"Savings" on Ha Long Bay

In addition to the famous and familiar caves, Ha Long Bay also has countless other beautiful Karst caves, sandbanks, lagoons, and lakes, considered "reserves" that are being researched and exploited.

It can be seen that many tourism products in Ha Long Bay are traditional products, existing for a long time, with little or no change. Meanwhile, this heritage still has a lot of potential with nearly 2,000 rocky islands, many beautiful and interesting spots and islands that have not been exploited to serve tourists. "The survey, assessment, planning, exploitation and development orientation of hidden values are always of interest to us. This is both the implementation of management and conservation tasks and the promotion of values, contributing to diversifying and promoting tourism in the province" - Mr. Vu Kien Cuong, Head of Ha Long Bay Management Board, shared.

Recently, the governing body, the Ha Long Bay Management Board, has actively coordinated with scientists to survey and evaluate the geological and landscape potential and the ability to exploit and develop tourism.

Cap Lom Cave (Cap Lom Island) is one of the beautiful caves discovered in recent surveys.

Since 2017, the Board has had a long-term plan to survey many routes and points in the plan to distribute tourists. Up to now, 12 points in 4 routes, nearly 40 beautiful points and caves have been surveyed. Thereby, the potential of the following points has also been discovered and evaluated: Hoa Cuong, Chan Voi, Lom Bo, Coc Cheo, Bai Dong... Previously, 23 new points were discovered during the survey and search at the end of 2015, carried out by experts from the Institute of Geosciences - Mineral Resources and the Ha Long Bay Management Board.

According to preliminary assessment, in Ha Long Bay there are about 59 beautiful caves, with all the conditions for tourism exploitation, but so far, only 19 caves have been put into exploitation. Among them, there are many beautiful caves with great potential for tourism exploitation, such as: Cave No. 5 (Bo Hon Island area) has 3 compartments, one of which is 400m² wide with many beautiful stalactites; under the cave floor is a layer of freshwater snails - an archaeological site of ancient Vietnamese people; Cave No. 8 (Gingeng Toi Island area) in Tung Sau area, has an area of over 500m2, many beautiful, clean stalactites, many shapes...

During the survey trip in May 2018, the Board also researched and evaluated many beautiful beaches and landscapes in many areas, such as: Ban Chan, Cat Oan, Crescent Moon, Hon Co, Ba Cat... It is expected that in the third quarter, the Board will continue to survey 51 caves, lagoons, and sandbanks as well as coordinate with the Department of Tourism and specialized agencies to evaluate the potential and ability to exploit and develop tourism.

Not only surveying and preparing resources for the future, the Board also realizes, focuses on exploiting and orienting tourism products from the beaches. In addition to the two beaches Soi Sim and Ti Top, in early 2023, the Board proposed to exploit and manage the Tra San - Cong Do beach cluster (tour route number 4) in an area of about 250 hectares, only about 25km from Tuan Chau International Port.

The beach cluster consists of 8 natural sand beaches, with an area of 100-800m², enough to serve the experience activities of tourists; of which 4 beaches can serve the activities of tourists throughout the day without being affected by the ebb and flow of the tide. In addition to serving the needs of tourists for swimming, this area can also exploit the services of kayaking, sightseeing, and exploring the natural landscape.

Ha Long Bay Management Board continuously coordinates with scientists and professional agencies to evaluate the potential and ability to exploit tourism in the bay.

In addition, according to the province's tourism product planning, Ba Trai Dao beach is also given attention in the Ha Long Bay - Bai Tu Long - Van Don - Co To tourism product development planning. These are 3 sandy beaches in an arc shape around the foot of the island, looking from afar like the shape of 3 peaches.

It can be seen that among the province's 62 tourism products in 2024, there are many proposed tourism products on Ha Long Bay. These are products that highlight the landscape values, cultural beauty... formed from the rich resources of the bay. Although there are still problems, they are being actively resolved to make them a reality.

With the orientation of building many new products, it is very possible that in the coming time, the resources, "treasures", "savings" can become raw materials, premises for new, attractive products in the future. The problem is that there needs to be more attention to help the Research Board, review, and remove problems in planning, traffic flows, and inland waterway routes, along with the combination with existing attractions to create unique tourism products to serve tourists.

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