Ha Tinh Tourism Looks to Regional Links

Ha Tinh Province has many tourism advantages with mighty and fantastic nature and beautiful beaches such as Thien Cam, Xuan Thanh, Loc Ha and Ky Ninh.
Charming rivers and mountains have created such famous landscapes as Hong Linh Mountain, La River, Vu Mon Waterfall and Deo Ngang - Hoanh Son Quan. In addition, the ideal ecotourism resorts of Ke Go Lake, Vu Quang National Park and Son Kim hot spring are places where traditional and cultural heritage converges, mixing with modern cultural value in the development and integration process. Ha Tinh is considered to be an ideal destination for tourists, so that anyone that comes here will keep good memories of their trip to the region
In recent years, the tourism sector of Ha Tinh Province has achieved great development. There are more than 100 residences and 2,300 hotel rooms in the province. Statistics from the Tourism Division of the Ha Tinh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism show that in the first half of 2011, Ha Tinh attracted 441,059 tourists with revenue estimated at VND130 billion.
After more than 20 years of renovation, Ha Tinh has seen fundamental changes. The provincial annual average economic growth rate is almost 10 percent; budget revenue in 2010 stood at nearly VND2 trillion; average income was more than US$600 per year; many key economic projects were carried out, creating impetus for Ha Tinh to become a large industrial - service center in the central region. According to a Resolution of the Ha Tinh Communist Party Committee Congress for the 2010-2015 tenure, the province plans to take full advantage of its opportunities to promote its potential and strengths and make new breakthroughs for effective and sustainable socioeconomic development. By 2015, Ha Tinh will strive to: (1) become a developed province in the sectors of agriculture, industry and services with an average economic growth rate of more than 14 percent per year; (2) achieve positive economic restructuring in which the industry - construction sector accounts for 41.6 percent, trade - service sector 40.3 percent, agro- forestry- fishery sector 18.1 percent; (3) attain an average income of more than VND30 million per year; (4) secure provincial budget revenue over VND4 trillion; and (5) achieve export revenue that is more than US$280 million. Achievement of these figures would create a sustainable basis for Ha Tinh to develop tourism.
Apart from its diversified natural potential, Ha Tinh possesses more than 500 historical and cultural relic sites. Of these, 72 relic sites are ranked at national level and 260 others ranked at provincial level. Over the past years, the conservation and promotion of the values of traditional tangible and intangible Cultural heritage sites in Ha Tinh have recorded big achievements both domestically and internationally, meeting the people's demands to enjoy cultural activities and other spiritual aspirations. However, in order for Ha Tinh to become a tourism-developed province, it needs to invest a lot of time and effort to take a new direction so that the provincial tourism sector can develop to reach its full potential. One of the cultural activities that need investment to serve tourists is traditional festivals with various forms of popular performances such as Co Dam Ca Tru; Ky Anh incantations; Truong Luu and Song La country songs; other festivals at the Huong pagoda, Le Khoi and Bich Chau temples and at other old villages. These are factors that constitute the national character in general and the cultural soul of Ha Tinh Province in particular.
According to the provincial leader's opinions, the goal of Ha Tinh is to develop its tourism into a key economic sector, based on effective exploitation of the province's potential, taking full advantage of the resources of economic components and the support from the Government to make it more attractive to domestic and foreign visitors, especially those from Laos, Thailand and other ASEAN countries. In the coming years, Ha Tinh will focus on investment in key tourist sites, such as Thien Cam luxury resort, Xuan Thanh beach resort, Son Kim hot spring Ecological resort, the Nguyen Du relic site, Huong pagoda, Cui temple, Dong Loc T junction and Ke Go eco-tourism spot. At the same time, it will develop craft villages including Cu Do candy village, Thai Yen wood making village and Cam Nhuong fish source village to enrich tourism products in serving visitors. It will also create the most favorable conditions to encourage and attract foreign investors in the province's tourism projects.
At the moment, however, Ha Tinh is focusing on building up its comprehensive plan to develop tourism until 2020. One of the solutions that needs effective investment is regional coordination among three provinces in the Central North Region of Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh. The region is rich in tourism resources and has comparative advantages which complement each other, making them more attractive to visitors. This is also the basic principle to develop tourism, targeting five objectives in cooperation among these three provinces. They include (1) building a common brand "One heritage, two well-known man, one destination" for the three provinces; (2) working together to make new products to promote tourism; (3) promoting cooperation in implementing tourism promotion programs; (4) promoting cooperation among tourism businesses to discover and operate new routes; and (5) providing support for tourism promotion activities in each province./.