Quang Ninh welcomes nearly 300 international tourists to "break ground" on New Year's Eve

On February 10 (the first day of the Lunar New Year 2024), at Ha Long International Passenger Port, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province organized a ceremony to welcome the first tourists to "break ground" in Ha Long Bay.

Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee Cao Tuong Huy personally welcomed, presented flowers and lucky money to the first guests to visit Ha Long.

From early morning, Ha Long International Passenger Port was bustling with the sound of lion drums and bright peach blossoms welcoming the first foreign visitors to check in for a tour of Ha Long Bay.

Quang Ninh province has made careful preparations in terms of facilities, human resources, hotels and restaurants to best serve tourists during Tet. The waiting area, passenger trains and hotels are all brightly decorated, imbued with the Vietnamese Tet identity.

The first group of 298 Korean guests will visit Ha Long Bay on Princess 666 for 3.5 hours.

The tourists were surprised and delighted by the warm welcome, imbued with traditional Vietnamese culture; at the same time, they sent New Year wishes to Quang Ninh and hoped that in the new year, Quang Ninh would have breakthroughs, further development, professional tourism services, and further development of tourism infrastructure to be worthy of being the tourism center of Northern Vietnam, the center connecting regional and world tourism.

Mr. Kim Jong Won (a Korean tourist) shared that coming to Vietnam during the traditional Tet holiday was a wonderful discovery. He said he chose Vietnam as his New Year destination because the scenery here is very beautiful and the people are friendly. He hopes to have a wonderful experience here.

Ms. Choi Kyung Hwa (Korean tourist) said that she knew about Vietnam, learned about Vietnam and chose this as a destination on the special occasion of Lunar New Year.

"I find the scenery here very beautiful, the people friendly, enthusiastic and the welcome warm. I will share with my friends the beautiful moments and scenery in Vietnam and hope to come back here one day," said Ms. Choi Kyung Hwa.

Arriving very early to personally hand out fresh bouquets of flowers and New Year's lucky money to tourists, Mr. Cao Tuong Huy, Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee, sent New Year greetings and sincere thanks to tourists for choosing Ha Long Bay as their destination during the Giap Thin Lunar New Year. The Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee hopes that visitors will have wonderful experiences during the traditional Vietnamese New Year at the World Natural Wonder of Ha Long Bay.

Mr. Pham Van Hiep, Director of Ha Long International Passenger Port, said that on the morning of the first day of Tet, Ha Long International Passenger Port was honored to welcome about 2,000 international visitors to visit Ha Long Bay.

In 2024, Ha Long International Passenger Port is expected to welcome about 1.4 million visitors, an increase of about 25-30% compared to 2023. Regarding the international cruise ship segment, it is expected to welcome over 60 ships to the port. These are encouraging signs indicating that international visitors have increased again since the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Quang Ninh Department of Tourism, in 2024, the province strives to attract at least 17 million tourists, including 3 million international visitors. To achieve this goal, the province plans to organize 186 programs, events, and tourism stimulus activities in the province. Accordingly, 26 programs, events, and tourism stimulus activities at the international, national, and provincial levels; 160 programs, events, and tourism stimulus activities at the local level will be organized, including many traditional events that have become the brand of the Quang Ninh tourism industry.

To achieve the target of welcoming 17 million visitors, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province requires the Department of Tourism and the People's Committees of localities to regularly conduct inspections, checks, supervision, promptly detect and strictly handle violations of the law in the tourism sector; prevent illegal tourism and travel businesses, fraud, profiteering, soliciting and pressuring tourists during peak seasons. The Department and localities monitor tourism stimulus and promotion programs, and at the same time promote propaganda on civilized tourism behavior in tourist areas and spots. The industry ensures tourist support centers, strengthens human resources and techniques to ensure continuous operation, effective hotline operation, timely provision of information and resolution of complaints from tourists in the area; thoroughly handle complaints and feedback from tourists related to tourism, and publicly announce the results for people and tourists to know.

The Provincial People's Committee requires businesses to strictly announce prices and sell at the correct listed prices according to regulations, strictly prohibiting acts of solicitation, price increase, and price pressure that affect the image of Quang Ninh tourism...

To attract international visitors, Quang Ninh tourism industry will promote promotional programs abroad; work and sign cooperation agreements with reputable domestic and foreign travel businesses; organize to welcome delegations of travel businesses and international press to survey and promote Quang Ninh tourism; build tourism programs and product packages to serve customers...