Transforming Ninh Binh into Major National Tourist Center

With a consistent green, sustainable tourism and community-based tourism development strategy that upholds natural, cultural and historical values and with a meticulous approach, Ninh Binh province has increasingly asserted its position as a must-visit destination for domestic and foreign tourists. The province strives to become a major tourist center by 2045, among the Top 10 tourist destinations in Southeast Asia and make tourism a key economic sector that contributes 10% of the gross regional domestic product (GRDP).

Tourism developed into a key economic sector

Ninh Binh is known to have rich tourism resources with many distinctive and attractive natural landscapes such as Trang An Scenic Landscape, Tam Coc - Bich Dong Cave, Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Wetland Nature Reserve. The province also has a lot of unique intangible cultural heritages with folk festivals, traditional crafts and arts, and rich cuisine. These are huge potential and advantages for the province to create exceptional tourism products with strong competitiveness and brand identity.

Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014

To unlock potential advantages, the resolution of the 22nd Provincial Party Congress (2020 - 2025 term) restates: Developing Ninh Binh into a regional and national tourism center and making tourism a key economic sector. On October 29, 2021, the Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution 07-NQ/TU on tourism development in 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2045, shifting the development strategy from breadth to depth.

Accordingly, Ninh Binh has focused on creating culture-based tourism products, improving service quality, building and developing tourism destination brands with unique products, safe, friendly and attractive tourism environments.

In addition to inbound tourism development, Ninh Binh has expanded investment cooperation and tourism development with major tourism centers like Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Hai Phong, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoa Binh; and coordinated to develop tourism routes between Cat Ba Archipelago biosphere reserve with Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex. In the first six months of 2024, the province was estimated to welcome 6.28 million visitors, a 38% year-on-year growth or 83.76% of the full-year plan, including 5.58 million domestic visitors and over 700,000 international visitors. Tourism revenue was forecast at more than VND5,936 billion, over 1.5 times higher than the value in the same period of 2023 and 71.96% of the yearly plan.

To realize the goal of becoming a major tourism center of the country and the region and making tourism a spearhead economic sector that contributes 10% to GRDP, the sector has carried out “multi-tasks” and “multi-solutions” with the highest determination and effort, said Mr. Bui Van Manh, Director of Ninh Binh Tourism Department. Specifically, the province has fostered investment socialization, mobilized resources for infrastructure investment, developed new tourism products, introduced mechanisms and policies to stimulate all economic sectors to invest in tourism development. It has concentrated on wooing well-branded investors to invest in tourism services, shopping centers and entertainment.

 Bai Dinh Pagoda in Ninh Binh province is a major spiritual site, attracting tens of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims annually

Ninh Binh province has conducted market research, boosted domestic and international advertising and cooperation in tourism development, applied information technology and digital transformation, developed tourism human resources with a reasonable structure to ensure enough qualified human resources, especially executive and operative staffs.

Developing four key tourism product groups

The Ninh Binh Provincial Planning for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, states that Ninh Binh will develop four main tourism product groups: (1) Cultural - historical tourism: Locally distinctive tourism products with its own Ninh Binh brand; (2) natural landscape sightseeing products; (3) eco-tourism, resort, and medical healthcare: High-class resorts, marine and forest ecosystems and hot mineral sources; and (4) creative tourism products of innovative thinking, high intellectual content and resource saving.

The province will develop three groups of supporting tourism products: (1) Theme-based products: Natural discovery, festivals and cuisine; (2) Intersectoral products: MICE tourism, agricultural tourism, sports tourism, educational tourism, community tourism and film studio discovery; and (3) Inter-regional tourism products.

The locality has concentrated on developing high-class tourism products, taking the quality of tourism products and services as a competitive advantage in the future over neighboring provinces and cities and competitors. It has developed three key highlighted products: Trang An World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site, Kenh Ga - Van Trinh Tourist Resort Complex, and resorts in Cuc Phuong, Van Long and Kim Son coastal areas.

“These key highlights will become the locomotive and the driving force to attract tourists and position the image and brand of Ninh Binh tourism. The province will gradually expand and diversify products by spreading them to other tourist spaces and creating interwoven and interlinked tourist routes within other provinces and regions,” he said.

In the near term, the province will focus on devising green and sustainable tourism development, planning Ninh Binh National Wildlife Park, planning subareas in the Trang An World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site, build master plans for value conservation and promotion of the Trang An World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site in the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex. It will establish, revise and supplement Van Long, Cuc Phuong, Dong Thai Lake and Ma Tien Cave tourist area construction plans.

Ninh Binh will plan and strictly protect landscapes, geological and geomorphological values and tourism development potential. The province will research and develop plans for preservation of the Hoa Lu cultural space in Truong Yen commune and surrounding areas, the cultural space in Boi River and Hoang Long River areas, and the cultural space of Van Lam traditional craft village linked with Vu Lam Palace, Hoa Lu district.

The province will develop modern and synchronous tourism infrastructure and facilities, promote communications to raise public and business awareness of environmental conservation and protection.

“The sector will encourage innovation, speed up tourism socialization and cooperation, mobilize all natural, cultural and historical resources and people to build Ninh Binh into a major tourist center of the country and the region, a “safe - friendly - quality - attractive” destination, Manh said.

Hoai Nam (Vietnam Business Forum)