DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATION FOR MARITIME TOURISM INQUANG NINH

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Minh Hoa1,

MA Nguyễn Thu Thủy2,

Quang Ninh is a coastal province in the Northeast of Vietnam, rich intourism potential, a point of the growth triangle Hanoi - Hai Phong - QuangNinh in economy in general and in tourism in particular. It is one of the fourbiggest tourism centers of Vietnam with the World Natural Heritage of HaLong Bay recognized twice by UNESCO for its aesthetic, geomorphic andgeological value. It has many famous tourist sites, landscapes, and culturaland historical relics such as Yen Tu, Bach Dang stakes, Cua Ong Temple, QuanLan Communal House, and Tra Co Communal House, which are convenientconditions for developing island and maritime tourism, eco-tourism, sportingtourism, cultural and spiritual tourism, etc… In the framework of this writing,we concentrate on analyzing the current situation of tourism development ofQuang Ninh, maritime tourism resources as well as products of maritimetourism currently exploited, and analyzing SWOT for maritime tourism inorder to propose orientations and ways to develop maritime tourism inQuang Ninh.

1. Current situation of tourism development of Quang Ninh

1.1 . TouristsThe current situation of tourists to Quang Ninh is

presented in the following table:Table 1.1: Situation of tourists to Quang Ninh for the

period of 2000-2009

1 Dean of Faculty of Tourism Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VietnamNational University, Hanoi

2 Vice Dean of Faculty of Tourism Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities,Vietnam National University, Hanoi(www.tasstravel.vn/thuykdl2004@gmail.com/thuy.nt@vnu.edu.vn)

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In arrivals

Locality 2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

International tourists

Quang Ninh

544,038 679,555 920,203 1,085,811

1,046,000

1,005,800

1,150,000

1,468,000

2,307,742

2,746,213

Vietnam 2,140,000 2,330,050

2,627,988

2,428,735

2,927,873

3,477,500 3,583,4864,229,439

4,235,792

3,820,000

Quang Ninh/Vietnam 25.4% 29.2% 35% 44.7% 35.7% 28.9% 32.1% 34.7% 54.5% 71.9%

Domestic tourists

Quang Ninh 956,034 1,298,091 1,423,355

1,414,825

1,629,000

1,452,700 1,960,000 2,132,20

02,206,79

92,054,58

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Vietnam - 11,700,000

13,000,000

13,500,000

14,500,000

16,000,000

17,500,000

19,200,000

20,500,000

23,000,000

Quang Ninh/Vietnam

- 11.09% 10.9% 10.5% 11.2% 9.1% 11.2% 11.1%10.8%

8.9%

Source: - Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ninh,Institute for Tourism Development Research

- Author’s calculation.According to the above table, international tourists to

Vietnam arriving in Quang Ninh are high in proportion.This proves that Quang Ninh is Vietnam's most attractivetourist destination. Domestic tourists arriving in QuangNinh are stable in proportion compared to thatnationwide. However, if average growth of tourists toQuang Ninh for the period of 2000- 2009, which is 14.4%for international tourists and 9.9% for domestic ones, isconsidered, it is not high compared to that of the wholenation (17% for international tourists and 15% fordomestic ones) for the same period.

The duration of stay of international tourists is shortand tends to fluctuate. In 2000, it was 0.716 day; in2004, 1.08 day; and in 2009, 0.72 day. This means thatQuang Ninh has not been able to create unique and diverse

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tourism products; its service quality is low; it has notgot many places of entertainment and sports for touriststo stay long.

Domestic tourists arriving in Quang Ninh come from allover the country, but a considerable number come fromHanoi and nearby northern provinces. Most of them comefor maritime tourism, visiting the world natural heritageof Ha Long Bay, spiritual tourism, and a few come forbusiness, or transit to Mong Cai and over to China, etc.The busiest time is usually the dry season when theweather is favorable enough for visiting Ha Long Bay. Inrecent years, the proportion of domestic tourists to HaLong for maritime tourism decreased compared to that ofthe entire province because spiritual tourism wasdeveloping strongly, and the historical landscape of YenTu attracted a very large number of domestic tourists.Average stay time of domestic tourists ranges from 1.2 to1.5 day. In their expenditure structure, the touristsmainly spent on accommodation services while they spentlittle on others.

1.2. Revenue from tourismTable 1.2: Revenue from tourism for the 2000 – 2009

periodIn Billion Vietnamese dongs

Locality 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20091.Quang Ninh

216.43

339.00

561.80 711.50 882.60 1,034.

001,265.

002,132.

902,400.

002,653.

64Source: Department of Tourism of Quang Ninh, Institute for TourismDevelopment Research

According to the above table, the average growth rateof revenue from tourism of Quang Ninh is relatively high(37% per annum). Currently, tourists spent most of theirbudget on accommodation, food and drink (48% in 2009),and the remaining on buying goods, transportation andother services. The average spending per day of an

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international tourist is US$70-80, but that of Chineseone is lower, just US$30-50, and of domestic touristUS$10-12. The reason why they spent most of their budgeton food and drink in Quang Ninh is that the province hasnot offered diverse sources of souvenirs; nor has theyoffered attractive tour routes for the tourists, andadditional services to satisfy their demand. These add tothe limitation of spending of the tourists in general andinternational ones in particular.

1.3. Technical and material establishmentsa. Accommodation and food establishmentsIn recent years, together with the quick growth of

tourists, the system of accommodation and foodestablishments in Quang Ninh developed relatively fast.However, these accommodation establishments are small inscale and there are few and scattered hotels with morethan 100 rooms, so it is hard to meet the accommodationand food demand of large tourist groups withapproximately 200 persons each.

Table 1.3: Accommodation establishments for tourists for the period of2002-2008

In establishments (E); rooms (R)Locality

2002 2004 2005 2006 2008E R E R E R E R E R

Quang Ninh 509 3,48

0 683 9,916 767 10,8

70 812 11,700 866 12,2

49Vietna

m3,86

083,9

325,84

7122,114

6,384

130,812

8,556

170,551

10,440

207,014

Source: Hotel Department – National Administration of Tourism and Institutefor Tourism Development Research

Table 1.4: Starred accommodation establishments for tourists as of31/12/2008

In establishments (E); rooms (R)

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Locality

1 star 2 stars 3 stars 4 stars 5 starsE R E R E R E R E R

Quang Ninh 19 392 29 1,13

2 16 1,159 10 1,75

2 0 0

Vietnam 850 19,000 710 27,3

00 175 12,524 90 10,9

50 31 8,196

Source: Hotel Department – National Administration of Tourism and Institutefor Tourism Development Research.

.Table 1.5: The number and occupancy of hotel rooms from 2004 to 2008

In rooms; %`

Locality

2004 2006 2008(1)

Room Occupancy rate Room Occupan

cy rate RoomOccupancyrate

Quang Ninh 9,916 32.0% 11,700 30.0% 12,24

9 48.0%

Hai Phong 4,783 53.0% 5,357 55.0% 5,567 56.0%

Vietnam 122,114 55.39 170,5

51 52.0% 207,014 49.0%

Source: Hotel Department – National Administration of Tourism and Institutefor Tourism Development Research

According to the above table, the number ofaccommodation establishments in Quang Ninh doubled thatof Hai Phong, and it increased quickly from 9,916 roomsin 2004 to 12,249 rooms in 2008. However, the averageoccupancy rate of hotel rooms in Quang Ninh was lowerthan that of Hai Phong and the entire nation, butachieved supremacy in 2008.

Almost all hotels, guesthouses and rest houses havefood and drink facilities. Additionally, the system ofrestaurants and food booths from premium level down topopular level is diverse and many, ready to serve both

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tourists and local people. However, some establishmentsrelax their management and control over food and drinksafety and quality, and charge prices variously, and havepoor labor quality. If the above-mentioned problems areresolved, the province will have more attraction totourists.

b. Entertainment and sports establishmentsIn the entire nation in general and Quang Ninh in

particular, there are few entertainment and sportscenters like Yen Trung lake entertainment area, Tuan Chauisland entertainment club, Royal Park, sea top sportsservices… This is one of the main reasons why theprovince has failed to keep tourists staying long. Fortourists to Quang Ninh, apart from some tour routes forvisiting Ha Long Bay and some caverns, the beach and seatop entertainment forms are not attractive, reducingbusiness performance of the province's tourism.

c. Means of tourist transportTourists to Quang Ninh are mainly transported by

automobiles and tourist ships. The quality of mostautomobiles and ships is low and downgraded. Few modernand comfortable automobile and ship teams are availableto serve tourists. The tourist service skill and foreignlanguage ability of the drivers are not good enough. Theships are currently adequate to meet the travel demand oftourists, but their quality is low and they are notcomfortable; most of them are upgraded and converted fromfishing ships.

d. Tourist sitesDuring the past few years, the investment in developing

tourist sites was attended. So far, the province hasgained investment from domestic and internationalinvestors such as Hong Kong International InvestorAssociation, ITC Corporation of the U.S, Sai Gon TravelCorporation, PetroVietnam, Vincom Corporation, etc. Withthe investment in developing key tourist sites such as

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the Tuan Chau eco-tourism and entertainment area, Van Doneco-tourism and resort area (Quang Ninh)..., many formsof tourism have been deployed such as scuba-diving tour,fishing tour, water motor driving tour, ecological tour,community culture tour, and adventurous sports tour.

1.4. Labor in tourismTable 1.6: Revenue from tourism for the 2000 – 2008 period

In tourist

Locality 2000 2002 2005 2007 2008

Average

increase

Averageincome per

month(VND)

Quang Ninh 9,000

11,500

17,000

18,000

21,000

11.17%

1,050,000

Vietnam 150,000

200,000

234,096

250,000

285,000 8.35% 1,375,0

00Source: Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of provinces

and Institute of Tourism Development ResearchDuring the past time, with the increase in touristarrivals, the labor in tourism of Quang Ninh has alsoincreased. However, the quality of human resource ofQuang Ninh's tourism is problematic. Popular anduntrained labor accounts for a high proportion (34%being popular labor according to 2009's data). Theforeign language and communicative ability isrelatively limited. This badly affects the quality ofservice for tourists. Moreover, the average pay ofQuang Ninh's tourism is very low, adding moredifficulty to the attraction and maintenance of long-term service of high-quality human resource in theindustry 1.5. Infrastructure and tourism infrastructure a. TransportationRegarding roads, routes connecting Quang Ninh to the rest

of Northern Region include the national road No.5, which

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is the artery of the economic growth triangle of Hanoi -Hai Phong - Quang Ninh, national road No.18 and 30connecting Hai Duong to Quang Ninh, national road No.10connecting the province to national road No.1A leading toprovinces of the Central and Southern regions, nationalroad 18 connecting to road No.48 leading to Tra Co andDongxing of China.

Regarding railway, the rail route Ha Long – Bac Giang –Thai Nguyen, which is 75 km long, 1.435 m in gauge, isavailable for use, but the quality of the railway,including base, crosstie, track, tunnel and bridge, isbad; rolling stock is backward compared to the region andthe world; stations are not satisfactory in term of scaleand environmental sanitation.

Regarding waterway, Quang Ninh has Cam Pha Port, Hon GaiPort and Cai Lan Port, which are the very big ports ofthe Northeastern region and the nation.

Regarding river way, due to its terrain characteristics withonly some short rivers such as Ba Che river, Dien Vongriver, so the commerical connection with the Northerndelta region by river way is limited. Therefore, it ispossible to combine seaway to transport goods andpassengers to Hai Phong and then take advantage of theriver way of Hai Phong to transport them to Northernregion.

Regarding air way, Quang Ninh has not developed airwaytransportation, but has intended to build anInternational Airport in Yen Hung, about 30 km from HaLong Bay, which is able to receive small touristaircraft. The expected investment is USD 100 million,joint ventured for 50 years with Vietnam contributing 40-50%.

b. Power supplyQuang Ninh is Vietnam’s biggest coal industrial region

with expected coal reserve of about 3.5 billion tons. Thecurrent production ranges from 10 to 12 million tons

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(2000). This is a rich source of energy for constructingthermal power plants. Apart from coal, there are manyforeign companies exploring petroleum in the Tonkin Gulf,who recently said that the possibility of finding oil andgas reserves in the region of Quang Ninh - Hai Phong -Nam Dinh was very promising. Moreover, because Quang Ninhis adjacent to the East Sea, the wind velocity is alwaysof the third or fourth level; and it is sunny in three-fourth of days of a year. So, the solar and wind powermay be exploited at considerable scale. Much as thepotential is, shortage of electric power was recentlyexperienced in Ha Long city very often during touristseason, heavily affecting the demand for use of power fordomestic purpose and production, especially the use toserve tourists.

c. Water supply and drainageQuang Ninh has abundant source of underground water in

Dong Trieu, Uong Bi, Ha Long and Cam Pha, but the salt-affected areas must be zoned out. Pha Lai area has goodwater quality, but the reserve is remained to bedetermined specifically. Currently, water supplied for HaLong city is mainly exploited from surface water. Theexploitation of underground water for domestic use andproduction meets much difficulty because technical andcapital conditions are not satisfied. Pollution of waterhas occurred in some areas in the city.

1.6. Current status of foreign investment in Quang NinhTable 1.7: Foreign investment as of December 2008

No.

Province

FDI in general FDI in tourism

Numberof

projects

Investmentcapital

(million USD)

Numberof

projects

Investmentcapital

(million USD)

1. Quang 106 1,131.17 19 281.40

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Ninh

2. Vietnam 9,707 145,439.55 250 15,411.71

3QuangNinh/Vietnam

1.09% 0.78% 7.6% 1.83%

Source: Department of Foreign Investment – Ministry of Planning andInvestment

Over the past few years, the investment in developingtourism in Quang Ninh has been attended. Investmentprojects funded by State budget concentrated mainly ondeveloping technical and social infrastructure. Foreigninvestment, private investment and investment from otherbranches and a part from State budget go to hotels,premium villas, golf courses, restaurants and means oftourist transportation. For the period of 2000 – 2008,while domestic investment in tourism in Quang Ninh tendedto increase expensively and intensively, foreigninvestment in tourism of Quang Ninh tended to decreaseand the proportion of FDI going to Quang Ninh in generaland to tourism of Quang Ninh in particular was very smallcompared to the total FDI in Vietnam in general and intourism of Vietnam in particular. The reason is that itspolicy and administrative mechanism is not attractive toand preferential for investors; administrative procedureis complex and slow in settling; detailed planning inmany tourist sites has not been available.

2. Overview on maritime tourism resources in Quang NinhQuang Ninh has the most excellent resource of maritime

tourism of the entire country.2.1. Geographical location Quang Ninh is an askew oblong in shape, slanting in the

northeast - southwest direction. Its west side rests onthe endless mountains and forests. Its east side leans onthe first half of Tonkin gulf with uneven coast 250 km inlength, having many estuaries and tidal fields and more

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than two thousand islands of all sizes in which oneisland has name.

It is 8.239.243 km2 in natural area (the established part). Ofwich, its inland is 5.938 km2 in area, and its island, bayand sea (internal water) 2.448.853 km2. The islands aloneare 619.913 km2 in total area.

2.2. Terrain The sea and islands of Quang Ninh are unique in

terrain. Its more than two thousand islands account formore than two third of the country’s islands (2078/2779),scattered along its more than 250 km coast and dividedinto multiple classes. Some islands are very big, such asCai Bau island, Ban Sen island, and some are as small asa rockwork. There are two districts composed mainly ofislands, which are Van Don district and Co To district.In Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long bay, there are thousandsof limestone islands, which were originally karst terrainregion corroded by water to create thousands of shapesoutside and many strange and special caves inside. In thecoastal and island areas of Quang Ninh, beside thebeaches, there are white sand flats created by sea waves.Some sand flats become raw material mines for glassindustry (Hai Van), some become marvelous bathing beaches(Tra Co, Quan Lan, Minh Chau, Ngoc Vung).. The seabed ofQuang Ninh sea is not even, and is 20 m at average depth.There are deep rivulets, which are the relics of ancientcurrents, and there are underwater reefs, which are goodhabitats for various corals. The current flows connectingwith deep sea rivulets have created series of fairwaysand passages as well as sea ports along the wind-tightand meandering coastal line thanks to island corridor,forming huge potential of sea port and watertransportation.  

2.3. ClimateQuang Ninh’s climate is typical of that of the Northern

Vietnam. There are four seasons in a year: spring,11

summer, autumn and winter. This is a tropical monsoonregion. It is warm, humid and rainy in the summer, andthe prevailing wind is southeast wind. It is cold anddry, less rainy in winter with northeast wind. The annualaverage temperature is more than 21oC. Average annualhumidity is 84%. As a result, the average annualrainfall is between 1700 and 2400 mm, and the averagenumber of rainy days in a year is between 9 and 170. Rainconcentrates mainly in summer (more than 85%), especiallyJuly and August. In winter, rainfall is only between 150and 400 mm. The province is also heavily affected bystorms. Storms often come early (in June, July andAugust) and are very strong, especially in island andcoastal areas. Islands are not the rainiest areas, withrainfall from 1700 to 1800 mm per year, but are the mostfoggy in winter.

2.4. HydrologyQuang Ninh has many rivers and streams, but they all

are short, narrow and very slope. They become shallow andshow rock ridges in winter, but become very deep anddangerous with violent and high-rising flash flood. Flowin dry season is 1.45 m3/s, but in the rainy season,rises to 1500 m3/s, 1000 times as much.

Toward Quang Ninh's sea adjacent to Tonkin Gulf, it isa big gulf but close thanks to the many layers ofprotecting islands, so waves and wind are not as violentas in the sea region of central Vietnam. The tidal regimehere is typical diurnal tide, with amplitude of 3-4 m.The unique character in this region is the phenomenon ofgenerating "secondary tide" and the highest tides areobserved in the afternoons of summer days, the morningsof winter days and strong tide days. In the Tonkin gulf,there are two sea currents flowing in the North-to-southdirection, bringing along cold water and northeastmonsoon wind, so this is the coldest sea region ofVietnam. The temperature is sometimes down to 13oC.

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2.5. Water and mineral waterSurface water is mainly river and lake water. The total

static volume of water of all rivers is estimated at175,106 m3. In the total of 72 dams and lakes, there are28 big lakes with total water volume of around 195.53 m3

each. Underground water in Quang Ninh is abundant.

Exploitable sources of water are present even on bigislands. Exploration has not covered all suspected areas,but in 13 urban areas and industrial zones, it hasestimated that about 64,388 m3 of water per day can beexploited.  

Quang Ninh has many pockets of drinkable mineral water,such as in Quang Hanh (Cam Pha), Khe Lac (Tien Yen), DongLong (Binh Lieu). Undrinkable mineral water concentratesin such areas as km 11 and km 12 Cam Pha and Tam Hopcommune (also in cam Pha township). This mineral watercontains high content of minerals at the temperature of35oC, and therefore can be used to treat some diseases.

2.6. Sauna and faunaQuang Ninh is very rich in aquatic animals, in fresh

water areas, apart from fish, shrimp, crabs andshellfish, it also has clamworm and sandworm in DongTrieu area that are floating according to relevantseasons. The most notable is Quang Ninh is its richmaritime products. Thanks to its coastal terrain anddiverse forms, the air-close, rocky, coral and beachedsea region of Quang Ninh has almost all species ofmaritime products of Vietnam. Many big fish shoals andmany rare and precious species of fish are found here,such as garrupa, tuna, butterfish, mackerel, threadfin...Offshore, there are many specialties such as pearl, seaear, tortoise, lobster…, near shore, there are bloodcockle, oyster, clams, glacilaria, etc... Near shore andin the gulf, maritime specialties are developed andgrown.

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2.7. Some special sea tourism landscapesHa Long Bay: Given its special natural values, on 17

December 1994, in the 18th meeting of the Council of WorldHeritage under UNCESCO in Thai Lan, Ha Long Bay wasofficially recognized as the world's natural heritage. In2000, Ha Long Bay was recognized for the second time byUNESCO for its geological and geomorphologic value. Thisascertains the extraordinary global value of Ha Long Bay.

Lying in the Northeast region of Vietnam, Ha Long Bayis a part of Ton kin gulf, encompassing the sea area ofHa Long city, Cam Pha township and a part of Van Donisland district. It borders Cat Ba island in theSouthwest, the sea in the east and the inland in the restof directions with a coast line of 120 km long. The bayis 1.553 km2 in area, including 1969 islands of allsizes, in which 986 islands have been named and theremaining 980 have not. Islands in Ha Long Bay are of twotypes: limestone type and schist type, concentrating intwo main areas, which are the southeast area (belongingto Bai Tu Long bay) and southwest area (belonging to HaLong Bay) and are from 250 to 280 million years oldtectonically. The concentration area of rocky islandswith fantastic sceneries and many famously beautifulcaverns is center of Ha Long Bay natural heritage,including Ha Long Bay and a part of Bai Tu Long bay.

The area recognized as World's Natural Heritage is 434km2 in area, including755 islands, forming a trianglewith three corners, one being Dau Go island (in thewest), Ba Ham lake (in the south) and Cong Tay island (inthe east). The nearby area is a buffer and the nationallandscape heritage classified by the Ministry of Cultureand Information in 1962.

According to scientific research results, Ha Long Bayhas a full ecosystem of a tropical sea area, like: salt-marsh forest ecosystem, coral reef ecosystem, marine fishecosystem, tropical rain forest ecosystem. Besides, Ha

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Long Bay has the ecosystem of unique caster lakes andforest wells that can be found nowhere else. In the seaof Ha Long, coral grow scatteringly in many places, butconcentratedly at high density in the east and southoffshore. Ha Long Bay’s corals are classified in 160species of 44 categories of 12 families. Coral forest ofHa Long Bay is really an extremely beautiful scenery, andat the same time the habitat of very many creaturesappropriate for exploitation and development of scubadiving tourism, kayaking and adventurous tourism, etc.

Beside the coral reef ecosystem is the salt-marshforest ecosystem. This is the unique and seducing sceneryof the tidal field of Ha Long Bay. Uncountable number ofplant and animals such as migrating birds, semi-migratingbirds (37 species), seabed animals (81 species); fish (90species of 55 categories) are living in these salt-marshforests. Particularly, seabed animals living in salt-marsh forests account for 61.2% of the total species inthe entire tidal region, many of which are of higheconomic value such as blood cockle, oyster, clam, etc.

Bai Tu Long National Park: The park is 15,783 ha intotal area, in which sea area accounts for 9,658 ha andthe rest is formed by visible islands. On islands of thePark, there are many limestone caverns, some of which arehalf deep in water and can be traveled through by smallboats (Old Man Cavern, Soi Nhu Cavern); there are manybeautiful beaches, especially those on Minh Chau island.It has the oceanic tropical cool climate. The Park isrich and diverse in creature resources with manyecosystems (including ecosystems on floating land andthose in the sea and tidal fields) of high biologicalvalue. Rare and precious species total at 102, in which72 are animal species and 30 plant species recorded inVietnam's Red Book (2007). Bai Tu Long national park issuitable for such forms of tourism as excursion, seabathing, convalescing, sporting and researching.

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Tra Co: Tra Co is 7 km from Mong Cai by road. To get toTra Co, it is possible to travel by hydrofoils or boatsalong the coast from Hai Phong or Ha Long. Ba Co Beach isone of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam, which iswide and flat with white, fine and solid sand running alength of 15 km. Inshore are sand banks 3-4 m in widthand densely-populated villages where people make theirliving mainly by agriculture or fishery. Behind seashores are casuarinas-tree forests to block wind and fixsand, creating eye-catching sceneries. The climate of TraCo is cool and serene with silent and tranquil space. Theannual air temperature in this area is 22.7oC with fourmonths (from December to March) being below 20oC and fivehottest months (from May to September) being 26-28oC,which is convenient for tourists to relax. The localityhas famous specialties to offer such as sipunculus nudus,cucumber of the sea, sea fish and crabs.... It issuitable for such forms of tourism as relaxation,bathing, water sports and excursion.

3.Currently available products of Quang Ninh’s maritime tourism

- Visiting bays, islands, caverns (Ha Long Bay,Bai Tu Long bay)

- Relaxing in the sea (Tra Co, Quan Lan).- Conference, seminars (Ha Long).- Ecotourism. - Adventurous tourism: Scuba diving, fishing.

- Yachting and sea-faring tours.

- Relaxing and convalescing tours.

- Scientific research tours.

4. SWOT analysis for development of Quang Ninh'stourism

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Strengths Weaknesses- Having rich anddiverse resources,all types oflandscapes andbeautiful sceneries,hot and mineral waterresources, andespecially the worldnatural heritage ofHa Long Bay.- Having abundanttourism resourceswith high possibilityof exploitation fortourism purposes andcombination ofmultiple forms oftourism. Excursion,relaxing, beachbathing,entertaining, scubadiving, sporting,adventure-going,exploration tours...- Being a largeconcentration offamous tourist spotscreating acombination toenhance economicdevelopment of theentire region. - Being one of the three most attractivetourist destinations

- Its beaches are heavily affectedby seasons, attracting moredomestic tourists in summer. - Being the coldest sea region inVietnam. The temperature issometimes down to 13oC. Stormyseason falls in June, July andAugust, which are the main summertourism season, causingdisadvantages for tourismdevelopment.- Tra Co Beach is beautiful andvery good for developing relaxationtourism, but is too far from HaLong City; means of transport tothe Beach have been improved butremain difficulty for developingtourism concertedly. - Ha Long coasts have fewartificial sand, are dirty and notconvenient for exploiting seatourism. Shallow inshore sea withfew high waves fails to facilitatethe development of such sea topsports as water-skiing, surfing,yachting...- Overload of tourists in summertourism season with waste dischargevolume at 230 tons/month badlyaffects the natural landscape ofbeaches, pollutes surface water andsand fields, as well as affect theself-regeneration of the coast. - Caverns are also overloaded bytourists and discharged wastes,

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of the nation (HCMC, Hanoi and Quang Ninh).

leading to the damage of landscape,cavern walls and stalactites.- The installation of lightingequipments in some caverns damagestheir natural landscape, reducingtheir aesthetic value.- The uncontrolled exploitation ofmaritime products and coral isdeteriorating coral reefs andexterminating some sea creatures. - Signs of water pollution havebeen observed in Ha Long Baybecause it is relatively close, andits self-cleaning process goesrelatively slowly.- The air in some areas has beenpolluted by dust, smoke and smell,especially the high content of leadin the air.- Community-based development oftourism has not been duly heeded.Local communities’ involvement intourism activities is not much. - Income from tourism it not high due to short stays and low average spending of tourists. In their expenditure structure, the touristsmainly spend on accommodation services while they do little on others.

- The infrastructure is very weak. The system of water supply and drainage is not complete. In particular, some islands meet

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difficulties getting supply of fresh water. Electricity network is also incomplete. At present, some islands such as Quan Lan island, Minh Chau island, etc, national grid electricity is not available, creating difficulties for tourism business. In many cases, the cost of a tourism product has been increased very high due to this cause.

- Technical facilities for tourismare bad and outdated. Many hotelsand private rest-houses are builtin unplanned manner at small andscattered scale, so they often failto ensure general good view andfail to meet standards to servehigh-paying tourists. The all-outinvestment in and development ofships for overnight accommodationof tourists in the bays are causingsome problems: refuse and wastewater is not well treated andstrictly controlled, and in manycases discharged directly into thesea, causing environmentalpollution; the safety and securityof ships has not been adequatelyheeded; evil business acts havebeen reported by mass media; somehotels on land are facing with theresulting scarcity of stayers. Thesystem of entertainment and sportsis inadequate, failing to make

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tourists spend more and well as tomake them stay longer in thetourist sites.- Safety conditions for touristshave not been paid attention to,especially for tourists on smallships to visit the bays and low-class ships to stay overnight inthe bays.- Tourism products are not uniqueand unattractive. Products areoften expensive and of low quality,not competitive.- Entertainment establishments aretoo poor to keep the touristsstaying longer.- There is a shortage of souvenirstypical of the tourist spots.- There is a shortage of nurseriesand processing facilities ofmaritime products specialized fortourism.- The quality of direct labor intourism is low with limitation inservice skills, foreign languageand communication ability.

Opportunities Threats- Lying in theeconomic developmenttriangle of theNorth, it isinterested by theState and Party ininvesting in it todevelop all aspects.

- As the province has focuses onthe two main industries, which aretourism and coal exploitation, theinfluence of coal exploitationindustry on tourism isconsiderable. The most notableimpacts are environmental pollutionand loss of natural landscape.

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- Vietnam has joinedWTO, creatingfavorable conditionsfor foreign capitalto be invested indeveloping high-classtourist sites.- Ha Long Bay is inthe process of beingselected as theworld’s naturalwonder, so it isbetter known by theworld.

- The global climatic change isdeveloping in complicated manner,affecting sea and island tourism.

Causes of weaknesses:

+ The State management is problematic, especially interm of forecast work, planning work, environmental protection, inspection, examination and punishment.

+ The awareness of tourists, tourism businesses and local people of environmental protection is not high.

+ Develop tourism has not respected the principle ofsustainable development (the load capacity of thedestination has not been heeded; tourism is developedin the direction of quantity while quality is notdeveloped)+ Tourism is developed in spontaneous and small-scalemanner with very low professionalism.

5. Some orientations for developing maritime tourism inQuang Ninh

Regarding development planning: + It is necessary to apply strict control over the

investment activities in order to ensure the unity oflandscapes for tourist sites, tourist spots; to

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maintain natural landscapes for tourism resources.Priority should be given to foreign investment projectswith huge invested capital, especially of world’srenown tourism industry corporations. Permission shouldnot be given to small-scale investment projects. Onlyby so doing can ensure the unity of landscapes of atourist destination with unique tourism resources likeQuang Ninh.

+ Investment should be planned into separate zones ofhigh-class tourist sites and common-class tourist sitesand tourism business should go in the principle of“high quality – high pay; low quality – low pay”; andalso investment should be planned for specializednurseries and processing facilities of sea products toserve tourism purposes.

+ Production and trade of souvenirs typical of QuangNinh's tourism should be developed.

+ In planning and investment, it is necessary tocarefully study the load capacity of touristdestinations to ensure sustainable operation oftourism.

+ In-depth study should be carried out and specificregulations should be promulgated to control thequantity and quality of ships transporting tourists tothe Bay and ships providing overnight accommodation fortourists in the Bay.

+ Investment projects in clean energy (solar energy,wind power, etc.), clean water are needed for islands,fishermen’s villages in order to both improve people'sliving conditions and serve the business of tourism,helping reduce cost of tourism products in areas withthe existing poor social and technical infrastructure. Regarding the work of inspection, examination and

punishment: It is necessary to make regularinspection, examination and administrative punishment(if applicable) against businesses and individuals,and tourists when they discharge refuse and wastewater recklessly; against tourism enterprises andindividuals who fail to meet ensure safe conditions

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for tourists when they provide maritime tourismservices.

Regarding market: + For international tourist market: It is necessary

to carry out promotion activities to attract touristswith high-spending ability from such markets as:Europe, North America, Northeast Asia.

+ For domestic tourist market: Strong attractionshould be directed to tourists in groups fromenterprises, organizations and schools. When touristsgo in groups, it is easier to communicate to them aboutenvironment protection and protection of tourismresources. Regarding tourism product development: In addition to

the existing products, it is necessary to push upwith development of the following forms of tourism:+ Community-based tourism like visiting fishermen’s

villages, walking, visiting national park.+ Sea sport tourism like: scuba diving, kayaking + Relaxing tours combined with illness treatment.

Regarding human resource: In addition to the trainingof human resource to enhance quality organized by thetourism enterprises themselves in term of foreignlanguage capacity, service skills, communicationability, it is necessary to have training projects offoreign languages and tourism knowledge for localcommunities, especially the villagers of fishermen'svillages, dwellers on islands of Ha Long Bay, andresidents in buffer zone of Bai Tu Long National Park.

Halong, 9/2010

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