Scene of Dien Bien.

Nhan Dan Online- One week stay in Dien Bien may not be enough for discovering this north-western land with various places of interest and historical relic sites. This year, Dien Bien will host many celebrations, hoping to attract tens of thousands of visitors across the country.

This year is considered the Year of Tourism of Dien Bien with many celebrations such as anniversary to mark the Dien Bien Phu victory and Dien Bien Culture and Tourism Week. Therefore since the beginning of the year , the number of visitors to Dien Bien increased sharply. Particularly during the national holiday of Liberation Day of the South and the International May Day (April 30 and May 1), tens of thousands of visitors came to Dien Bien.

War veterans come back to A1 Hill battlefield.

Deputy head of the Dien Bien Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Dang Quang, Dien Bien tourism has advantage of various historical and cultural sites and place of interests. Dien Bien has a relic complex relating to the Dien Bien Phu victory such as Hill A1, Doc Lap (Independence) Cemetery, Him Lam Hill, Dien Bien Phu Museum. Dien Bien is also famous with its natural and wild beauty of Pa Thom Cave, U Va hot mineral water which is also an archaeological site. Only four to five kilometres from Dien Bien Phu, Ten hamlet and Men hamlet are places for culture tourism where culture identity of Thai ethnic group with special dance, food and other customs is clearly manifested.

However, these advantages in tourism of the province has not yet made full use of.

Foreign visitors in Dien Bien.

Ten hamlet is a place attracting a lot of visitors but most of them are Dien Bien locals who come to enjoy dancing and special food of Thai ethnic people. Not many foreign visitors are seen there. People in Ten hamlet still lived on agricultural production as their income from tourism activity is still very low.

In 2007, Dien Bien welcomed 180,00 tourists, including 22,000 visitors, earning a revenue of VND 72 billion. The number increased to 200,000 tourists in 2008 with a revenue of VND 80 billion. This figure is not on a par with the potential in tourism of the province.

Pa Thom Cave, place attracting a lot of visitors.

Also according to Quang, unfavourable conditions of transportation is the biggest difficulty for the development of tourism in the province. Though now there’s air route to Dien Bien but it’s not regularly. He said that the provincial authority is now setting up proposals to ask for permission to upgrade Dien Bien airport into international one to attract more visitors, particularly foreigners. He also reveals that apart from going to Dien Bien by land and by air, tourists can go to Dien Bien by waterway by 2013 and “that’s also very interesting,” as he said.

This year, Quang said, as there are many celebrations in the province, many projects are underway to restore cultural and historical sites.  Some projects on upgrading roads to places of interests are also carried out.

The provincial authority also pays attention to entertainment activities for tourists. From eight art troupes in 2004 now the number increases to 20 to provide better service to visitors.

It’s hoped that with such efforts, province will see a leap in tourism development this year.