A story that is not new
After the weddings of Indian billionaire families, two American billionaire tourists, Mr. Jeff Grinspoon and Mr. Jon Thomas Foley, recently opened tours to Ha Long Bay for the rich in 2025.
It is expected that in the coming months, there will be about 4 groups of world billionaires and billionaires coming to Ha Long Bay; not to mention hundreds of other world billionaires expected to participate in the "Art for Climate - Ha Long Bay 2025" Festival event.
In response to the widespread information that Ha Long Bay is becoming a destination for wealthy visitors, a source from Lao Dong Newspaper said that long-time tourists on Ha Long Bay have welcomed wealthy visitors with their families and friends with unique products in a very private space. Among them was the owner of Meta (formerly Facebook) - Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend who flew by helicopter to Ha Long at the end of 2011.
Mr. Tang Van Phien - Director of Van Chai Cooperative, the unit managing and providing tourism services at Vung Vieng fishing village, Ha Long Bay, is one of the longest-time tourism workers in Ha Long Bay - said that he was previously invited to participate in welcoming the world's billionaires and billionaires with his family and friends to visit and experience Ha Long Bay.
One of the rich customers he has served is the billionaire Hong Kong (China) family in 2014. Customers' request is to enjoy a light party on a beautiful beach in the middle of Ha Long Bay in a separate space.
After the unit agreed with the representative of the travel company, Hon Bo Hung beach (commonly known as Ban Chan beach), in the Vung Vieng fishing village area, was chosen. Mr. Phien and dozens of staff members were present from early morning to clean, arrange tables, chairs and decorate the beach according to customers' requests.
At around noon, representatives of the travel company and a group of bodyguards arrived at the beach and asked everyone to move elsewhere. Only Mr. Phien and another employee were allowed to stay, but were asked to stand right away from where the customer was having a meal.
Then, a luxury high-speed yacht arrived, carrying 4 adults and 2 children, including a Hong Kong (China) billionaire. 6 people sat at the table to enjoy simple dishes, prepared from the shore, with a canteen to heat food when needed. After lunch, the family had fun, relaxed on the beach and enjoyed a light buffet, before taking a cruise to shore at 6pm the same day.
The total amount spent on this tour is about 150 million VND, including the rental of high-speed super yachts, service staff, food and beverage... According to Mr. Phien, the requirement for rich tourists, to be willing to spend is that the product must be unique, the space must be private.
No breakthrough, difficult to compete
To attract the world's billionaires and billionaires and tourists willing to spend big, in the past, tourism workers in Ha Long Bay introduced the very unique and unique products of Ha Long Bay, such as small parties in caves, on sand beaches, fishing with fishermen, dragon boat racing, organizing small events on sand beaches in the middle of the sea...
However, those products are banned. Recently, both tourism businesses and the Quang Ninh Tourism Association have repeatedly proposed reopening, but relevant agencies continue to consider. Even the opening of more beaches in the middle of Ha Long Bay has been discussed and discussed for many years but has not been abandoned.
"If we know how to take advantage, Ha Long Bay will become a competitive destination for billionaire and billionaire tourists in the world. But there must be unique and distinct products, and these are completely available in Ha Long Bay. The problem is to be open, stable, so that businesses and travel companies can promote and invite tourists" - a representative of a travel company specializing in bringing international tourists to Vietnam shared.
Mr. Doan Van Dung - General Director of Dong Duong cruise ship company, one of the first few people to build cruise ships and serve mainly international visitors - has successfully piloted a light party service in caves, on the beach...
To limit the impact on the landscape and environment, the scale of the parties is very small, with the largest number of about 8 - 10 guests, with prices ranging from 250 - 270 USD/person; not including train and ticket prices to visit the bay. There are meals with only 1 table for 2 diners.
Whether eating in caves or on the beach, the service provider never uses electricity, but only uses candles - both a customer's request for a romantic space and having little impact on the environment.
Such unique products were banned immediately after public opinion reported parties and noises such as weddings at Trong Cave, Ha Long Bay with the price of each meal only slightly higher than on the shore.
Representatives of major tourism companies that regularly bring international visitors to Ha Long Bay said that the ban on eating in caves and on the beach is extreme; while this is a special advantage of Ha Long Bay. Many famous tourist destinations in the world have cave or beach dining services, but limited quantity, expensive prices and tourists have to book a whole year to get their turn.
The key to the environmental impact issue is to limit quantity, improve service quality and set very high prices; create more products that only Ha Long Bay has for rich tourists to open up opportunities to make sustainable money.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper at a recent workshop on assessing the weight of Ha Long Bay, Dr. Celal Kaplan - consultant on assessing the weight of tourism, Kiran Consulting Group (USA) - said that it is not recommended to ban eating in caves, on the beach in the middle of Ha Long Bay. The main question is how to organize it?
According to Mr. Kaplan, if organized well, not only will businesses create unique tourism products, but they will also contribute to raising the brand of Ha Long Bay tourism.
Head of Ha Long Bay Management Board - Vu Kien Cuong said that in the immediate future, more beautiful beaches in the middle of Ha Long Bay will soon be opened this year, including areas reserved only for billionaire and billionaire visitors in the world.
