Lang Son is the northeastern land of the country, the province is endowed with many beautiful landscapes, diverse customs and traditional festivals. In recent years, the culture, sports and tourism sector of Lang Son has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue many guidelines and policies to develop tourism into a spearhead economic sector.
With an open transportation system and a convenient location located on the economic corridor of Nanning (China) - Lang Son - Hanoi - Hai Phong, from Lang Son, travelers can go to China via two international border gates by international railway and road. At the same time, the relatively developed transportation system has convenient access to Hanoi and other provinces in the region, this is also an advantage that creates opportunities for Lang Son to accelerate tourism development strategies in key areas of the province.
Lang Son has many attractive natural landscapes such as Tam Thanh Cave, Nhi Thanh Cave, To Thi Mountain, Phai Ve flagpole in the shape of giant rockery in the heart of the city, Mau Son tourism area, Bac Son Valley ... Besides, Lang Son preserves many historical places in the process of building and defending the country of our ancestors, such as: Muc Nam Quan Gate, Chi Lang Gate, Mac Dynasty Wall and Bac Son revolutionary relics. In particular, in 2017, the Government approved the Master Plan for the development of Mau Son National Tourism Area, in Lang Son Province by 2030, with the goal in 2030, Mau Son tourist area would meet the criteria and become a national tourism area with typical tourism products including mountain resort, spiritual and cultural tourism and eco-tourism of the Northern midland and mountainous region and the whole country.
Lang Son is also a place where there is a convergence of unique cultural features of many ethnic groups with traditional practices, festivals and food, especially unique folk tunes such as Then singing (Tay, Nung), Put, Sli sloong hau, Sinh lang singing (Nung), Luon sluong singing (Tay), Co lau, children’s folk song, and Quan lang singing which captivate people. The ethnic communities here also preserve many festivals imbued with cultural traditions such as Dong Dang Festival, Bac Nga Pagoda Festival (Cao Loc District), Tam Thanh Pagoda Festival, Ky Cung-Ta Phu Festival (Festival of Firecrackers – Ky Lua).
In addition, Lang Son has special culinary culture with its own unique characteristics such as: sour noodle soup, roasted duck, khau nhuc, char siu, smoked sausage, five-color sticky rice, steamed rice rolls, fried sticky rice cake, chili bamboo shoot, and khau Shi. Along with these dishes, fruits in the countryside of Lang Son are also diverse such as apricots, Trang Dinh pears, Binh Gia plums, Bac Son tangerines, Bao Lam seedless persimmons, Chi Lang sugar-apples, and Mau Son peaches. The richness, diversity and originality of Lang Son's culinary products will make visitors impressed after each visit, learning and enjoying.
In 2018, the number of tourists to Lang Son reached 2.8 million of arrivals, up 6.3% over the same period in 2017, reaching 103.2% of the plan, (of which: 430 thousand of international arrivals, 2.378 million of domestic arrivals). The revenue was about VND 980 billion, reaching 101% of the plan, up 7.7%. The province now has more than 222 tourism and service businesses, of which 212 tourist accommodation establishments with more than 3,000 rooms including 45 hotels rated from 1 to 5 stars, and the rest as motels and hotels without star rating, as well as 10 tour operators with over 60 licensed tour guides.
Over the past years, Lang Son culture, sports and tourism sector has advised and concretized the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy and Master plan to 2020, with a vision to 2030; Master plan for tourism development in Northern midland and mountainous region, Master plan for Socio-Economic Development of Lang Son Province. Recently, the People's Committee of Lang Son province is assigning the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop the Tourism Development Plan of Lang Son to 2030, with a vision to 2045. At the same time, they will issue investment incentive policies to attract investors to implement investment projects in Lang Son conveniently, quickly and stably in the long run. Especially, Lang Son is actively investing in the construction of Mau Son Tourism Project, Chi Lang Cultural and Historical Relic Site. These will be new opportunities for Lang Son enterprises to cooperate with domestic and foreign enterprises to invest in developing economic, trade, tourism and service industries at the gateway of the country.
The province is developing and implementing the provincial tourism development project in the direction of prioritizing, investing in the development of tourism infrastructure in close association with trade and agricultural, focusing on developing tourism products at the border gender, cultural tourism, ecotourism and community based tourism which are highly attractive and competitive, making a difference and modernity; renovating and improving the efficiency of advertising, investment and tourism promotion activities; ensuring safe and civilized tourism environment. In particular, with a common goal that by 2025, Lang Son will become one of the key tourism destinations of the Northern midland and mountainous region and the whole country, striving to 2030, the Lang Son tourism industry will become a spearhead economic sector of the province, contributing to economic restructuring, poverty reduction, job creation, increasing revenue for the budget and motivating other economic sectors to develop together.
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