Quang Binh (VNS/VNA) - Authorities in the central province of QuangBinh have approved a plan to cut entrance fees to a series of natural beautyspots in half from now till the end of the year.

The large discount, which will be applied to tours of some famous caves in thearea, aims to attract more visitors and stimulate tourism development in theprovince after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the provincial People'sCouncil at a working session this week.

The meeting was held to discuss urgent issues including those related totourism challenges for the rest of 2020 and finPhong Nha Caved solutions to help tourismenterprises overcome obstacles amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, tours that take visitors to  will have entrancefees reduced from 150,000 VND (6.5 USD) to 75,000 VND (3.2 USD) per person.

The rate for entrance fees to Tien Son and Nuoc Mooc caves will be down from 80,000VND to 40,000 VND each.

Fees for visiting Thien Duong and Me Bong Con caves are discounted from 250,000VND to 125,000 VND, respectively.

Meanwhile, the cost for other tours will also be reduced by 50 percentincluding the route through Rao Thuong - En – Nuoc Lanh caves which is now at 240,000VND and Tu Lan cave system, which is 140,000 VND for four days and three nightsvisiting a total of seven tourist spots.

In particular, those who want to conquer Song Doong – the largest cave in theworld – will now have only to pay 4.4 million VND for the entrance fee perperson.

Moreover, tourists will benefit from discounts on transportation costs,accommodation and food at restaurants during the tours, according to theprovincial tourism authority.

Quang Binh province's Department of Tourism said that, since the beginning ofthe year, due to the effects of the pandemic, the number of tourists to thelocality dropped sharply but it has begun to recover since the socialdistancing measures were eased and the province opened its doors to welcomevisitors back.

The department said the number of visitors at weekends has started to increase.

It revealed an approximate number of 35,000 people visiting the province duringthe 45th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National ReunificationDay on April 30 and May Day. The visitors mainly came from Hanoi andneighbouring provinces.

The provincial tourism authority has directed tourism businesses in theprovince to change the structure of the tourist service market from servingforeigners to focusing on domestic customers and diversify tourism productswith more reasonable prices to meet demands of tourists with new conditions of operationdue to the pandemic./.