Buckwheat flower in Ha Giang province. Photo: Le Anh
Dong Van has huge potential for tourism development thanks to its splendid landscapes and a diversity of historical and cultural relic sites, said Nguyen Trung Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee.
According to Ngoc, the district, located in the core zone of the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, is home to over 40 percent of the total geological relic sites in the park. It also boasts four national historical and cultural relic sites, namely the Vuong family Palace, Dong Van ancient town, Lung Cu national flag pole, and the Tay Cuon fossil relic site in Ma Le commune.
Ethnic minority groups in the region still practice their time-honoured traditions, many of which have been recognised as part of the national intangible cultural heritage such as the ancestor worship ritual of the Lo Lo, the Forest God worship ritual of the Pu Peo, and the Gau Tao spring festival of the Mong.
Following the recognition of the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark in 2010, the number of visitors to Dong Van has increased rapidly, rising more than 10 fold from 20,000 to more than 260,000 in 2016.
To meet the demand of visitors, the district has called for investment in facilities serving tourism, with focus on restaurant and hotel network, Vice Chairman Ngoc said, stressing that at the same time, the district strengthens the protection of the environment and cultural heritage.
In order to become the most popular destinations in the northern region, Dong Van plans to build on its current tourist products, with more attention paid to the local buckwheat fields because in the past two years, the annual Buckwheat Flower Festival alone lures 50 percent of the year’s total number of tourists to Ha Giang province.
The festival is also among local tourism highlights in the National Tourism Year 2017.
The locality will invest around 10 billion VND (438,000 USD) in planting more buckwheat in every tourism sites and building parking zones and toilets to serve tourists.
Trieu Thi Tinh, Vice Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Dong Van Karst Plateau is one of the must-see destination in the journey to the northern mountainous region.
The province has submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism a proposal to make the Dong Van Karst Plateau a national tourism site.
Dong Van has received 4,000 arrivals so far this year, up 30 percent from the same period last year. The figure is expected to reach 300,000 by the end of this year.
Source: VNA