Ha Long determined to become civilised, friendly city

Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Tran Duc Lam said in 2017 and the following years, Ha Long – a city in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh – will continue developing socio-economic infrastructure and improve management of Ha Long Bay. 

It will run campaigns to encourage locals to follow a civilised lifestyle, clean up the environment, and be friendly towards tourists.

He added authorised agencies will strictly handle tourism-related wrongdoings and inspect tourist destinations to combat harassment or overcharging of visitors. In 2016, the city dealt with 703 administrative violations in the tourism industry, collecting total fines of nearly VND1.58 billion (over US$69,400).

Last year, Ha Long welcomed 6.3 million tourists and earned VND7.7 trillion (over US$338 million) in revenue, respective increases of 14% and 65% from the previous year. About 2.7 million of the visitors were foreigners, a year-on-year growth of 16%.

The number of tourists to this city also increased sharply from the outset of 2017, surpassing 660,000 during the Lunar New Year holiday alone – up 15% from the same period last year.

The municipal administration said it has worked to diversify and improve tourism products, upgrade infrastructure, and better tourism workers’ capacity. The sense of responsibility of local residents and service providers has also been improved.

Ha Long also helped to organise some activities of the Ha Long-Quang Ninh Tourism Week, the Yen Tu cherry-yellow apricot flower festival, Ha Long Carnival, the festival of Tran Quoc Nghien Temple, and a spring flower festival, thereby creating interesting tourism products.