The magnificent beauty of Phong Nha cave in Quang Binh province (Photo: phongnhatourism.com.vn)

The provinces’ coordination board for tourism development held a meeting in Vinh City, Nghe An Province, on January 9 to review tourism cooperation in 2017 and launch tasks for this year. The event was attended by officials of the provinces’ tourism departments and associations, travel companies, and centres of tourism information and promotion.

Participants said in 2018, the localities should take part in more domestic and international fairs, workshops, exhibitions, festivals and other events. They need to improve joint pavilions at tourism fairs while working more closely to promote their tourism image in foreign markets and open new international and domestic air routes to each province.

Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh should continue with joint efforts to develop the “central heritage road”, a tourism route through heritage sites from the Citadel of the Ho Dynasty in Thanh Hoa to Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh. Tours retracing the journeys of celebrities and heroes in the provinces should also be developed.

The meeting also urged the four provinces to team up to create tourism products serving visitors who travel from Laos and Thailand to Viet Nam through the border gates of Cha Lo (Quang Binh), Cau Treo (Ha Tinh), Nam Can (Nghe An), and Na Meo (Thanh Hoa).

Participants suggested the provinces develop cultural, historical and spiritual tourism products targeting domestic tourists such as tours of destinations along Ho Chi Minh Road and local temples.

In 2017, the four provinces swiftly recovered from the marine pollution incident in early 2016. Tourism services revived, particularly in coastal areas from Nghe An to Quang Binh.

They welcomed 19.76 million tourist arrivals, including over 450,000 foreigners, last year, respectively rising by 35.75 percent and 71.45 percent from 2016.

At the meeting, the tourism associations of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh signed a cooperation agreement on tourism development.