The Ha Long - Yen Tu Bay World Heritage Management Board is seeking opinions for the Draft Resolution of the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Council on amending and supplementing a number of contents on fees for visiting scenic spots in Quang Ninh province under the authority of the Provincial People's Council.
In which, it is proposed that the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Council consider adjusting the current entrance fee to Yen Tu Relic and Scenic Area to 0 VND for 3 years (2026, 2027 and 2028).
This shows the province's gratitude to all classes of people, monks, nuns, Buddhists and pilgrims in protecting, preserving, restoring and contributing to building a dossier for UNESCO to recognize Yen Tu as a world cultural heritage.
This proposal is in line with the needs and desires of all classes of people, monks, nuns, Buddhists and tourists to visit the heritage and worship Buddha, contributing to promoting the image of Yen Tu World Cultural Heritage as a place of worship and practice of Buddha Emperor Tran Nhan Tong and Truc Lam Buddhism.
Quang Ninh will start collecting Yen Tu entrance fees from January 1, 2018, with a ticket price of 40,000 VND/adult/trip and 20,000 VND/child/trip.
In the early years, the amount collected from Yen Tu sightseeing fees reached 30-40 billion VND/year and was deducted 40% to the Management Board of Yen Tu Relic and Scenic Area, but then reduced to 20%; the rest was transferred to the old Uong Bi City People's Committee.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, revenue from Yen Tu sightseeing fees was quite low (in 2020 it reached over 9.3 billion VND; in 2021: over 1.9 billion VND; in 2022: over 9.1 billion VND; in 2023: over 26.9 billion VND; in 2024: over 22.4 billion VND and in 2025 is 22.3 billion VND). Revenue from fees is not enough to cover regular expenses, especially salary, allowance, conservation, relic restoration, forest protection and festival organization expenses, leading to great pressure in the financial balance.
According to the Ha Long - Yen Tu Bay World Heritage Management Board, after paying Yen Tu sightseeing fees, all regular expenses, including expenses for conservation, embellishment of relics, forest protection and festival organization, will be taken from the Ha Long Bay sightseeing fee source.
To ensure spending sources, the Ha Long - Yen Tu Bay World Heritage Management Board also proposed to retain 28% of the Ha Long Bay entrance fee revenue, instead of 11% as it is now.
From 2017 to now, the percentage of deductions left from the revenue from selling Ha Long Bay sightseeing tickets to the Ha Long Bay Management Board (now the Ha Long Bay - Yen Tu World Heritage Management Board) is 11%; the remaining 89% is assigned to the old Ha Long City and then transferred to Quang Ninh province for management after no longer having district-level government.
Ha Long Bay entrance fees reached the highest level in 2019, with total revenue of about 1,286 billion VND. In the years affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, revenue decreased sharply and only increased again from 2023, of which in 2023 it reached more than 786 billion VND; in 2024 it reached more than 973 billion VND and in 2025 it reached more than 1,014 billion VND.
