The northern mountainous province of Lao Cai People’s Committee
celebrated a grand ceremony to mark the 110th anniversary of Sa Pa
tourism in Sa Pa town on November 2.
Sa Pa Street
Festival 2013, which comprised many special activities depicting local
culture and the history of the town, has an important meaning in raising
public awareness and responsibility of preserving cultural identity and
natural sites of Sa Pa, creating more tourism products and
fueling the local socio-economic development.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai praised
Sa Pa local authority and its people for well-done shifting its
economic structure, nicely tapping great economic potentials in its
agriculture, industry and tourism in particular.
Deputy PM Hai said despite the country’s difficult economic context,
Sa Pa, with its success in exploiting the non-smoke industry, has
helped Lao Cai fulfill its economic growth target.
Addressing the ceremony, Nguyen Van Vinh, Secretary of the provincial
Party Committee and Chairman of the Lao Cai People’s Committee said
concerted efforts have been made by all ethnic groups and local
authorities in Sa Pa to turn the town into a “tourism paradise” of
the country.
With 162 hotels and hostels with total
capacity of 2,500 rooms, the town has welcomed millions of domestic and
foreign visitors every year and enjoyed an annual tourism earnings
growth of 35-40 percent, he noted.
Located 38km from
Lao Cai City , Sa Pa is 1,600m high above sea level, with
the average temperature of 15-18°C. The whole town is dominated by the
Hoang Lien Son mountain range which is famous with the Indochina’s
highest mountain of Fansipan at a height of 3,142 m above sea
level.
Discovered in 1903, Sa Pa has many natural
sites such as Ham Rong Mountain , Silver Waterfall, Rattan
Bridge , Bamboo Forest and Ta Phin Cave. It is home to six main
ethnic minority groups, including Kinh, Hmong, Dao, Tay, Day and Xa Pho
with various traditional festivals and unique cultural practices,
especially the Bac Ha market and Sa Pa love market.
On the occasion, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism presented
two certificates recognising Sa Pa ’s O Quy Ho mountain pass as the
longest pass in Vietnam and a 121-step terraced field in Vu Lung
Sung village, Trung Chai commune as the most steps.
O Quy Ho pass, located on National Highway 4D, cuts cross the
Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range and connects Lao Cai and Lai Chau
provinces. It has a length of 50 km.
In the
middle of 2012, the international tourism information website
Globalgrasshopper chose the pass to be in the top ten of the most
beautiful tourist attractions in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the terraced field in Vu Lung Sung is considered one of the
most beautiful and oldest terraced fields in Sa Pa (over 100
years old).
Besides, the 110 th Sa
Pa anniversary also received its own “records” for the outstanding
hospitability of service agencies, order and safety without
disturbance from souvenir sellers, as well as the diversity in
activities and profession in organisation.
Nguyen
Thanh Ha, a Hanoi tourist expressed his pleasure to visit the fancy
town. He said a part from better tourism facilities, he also saw better
services in all tourism sites in Sa Pa.
Local
authorities said from October 31 to November 2 alone, Sa Pa received
about 40,000 visitors, helping Lao Cai province fulfill is set target of
welcoming 1 million tourist for 2013 two months earlier than planned.
According to the Lao Cai Department of Culture,
Sports and Tourism, the province has so far this year welcomed 960,000
visitors, a 13.9 percent rise over the same period last year, earning
over 1.927 billion VND.
The Northwestern part of Vietnam is one of the most interesting and beautiful areas of Southeast Asia.-VNA