The number of tourists visiting Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park in the central Quang Binh province, one of five world heritage sites in Vietnam decreased since the beginning of the year 2005 mainly due to poor tourism promotion activities.
The downtrend was mostly seen in the figures of domestic visitors coming to the park.
In the first four months of this year alone, Quang Binh announced the on-year decrease of 8 per cent. Especially, the total number of tourists to the Phong Nha- Ke Bang tourist site was down by 20 per cent.
Phong Nha – Ke Bang boasts a tropical primeval forest with many valuable properties in terms of geology, culture, history and biology. But the province has not fully tapped its potential to lure tourists.
Meanwhile, tourism fairs and promotion campaigns through means of television and Voice of Vietnam, which are now considered the most popular ways to advertise an area’s tourism image, have not been much used.
According to the local Tourism Department, only 10 per cent of vacationers coming back the site for the second time. Meanwhile, the rest had left without returning.
At present, the number of tourists from China traveling to Vietnam is ever increasing. However, they prefer to go to Ha Long Bay, another World heritage site of Vietnam.
Phong Nha seems to be forgotten, an official from the local Tourism Department said.
Monotonous tourism products, and low service quality are also a cause of the fall, the official added, revealing that Phong Nha witnessed the highest number of tourists with 332,000 in 2004, a year-on-year increase of 67 per cent, including more than 2,240 international arrivals, up 73.5 per cent over the same period of 2003.
“We must act now if we do not want to see the fall in the upcoming time,” the official noted, adding that the province needs to further cooperate with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism as well as other local Departments of Tourism to promote its tourism.
Phong Nha – Ke Bang was inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 3, 2003. It is a natural area in the oldest limestone region in Asia, created more than 400 million years ago.
The site, which is located in Son Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province, some 50km North West from Dong Hoi is home to more than 300 caves of various sizes.
The current situation is ringing an alarming bell for other world heritage sites in Vietnam, urging relevant agencies to quickly map out measures to protect them.
People’s Police
Vietnamese
