QuangNinh (VNA) – The organisation of the APEC High Level Policy Dialogueon Sustainable Tourism in Ha Long city is an excellent opportunity for Vietnam in general and Quang Ninh province in particular, to seek and deepen relationswith APEC member economies and other important foreign partners.

Chairmanof the northeast province's People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long made the remark at theopening ceremony of the dialogue on June 19.

He said as host of the National Tourism Year in 2018 and the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2019, Quang Ninh province will do its utmost to successfully organise the events.

The Chairman welcomes the tourist communityfrom APEC member economies to Quang Ninh – a land of potential and adestination for tourists around the world.

QuangNinh has a special geopolitical and economical position with the world naturalheritage site of Ha Long Bay as well as more than 600 natural landscapes andhistorical relic sites.  

In the process of development, Quang Ninh has to develop the mining industry and at the same time protect the environment, especially at the Ha Long Bay, Long said.

He went on to say that local authorities have clearly defined challenges that need to address such as the high urbanisation rate and the sustainable development in the context of climate change and rising sea level.

Toobtain sustainable development, Quang Ninh has implemented breakthroughstrategies such infrastructure improvement, institutional reform, and humanresources training in addition to changing growth models and restructuring theeconomy, he said.

Under the Overall Plan forTourism Development in Quang Ninh to 2020 and Vision to 2030, Quang Ninh strives to become aninternational tourism centre and a leading tourism destination in Vietnam withmodern infrastructure and diverse, high quality and competitive tourismproducts.

By2020, Quang Ninh aims to welcome 15-16 million tourists, including sevenmillion foreigners, and rake in 30-40 trillion VND (1.3-1.7 billion USD) inrevenue. The tourism sector is expected to contribute 14-15 percent to thegross regional domestic product (GRDP).

In2016, Quang Ninh welcomes 8.3 million tourist arrivals, a year-on-year increaseof seven percent, and earned over 13 trillion VND (571 million USD) in revenue,up 23 percent, according to the Quang Ninh Department of Tourism.

Particularly,Ha Long welcomed 6.3 million tourists and grossed 7.7 trillion VND (over 338million USD) in revenue, representing respective increases of 14 percent and 65percent from the previous year. About 2.7 million of the visitors wereforeigners, a year-on-year growth of 16 percent. -VNA