depicting Dien Bien Phu victory), and so on. Besides historical sites, Dien Bien also has many tourist spots such as Muong Luan tower, Hua Pe hot mineral stream with a regular temperature of 60^oC, and a man-made Pe Luong lake which is windy all year round and is a resort for ecological tourism and convalescence…

HA NOI

Hanoi is the capital of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and is the headquarters of national politics, and administration, the large center for culture, education, economy and international transaction of the whole country. In 2000, Hanoi was recognized as City for Peace by UNESCO. The city is also regarded as one of the most beautiful cities of Asia. Hanoi has many lakes and green trees. Located near Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) are Hanoi Opera House, many French architecture villas and the 36-street old quarter where the old architectural style is preserved and souvenirs are sold. Coming to Hanoi, tourists can visit President Ho’s Mausoleum and Ho Chi Minh’s Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Temple of Literature, and so on. Besides, Hanoi also has many traditional handicraft villages such as Hang Bac Street with jewelry/silver making, Cot Village with paper making, Ngoc Ha flower village, Bat Trang Ceramic Village, and so on. Hanoi is also rich in culinary arts with the most famous dishes include Hanoi Pho (Hanoi noodle), La Vong grill fish, Vong village green rice flakes

HA LONG

Halong is the capital city of Quang Ninh province, which is 160km Northeast of Hanoi. Ha Long has a coastal tropical monsoon climate. Coming to Halong, tourists can have a chance to visit the World Heritage Halong Bay with a long coast line of nearly 20km. The total square of Halong Bay is 1,553 km². The bay consists of 1,969 islands of different size (The world-recognized region has an area of 434 km² with 775 islands and looks like a three-pointed triangle) Halong has many beautiful grottos including Me Cung, Tam Cung, Bo Nong, Dau Go, Hanh, Ham, Trinh Nu (Virgin), and so on. Among these, the most impressive one is grotto Sung Sot (Surprise), which Halong is endowed by Nature.

investinvietnam.vn

Potential of Quangninh Province and Halong Bay

Potential for tourism development

Ha Long Bay has many favorable conditions for tourism development and currently offers various kinds of tourism, such as sightseeing, bathing, research and water sports. In the future Quang Ninh Tourism will develop new and attractive types of tourism and new resorts. It is forecast that Quang Ninh will become the biggest tourist destination in Vietnam by 2010.

Ha Long is a young city where urbanization and development in all socio-economic areas are occurring rapidly. These provide a solid basis for tourism development. At present, the City has 300 hotels between one and five star standard. These provide 4,500 rooms, which basically meet current tourist demands. However, recent years have seen an enormous growth in tourism and the growth of visitor volume to Ha Long Bay has been assessed as the fastest in Vietnam. In 1996, Ha Long Bay received only 236,000 arrivals but in 2003 the figure reached 1,306,919. It is forecast that Ha Long Bay will receive between 1.5 - 1.8 million visitors by 2005 and 2.5 - 3 million by 2010.

Potential for marine port and transport development

Ha Long is a protected bay, with smooth waters and light winds. In addition, it has a wide range of natural sea routes and low sedimentation, enabling the creation of large sea-ports such as Cai Lan (in Ha Long) and Cua Ong (in Cam Pha), Mui Chua, Van Gia and Nam Cau Trang. Cai Lan, the largest of these, is a deep-sea port, lying close to the Bai Chay ferry and National High Way No.18A, thus providing favorable conditions for the loading and transporting of commodities. Cai Lan is targeted for completion by 2010, and will be have 7 wharves with a carrying capacity of over 14 million tons, able to receive ships of up to 50,000tons.

Potential for marine resource development

The sea around Quang Ninh has a rich ecosystem with high bio-diversity value and has enormous potential for the exploitation of marine products. It has favorable natural conditions for both fishing and aqua-culture, such as: a good climate, a large tidal area, clean water, rich marine resources in both onshore and offshore fishing grounds, and a diverse species composition, for example grouper, shell, and all kinds of shrimps. The topography also makes aqua-culture by floating cape in Ha Long Bay highly effective.