Van Don: Creating attractiveness to attract tourists all year round

Van Don is famous as a sea and island tourist destination, especially attracting thousands of tourists in the summer. The government and local people are making efforts to introduce many unique cultural tourism products and festivals in the fall and winter to make Van Don vibrant all four seasons of the year.

The Chinese famtrip delegation enjoyed recording traditional performances at San Diu Ethnic Cultural Village, Binh Dan Commune.

Recently, Van Don district held the opening ceremony of San Diu Ethnic Cultural - Tourism Village, Binh Dan commune. Based on the investment in construction and renovation on the area of ​​the old cultural house, the space of the cultural village includes: A 5-room, 2-storey traditional house on an area of ​​300m², spacious and modern. The first floor is a gallery of artifacts and tools associated with the life of the San Diu people; the second floor is a hall equipped with a sound system and stage lighting for people to live, meet and organize traditional art performances for tourists... Coming to San Diu Ethnic Cultural Village, visitors can also participate in folk games such as pushing sticks, tug of war...; visit the culinary booth displaying local agricultural products with many specialties, such as: Banh bac dau, banh bo, banh tay long ep, banh chung gu, banh duc...

Mr. To Dang Luu, Party Secretary, Chairman of Binh Dan Commune People's Committee (Van Don District) shared: To optimize resources as well as create livelihoods, activities at the cultural village that mobilize a large number of people will be maintained on weekends, holidays or to welcome large groups of guests. On weekdays, there will be a number of staff to look after and welcome people while people still go to work in the fields and plow as usual. The locality also organizes for people, especially students and teenagers to practice and develop art performances imbued with national identity to perform for groups coming to visit and experience. In the coming time, the district will invest in phase 2 for the cultural village, including renovating roads, entrances to the village, parking areas, planning some surrounding agricultural areas to serve tourists...; creating a spacious and convenient space to welcome visitors.

People and tourists enjoy buying oranges from Van Don district.

As soon as it was put into operation, the cultural village attracted a large number of locals and tourists. In particular, a famtrip group of 40 Chinese travel agencies and tourism associations participated in the experience, opening up opportunities to promote the local image to the international market. Ms. Lu Ling Xue (Chinese travel agency) said: The communitytourism programs are implemented very systematically. The facilities are very well invested but still carry the unique cultural features of the ethnic people here. We will definitely include this product in the tour to introduce to Chinese tourists.

Also in December, the district organized the Van Don Orange Festival 2024, attracting many people and businesses. This is the second year that Van Don Orange Week has been organized, an opportunity to promote, promote trade, and enhance the Van Don orange brand. In addition, in the orange gardens in Van Yen commune, some people and businesses have also built camping areas and local cuisine, attracting many tourists on weekends, helping to increase new and attractive tourism products for visitors.

In 2024, Van Don has built 14 new tourism products, creating a chain of new and unique tourism products, increasing the choice and competitiveness of the district's destinations. The new tourism products put into operation have had over 380,000 visitors coming to visit and experience tourist attractions and participate in experiencing new tourism products at Sonasea Van Don Harbor City Luxury Resort, Van Don Farm (Ha Long commune), Van Yen Eco-tourism Area, Vove Camping Area (Van Yen commune), Khe Mai Farm (Doan Ket commune)...

Along with tourism products, businesses and people are constantly investing in infrastructure, improving the quality of services for tourists. Currently, the whole district has 201 accommodation establishments with 2,872 rooms, including 1 3-star hotel, 8 2-star hotels, 10 1-star hotels, the rest are minimum hotels, motels and houses with rooms for tourists to rent with 2,437 rooms.

With the continuous efforts of the government, businesses and people, in 2024, Van Don welcomed over 1.8 million visitors, reaching 100% of the annual plan (according to the adjusted economic growth scenario of the District People's Committee), up 40% over the same period in 2023; of which international visitors nearly doubled, domestic visitors increased by 38%. Tourism service revenue in 2024 is estimated at VND 2,831 billion, reaching 100% of the annual plan and up 43% over the same period in 2023.

In 2025, Van Don district sets a target of attracting over 2 million visitors, with tourism revenue estimated at over 3,000 billion VND. According to Mr. Dao Van Vu, Vice Chairman of Van Don District People's Committee, to achieve that goal, the district focuses on implementing solutions to attract tourists in 2025. In particular, maximizing the advantages of transport infrastructure, introducing and promoting tourism products to domestic and foreign travel agencies. At the same time, reviewing and organizing well events, programs and tourism stimulus activities in the district, especially in the last months of 2025. Along with that, preserving, maintaining and promoting cultural identity associated with tourism development, especially the early-year festivals held in localities, traditional festivals in Van Don, focusing on exploiting and developing sea tourism and spiritual tourism. The district also promotes tourist areas and destinations, especially tourist areas and destinations and tourism service businesses that register to build and develop new tourism products in 2025.