Tourism Year 2007 aims to promote northern mountainous region

Tourism Year 2007 aims to promote northern mountainous region
11:42' 24/02/2007 (GMT+7)
Imbued with cultural identities of ethnic minority groups living in six northern mountainous provinces, the Thai Nguyen Tourism Year 2007 is expected to make a breakthrough to develop tourism in Thai Nguyen province and neighbouring areas, said the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism.

Themed "Returning to the capital of mountain and forest wind - the Northernmost Viet Nam Base 2007", the tourism year will comprise activities to honour Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Bac Can, Cao Bang, Lao Cai and Yen Bai provinces which were chosen by late President Ho Chi Minh as a revolutionary base during nine years against the French colonialists (1946-1954).
A fair to promote trade and tourism investment will be held in addition to many cultural and sports activities in Thai Nguyen province.
Thai Nguyen has been collaborating with Ha Noi and other northern mountainous provinces to disseminate information on the tourism year, organise personnel training courses and conduct surveys to make new special and attractive tours.
With mountains making up two-thirds of its total acreage, Thai Nguyen is home to primeval forests, caves and wonderful waterfalls such as the Phuong Hoang cave and Mo Ga stream (Vo Nhai district), Chua cave (Dong Hy district) and Hang Cave (Dinh Hoa district). In addition, the province has 780 cultural and historical relic sites, many of which have been recognised as of national significance.
Thai Nguyen is well known for the Nui Coc Lake ecological tourism site and tea brands such as Tan Cuong, Trai Ca and La Bang.
Coming to Thai Nguyen province, tourists will be encouraged to involve in ecological tours to the Thai Nguyen city, the Nui Coc lake, the Dinh Hoa and Dong Hy cave tourism zones.
Nearly 150 foreign tourists have visited the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien since Feb. 17, the first day of the traditional Tet holidays, marking a year-on-year rise of five percent.
They mostly came from France, the UK, Canada and China.
Besides the relics of the Dien Bien Phu battlefield, another favourite destination in the province is Pa Khoang lake, which is 1,000 m higher than the sea level.
The lake, located in Muong Phang commune, Dien Bien district, is about 20 km from Dien Bien Phu city.
Tourists to Pa Khoang lake had a chance to enjoy traditional games, such as "nem con" or throwing shuttle, and meet with young ethnic people.
Other sites, such as U Va hot spring and Pa Thom cave, also attracted many tourists.
The province expects to welcome 160,000 visitors, both domestic and international, and gain a tourism revenues of between 60-70 billion VND in 2007.
(Source: VNA)