The northern province of Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO-recognised Ha Long Bay, will launch a campaign on safe tourism in mid-March when Vietnam fully reopens its borders to foreign tourists.

Director of the provincial Department of Tourism Pham Ngoc Thuy affirmed that the locality is now totally ready for tourism resumption.

Following the tourism campaign, there will be a roadshow throughout southern cities and provinces, and other localities where many industrial and processing zones are located to promote Quang Ninh’s image.

A number of cultural and art events are scheduled for the second quarter of this year, she said, adding that Quang Ninh will continue its close coordination with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and agencies under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to hold working sessions with international organisations and Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad to step up the promotion efforts.

Roadshows will also be held in major markets like China, the Republic of Korea (RoK), Japan and Thailand when possible, according to the official.

Quang Ninh plans to organise a total of about 70 cultural, sport, tourism and trade events and programmes this year to attract holidaymakers. It will also host seven sports of the SEA Games 31, which is expected to help the locality lure more visitors.

The province aims to welcome from 9.5 million to 10 million tourists in 2022, and earn 19 trillion VND (832.69 million USD) from the sector.

Quang Ninh will work to restore tourism products and services while safely adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, various safe tourism products and programmes are expected to be rolled out in the time ahead.

In 2011, Ha Long Bay, literally “descending dragon bay”, surpassed more than 400 destinations from over 200 countries and territories to be named as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World by the New Open World.

The bay was recognised twice by the UNESCO as World Natural Heritage for its landscape and geographical value. It has a 120-km coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size, with 1,969 isles. The limestone in the bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments./.