As the experience of exploring nature, especially majestic caves, becomes increasingly popular with tourists, the opportunity for Vietnam's tourism industry to develop unique and different tourism products is growing.
At the scientific workshop "Developing cave tourism in Vietnam" on September 10, experts, researchers, and tourism businesses discussed solutions to develop cave tourism in localities in Vietnam to match the existing potential and advantages.
Dr. Do Thi Thanh Hoa - Deputy Director of Institute of Tourism Development Research, assessed that developing cave tourism is a potential type of tourism in Vietnam. The tourism industry needs to rely on geological values to exploit and promote them best, while preserving natural values, heritage, culture, paying attention to issues of capacity management, psychology, physics, aesthetic factors, ensuring security and safety...
Cave tourism is a type of tourism that brings many experiences to tourists, such as general sightseeing, entertainment, adventure tourism, scientific research, education, ecology, culture, etc.
"We also need a system to develop cave tourism areas, with specific classification of caves to clarify the outputs," said Ms. Thanh Hoa.
According to Master Nguyen Hoang Mai, Deputy Head of Division Market, Product and Science Management, Institute for Tourism Development Research, cave tourism in Vietnam is closely linked to the orientation of sustainable tourism development, balancing the three pillars of economy - culture and society - environment.
Depending on the characteristics, properties and different values that people want to learn and explore from caves (including geological research, admiring beautiful scenery, historical, cultural, spiritual, archaeological factors...), cave tourism activities can be exploited in different directions.
Therefore, cave tourism is related to many other types of tourism such as: nature-based tourism, eco-tourism, community, cultural-historical, spiritual, archaeological, adventurous, geological tourism...
Nguyen Anh Duc - Business Director, Oxalis Adventure Travel Company, affirmed: "Cave tourism in Vietnam is a new and potential type, with thousands of limestone caves discovered stretching from northern provinces such as Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang... to central provinces such as Nghe An, Quang Binh... Cave tourism is considered a "gold mine" for the tourism industry in particular and the economy in general".
However, according to Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc, promotional activities for cave tourism are still small-scale and spontaneous, and there is no balance between tourism development and nature conservation in Vietnam.
In addition, cave tourism also faces problems such as environmental pollution and waste, investment in appropriate infrastructure, impact on local communities...
Mr. Ngo Van Tien - Director of Funtrip Travel and Events Company Limited, said that although there are international conventions and common laws, Vietnam does not have its own Cave Association like many countries in the world.
This causes units operating in this field to lack access to information, instructions on working procedures, and management of cave and cave exploitation and sightseeing activities in Vietnam.
At the workshop, the presentations raised some problems in the current state of cave tourism development in Vietnam and many solutions to overcome them. In particular, experts agreed that we should preserve nature, biodiversity, develop infrastructure and services, train human resources, strengthen promotion, international cooperation, choose suitable exploitation types and waste management, set goals for sustainable cave tourism development, safe operation, depth in efficiency and wide spread...
Vietnam is a tropical country with diverse terrain, most of which is mountainous, accounting for about 3/4 of the territory. Our country is blessed with many magnificent landscapes, in which cave systems occupy a special position.
The cave systems of Phong Nha - Ke Bang, Son Doong, Hang En... are prominent landmarks that not only attract the attention of domestic tourists but also from all over the world.
Phong Nha - Ke Bang (Quang Binh) has been recognized by UNESCO as a "World Natural Heritage". Son Doong Cave (Quang Binh) was discovered in 2009 and is the largest cave in the world.
In addition, Vietnam has many large cave areas such as the cave system in Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh), caves in Trang An - Ninh Binh area, volcanic caves in Dak Nong, Nguom Ngao cave in Cao Bang... and many undiscovered caves also contribute to the diversity and richness of Vietnam's cave system.
Each cave has its own unique beauty, from majestic stalactites to clear blue lakes hidden underground.
