Binh Dinh (VNA) – The south central province of Binh Dinh haslaunched a three-month summer tourism festival to promote its Quy Nhon city andattract tourists.

The festival, running from June 17 to September 2, aims to improve QuyNhon’s tourism trademark.

Quy Nhon city has favourable conditions for tourism development, locatedin the East-West Corridor and as a gateway to the Central Highlands, southernLao localities and northeastern Cambodian provinces.

The city has diverse terrain including plain land, hills, mountains,rivers, lakes, sea and islands, with 42km of coastline spanning and four islandcommunes and archipelagoes.

Along with relic sites and beautiful natural landscapes, visitors to QuyNhon can explore traditional art and festivals, craft villages and Binh Dinhmartial art as well as local food.

In 2015, UK tourism magazine Rough Guides listed Quy Nhon as one of the topnine places off the normal tourist trail in Southeast Asia.

In recent years, the number of tourists to Quy Nhon has increased morethan 20 percent per year, higher than the average growth of 17 percent in thesouthern coastal area and 15 percent nationally.

With its tourism potential and strengths, Quy Nhon aims to serve 4.67million tourists, including 720,000 foreigners in 2020, while lengthening theaverage visitors’ stay to 3-4 days.

To reach the target, Quy Nhon has focused on developing unique andcompetitive tourism products, including sea and island tourism, resort, eco-tourism,sight-seeing, homestay, cultural, historical and gastronomic tourism.

It has also targeted investors by offering favourable conditions forprojects and upgrading the province’s tourism infrastructure.

In summer 2016, Binh Dinh welcomed 3.2 million visitors. In the firstsix months of 2017, the province served more than 1.9 million tourists, ayear-on-year rise of 19 percent, with total revenue of 990 billion VND, up 38percent year on year.-VNA