After the 5-day April 30 - May 1 holiday, a series of newspapers and television reports reported on the heat of domestic tourism. This time, the most mentioned tourist destinations with record numbers of visitors or unique and special festivals are not familiar names like Da Lat or Nha Trang, but Sa Pa!
The biggest rose festival ever takes place in Sa Pa
Sa Pa scores
During the week-long holiday from April 27 to May 3, the streets of Sa Pa were filled with the sweet scent of roses, the bustling sounds and endless cheers of tourists before the street performances and parades at the biggest rose festival ever, organized by the People's Committee of Sa Pa town in coordination with Sun World Fansipan Legend (a tourist area belonging to Sun World Group of Sun Group).
34 cars, trams, vintage cars and even horse-drawn carriages, decorated with 40,000 fresh roses, moved from the largest rose valley in Vietnam along the central streets. Along with that was a parade of more than 500 actors, artists and ethnic people living in Sa Pa in their own traditional costumes.
Also within the framework of the festival, Sun World Fansipan Legend inaugurated the Northwest cultural space at the cable car station. This is a place that brings together the traditional cultural beauty of 5 ethnic minorities in Sa Pa including H'Mong, Dao, Tay, Giay, Xa Pho, along with cultural and artistic activities that attract a large number of tourists to visit and experience.
During the holiday season alone, Sa Pa welcomed 185,000 visitors, an increase of nearly 90% over the same period in 2022 and 2-3 times higher than the same period in 2019, the golden age of Vietnamese tourism. Tourism revenue was 630 billion VND, an increase of nearly 116% over the same period in 2022, 2.6 times higher than in 2019. Thus, from 2019 to 2023, the average spending of tourists during the holiday in Sa Pa increased from nearly 3 million VND/person to 3.4 million VND/person. The worry that tourists "stay short, spend little" no longer "haunts" the tourism workers of this town.
Sa Pa town center area
Ms. Hoang Thi Vuong, Head of Sa Pa Culture and Information Department, shared that during the long holiday, Sa Pa welcomed a large number of visitors thanks to new tourism products, especially cultural events imbued with national identity, creating an effect of attracting visitors.
Representatives of many travel agencies also commented that thanks to the synchronous investment in infrastructure, many entertainment areas, and festivals throughout the four seasons, meeting the needs of relaxation and experience not only during the holidays, the number of visitors to Sa Pa and their spending has increased over the years.
Fansipan cable car passes through Muong Hoa valley
Unique products are the "key"
Before 2012, tourists' impressions of Sa Pa were of a destination with majestic natural landscapes and rich cultural identity, but visitors could only visit a few familiar attractions such as Suoi Vang, Tinh Yeu waterfall, Lao Chai and Ta Van villages, while conquering the "roof of Indochina" was only an experience for a few adventurous people. Therefore, visitors to Sa Pa at that time were less than 500,000 per year and their stay was no more than 2 days, nearly 200,000 lower than the number of visitors in the first quarter of this year.
The turning point of Sa Pa tourism took place in 2016, after the Hanoi - Lao Cai expressway was put into use along with a series of "huge" projects of private investors, typically the Sun Group Corporation. The "trump card" that attracts tourists flocking to Sa Pa is the Sun World Fansipan Legend tourist area, with a 3-wire cable car that has achieved many world records, helping tourists easily conquer the "roof of Indochina" and worship the solemn spiritual complex among the clouds.
Sa Pa's accommodation infrastructure has also turned a new page with a series of high-end resort projects. If before 2016, Sa Pa only had about 3,000 hotel rooms and no 5-star hotel rooms, the town now has 570 accommodation establishments with more than 6,000 rooms. The first international 5-star hotel, Hotel de la Coupole - MGallery Sapa with its luxurious design style and high-class service, was named "the hotel with the best design in the world in 2019" by the World Luxury Hotel Awards, becoming a favorite destination for luxury guests.
Conquering the sacred peak of Fansipan is an experience not to be missed by tourists when coming to Lao Cai.
"Handshake" makes the class
Mr. Ha Van Thang, Director of Lao Cai Department of Tourism emphasized: "We highly appreciate the chain of projects and products invested by Sun Group in Sa Pa, they have close connections. From the high mountains, there are cable cars, mountain trains, and spiritual works. Around the Sun World Fansipan Legend campus, the landscape is also invested with typical Sa Pa trees. Meanwhile, the Hotel de la Coupole accommodation is also very classy, loved by many tourists. Such synchronous investment creates very special tourism products for this place".
However, not only the products, the handshake between the government and businesses in tourism development has created for Sa Pa many festivals and events throughout the four seasons. From the Khen Hoa festival - Spring festival opening the gate to heaven, to the rose festival, the golden season festival and the winter festival - a snowy paradise. In particular, the events and festivals in Sa Pa are always renewed every year. Therefore, returning to Sa Pa at any time, visitors will feel the same novelty and excitement as the first time.
Festivals like Horse Hoofs in the Clouds increase the heat for Sa Pa tourism
Preserving the cultural identity of the highlands, which is considered the strength of Sa Pa tourism, the locality and businesses have joined hands to "revive" that beauty in tourism products. In addition to experiencing community tourism in the villages, now at the Sun World Fansipan Legend tourist area, visitors can also fully enjoy the traditional features of ancient Sa Pa. These are the dramatic Horse Racing in the Clouds, the Dao wedding or the H'Mong wife-stealing custom... all are recreated very realistically at the Northwest Cultural Space.
Celebrating 120 years of Sa Pa tourism, the town aims to welcome 3.5 million visitors, 3 times higher than the 10-year anniversary. This is an affirmation of the remarkable progress of Sa Pa tourism, a destination with natural strengths, cultural identity and a series of unique and special tourism products.
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