Ninh Thuan Province: A sleeping beauty awaiting tourism investors’ kiss

Corals and caves

Ninh Thuan, with its coast and forests, has ideal conditions for tourism development, said the provincial People’s Committee Chair Tran Quoc Nam.

Ninh Thuan is home to ancient rare and precious coral reefs, which only emerge on the water surface from May to the end of July, especially on the 1st and the 15th day of the lunar month creating spectacular scenery. Ninh Thuan is also famous for Nui Chua National Park with its tropical landscapes and climate conditions, including dwarf forests on rocky mountains, mineral springs, white sand beaches, colorful coral reefs, and spectacular caves, all making up a unique, rare ecosystem, Nam said.

The picturesque Hang Rai

The 31,000-hectare Nui Chua National Park is the only place in Vietnam with a dry forest ecosystem, attracting sea turtles in the annual spawning season. The park also accommodates Vietnam’s largest coastal coral reefs and boasts one of the most beautiful and pristine coasts in the central region, among them Nuoc Ngot, Chuoi, Thung and Kenh beaches. The coastline, totaling tens of kilometers in length and accommodating 350 species of coral, has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to the region every year.

Ninh Thuan is renowned for the well-preserved wild beaches of Ninh Chu, Vinh Hy Bay, Hang Rai, and Binh Tien. The 10km-long Ninh Chu Beach is among the nine most beautiful beaches in Vietnam, forming part of the Da Lat-Nha Trang-Ninh Chu tourist triangle. Ninh Thuan considers investment in Ninh Chu Beach one of its priorities. The three new tourist attractions in Ninh Chu - Ninh Chu, Hoan Cau and Den Gion - have drawn many visitors.

Vinh Hy Bay in Vinh Hy Village, 40km from Phan Rang-Thap Cham City, is considered one of Vietnam’s eight most beautiful bays and one of the world’s nine biosphere regions. The bay has well preserved natural beauty with white sandbanks circling steep rocky mountains and streams babbling through extensive green forests. Thanks to its many mountains and caves, the bay is very calm, with clear blue water, affording a view of the sea floor.

Ninh Thuan has a rich cultural history of the Cham, Raglai and Chu Ru ethnic groups residing in the province, providing a significant tourist draw. Its 7th-8th century intact Cham towers rising mysteriously out of the forests are associated with the Cham festival and unique folk music and dances to the sound of the Ghinang drum, Baranung musical instrument and Apsara dance.

The Po Klong Garai Tower in Phan Rang-Thap Cham City is a special national cultural and historical relic site, with perfect worship sculptures of the God Siva and Nandin Bull God, and statues of kings.

Promoting agriculture, energy, tourism

Ninh Thuan is proud of its ability to develop tourism pertaining to agriculture and renewable energy development, provincial People’s Committee Chair Tran Quoc Nam said.

Ninh Thuan has become the country’s largest sheep producing province

The province offers tours to vineyards as part of its developing viticulture activity that is now considered a traditional craft in Ninh Thuan. The My Nghiep brocade weaving village and the 14th-century Bau Truc Pottery Village in the province have a long tradition. Bau Truc, one of the most famous craft villages in Vietnam, is located along National Highway 1A in Ninh Phuoc District’s Phuoc Dan Town, 10km south of Phan Rang-Thap Cham City. This village is a type of museum, maintaining the quintessence of the traditional handmade Cham pottery art.

Ninh Thuan has also become a national leader in renewable energy, with wind power turbines dotting landscape along the coastal road from Phan Rang-Thap Cham City to Mui Dinh. Other wind power fields, for example Dam Nai and Trung Nam, are located among luscious rice fields.

Investment attraction

In keeping with the Politburo Resolution on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector, the provincial people’s committee has drawn up plans to attract investment in high-class tourism development in the province.

Investment decisions have been granted on 57 tourism projects with total capital of VND29.6 trillion, mostly along the coastline from Binh Tien to Ca Na, Nui Chua and Phuoc Binh national parks, and Phan Rang-Thap Cham City.

Many strategic and experienced investors, including T&T Joint Stock Company, Mui Dinh Ecopark, TDH Ecoland Urban Development and Investment Joint Stock Company, FLC Group Joint Stock Company, and Truong Thanh Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, are researching opportunities and making plans for urban tourism and high-grade tourist sites along the beautiful coastline from Binh Tien to Ca Na. Although the provincial economy was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of tourist arrivals to Ninh Thuan grew 16 percent per year in the 2016-2020 period, with the province’s tourism revenue increasing 17.7 percent per annum, on average.

Provincial People’s Committee Chair Tran Quoc Nam likens the province to a “sleeping beautiful girl” who will be awakened soon by investors.