Dong Van Stone Plateau tourism development plan approved

The Prime Minister has recently approved the Dong Van Stone Plateau development plan to 2025 with a vision to 2030, with an aim of turning it into a national tourism centre.

A corner of Dong Van stone plateau (Photo: VNA)
A corner of Dong Van stone plateau (Photo: VNA)

The master plan includes planning for the development of geo-cultural, geo-scientific and ecological parks in combination with preserving bio-diversity preservation.

The plan targets to welcome 800,000 visitors including 130,000 international tourists by 2020. By 2025 and 2030, the number of visitors is expected to reach 950,000 and 1.1 million respectively.

Revenues earned from tourism services is expected to reach about VND1.3 trillion, VND2.8 trillion and VND5 trillion by 2020, 2015, and 2030.

The main tourist products include geological tourism; community tourism; nature tourism; and some typical products such as one day of Pao, Khau Vai love market, one day farming with the Mong ethnic people in Meo Vac; a walking street and a festival of Dong Van Old Town, among others.

In addition, five main tourist areas will be formed including Youth Volunteers Cultural Park in Meo Vac district; Sport and Adventure Tourism site in Ma Pi Leng; Thai An hydropower reservoir tourist section Quan Ba district; Quan Ba resort and health care resort; and the Nam Dam ecological tourist area.

Dong Van Stone Plateau, which has remained untouched for hundreds of millions of years, is spread over the four districts of Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac and Dong Van.

The plateau is 80% limestone and contains the fossils of thousands of prehistoric species from 400-600 million years ago. It is now home to 250,000 people from 17 different ethnic groups.

Since the plateau’s recognition as a member of the Global Network of National Geo-parks in 2010, Ha Giang’s tourism sector has enjoyed rapid growth.