Authorities in Central Quang Binh province will officially open the
world’s biggest cave, Son Doong, for tourism by January, 2015. This
follows a successful pilot programme this year.
Adventure tours
to Son Doong will most likely run from January to August. However, they
will cease for the rest of the year to avoid flooding.
To protect
the delicate cave system, a maximum of 450 visitors will be allowed in
each year, almost twice as many as the eight month pilot period.
The pilot programme, organised by Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park and Oxalis Adventure Tours, had 243 visitors.
The
2015 programme will offer six-day and five-night tours and four-day and
three-night tours at cost of 3,000 USD per head. Each month, only eight
groups will be allowed to tour.
Son Doong is more than 200m
wide, 150m high, and about 9km long. It also houses a jungle and a
river, and could fit a 40-storey skyscraper within its walls. The cave
was classified as the largest cave in the world by the British Cave
Research Association.
It has been recently suggested by the
American news website huffingtonpost.com as one of the places to visit.
Son Doong was also listed in the “52 Places to Go in 2014” by The New
York Times Travel.
Located approximately 500km south of Hanoi,
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a famous destination in central
Vietnam and was recognised by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site.-VNA