The north-central province of Hà Tĩnh on October 24 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with HCM City and the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta City of Cần Thơ and Tiên Giang Province to promote tourism cooperation. — Photo toquoc.vn

HCM CITY — The north-central province of Hà Tĩnh on October 24 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with HCM City and the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta City of Cần Thơ and Tiên Giang Province to promote tourism cooperation.

Though the province has beautiful beaches, mountains and landscapes as well as historic and religious heritage sites, tourism potential has remained untapped, according to Bùi Xuân Thập, director of Hà Tĩnh Province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The number of tourists visiting the province, especially from the south, remains modest.

The province is offering incentive policies to attract investors in the commercial, services and tourism sectors to develop high-end hotels, commercial centres, retail markets and eco-tourism zones.

In recent years, the province has attracted major tourism projects from the Mường Thanh Group, Vingroup and Hồng Lam Joint Stock Company.

In the first nine months of the year, 10 projects in the tourism sector with total capital of VNĐ5 trillion (US$220.26 million) were granted investment certificates.

The province’s many sights can be reached by railway, motorway or sea. Interesting destinations include cultural relics, beautiful landscapes and well-known sites such as Kẻ Gỗ lake, Vũ Quang National Park, Nguyễn Du memorial site, Trần Phú relic site, Hà Huy Tập relic site, Đồng Lộc relic site, Đèo Ngang- Hoành Sơn gate, and Hương Tích Pagoda.

With 137 km of coastline, the province’s white sandy beaches, including Thạch Hải beach, Xuân Thành beach, Lộc Hà beach and Đèo Con beach, are popular for sea bathing.

The province’s eco-tourism destination include the Sơn Kim hot-mineral spring tourism site and Suối Tiên- Thiên Tượng eco-tourism site.

The area has retained a rich treasure of cultural heritage sites, though many of the original sites were destroyed by wars and natural disasters.

Unique forms of folk arts and traditional craft villages that have existed for 500-600 years also exist in the province.

It is home to two special national relics, 77 national relics and 425 provincial-level relics.

In the first nine months of the year, the province welcomed 1.2 million tourists, an increase of 54 per cent compared to the same period last year. The number of international visitors was 19,900, a year-on-year rise of 43 per cent. — VNS