Visitors in Trang An ecological site during Tet Festival.

Nearly 180,000 tourists visit Ninh Binh during Tet

According to the provincial Department of Tourism, around 180,000 tourists visited Ninh Binh during the Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival (from January 31 to February 7).

The impressive figure promises a brighter prospect for Ninh Ninh's tourism sector after a long time of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bui Van Manh, Director of the provincial Department of Tourism, said during the Tet festival, the number of visitors to Ninh Binh saw a rise of 45 percent as compared to the same period last year, 70 percent of whom are tourists from other provinces and cities.

The result was attributed to the province's efforts to reopen its tourism activities. It had carried out pilot programmes to serve local visitors since November 15, 2021 and receive tourist from other province and cities using package tours since December 2021 to evaluate the safety and adaptation to the COVID-19 of local destinations before reopening doors to visitors from January 1, 2022.

Manh said in order to serve visitors, local destinations launched new tourism products and diversified services like opening a tunnel leading to Trang An ecological site; a new trekking tour in Tam Coc - Bich Dong; Hoa Lu old quarters in Ninh Binh city, and "Back to nature" tour of Cuc Phuong National Park to draw more holidaymakers.

Besides, enterprises have applied numerous promotion programmes, upgraded facilities, expanded entertainment areas and offered new products to serve visitors during the Tet festival, he added.

Ninh Binh's well-known destinations attracted large numbers of visitors such as the ancient capital of Hoa Lu, Bai Dinh pagoda, Trang An ecological site, Tam Coc - Bich Dong, Thung Nham sanctuary, and Cuc Phuong National Park.

The landscapes at these destinations have been upgraded while COVID-19 prevention and control measures have been enhanced.

Building friendly and safe destinations

With the motto of creating friendly and safe destinations, and fexlibily adapting to COVID-19, Ninh Binh has activated numerous scenarios on coping with the COVID-19 outbreaks.

Manh said Ninh Binh has set a target of serving 3.5 million visitors in 2022 and welcoming back foreign visitors from July 2022, striving to earn total revenue of 2 trillion VND.

To reach the target, the province has built plans to resume and develop tourism activities in the year-end months of 2021 and in 2022, helping travel firms to soon stabilise and regain growth.

The province has also registered to organise 16 activities in response to the National Tourism Year - Quang Nam 2022.

These activities will be held throughout the year, crating great opportunities for Ninh Binh to continue promoting its tourism potential and attracting more investors and visitors from both at home and abroad.