This has significantly contributed to a diversity in tourist locations in the region and highlights a growing interest in tourism in Tay Ninh Province.
Attractive destination
The Ba Den Mountain has been a favorite destination for a large number of visitors in Southern Vietnam. In 1998, the first cable car route in the country was built here, making it much easier for tourists to visit Ba Den Pagoda. The first step towards development here began in 2018 when the Prime Minister approved a master plan for the development of the Ba Den Mountain National Tourist Site, with a variety of attractive segments. The plan was expected to drive investment in the area and create opportunities for the development of tourism services in Tay Ninh Province in general and the Ba Den Mountain National Tourist Site in particular, attracting several big investors.
In January 2020, the Sun Group, one of the leading tourism and travel corporations in Vietnam, put into operation a modern cable car system as the first part of the development plan of the Sun World Ba Den Mountain. The large-scale well planned investment gave the National Tourist Site a new image with high class structures. Visitors to Ba Den Mountain can explore the world's biggest cable car station, as recognized by Guinness World Records, ride on cable cars through high clouds at an altitude of 986m in less than ten minutes, instead of hours of tedious climbing in the past, admire all-year-round flowers grown at Sun World Ba Den Mountain Tourist Site and enjoy special Asian and European cuisines in the cool green surrounding environment.
The most special feature is the statue of Linh Son Saint Mother, which is the tallest bronze statue of a Buddhist Goddess in Asia, situated on top of the mountain. The Sun Group sculptor, Pham Ba Dua, worked hard to make the mountain top look magnificent and sacred among the clouds and plants, with the eyes of the Goddess expressing love. Together with the 300-year-old Goddess Pagoda, Ba Den Mountain National Resort has turned into a leading tourist site in the Southeastern part of Vietnam.
Figures from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Tay Ninh Province show that visitors to the region increased by 15% per annum during the 2015 to 2020 period, also raising tourism revenue by 15% per year. In 2020, many other leading tourist sites around the country suffered seriously because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but visitors to Tay Ninh Province reached 87%, compared with 2019. Of the total 2.2 million visitors to the province, 2.1 million came to visit Ba Den Tourist Site only.
Promoting to national level
The achievements so far have resulted from the effective planning decisions by the provincial officials in identifying the potential of tourism and choosing it as one of their four breakthrough strategies. All the best possible resources have been focused on this development, with significant support from and involvement by provincial officials and also state officials. A good example was a conference on joint efforts for regional tourism development in Southeastern Vietnam held in June 2020.
The participants included Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, leaders of the concerned cities and provinces, and directors of tourism corporations around the country. The meeting marked a new development milestone in the relationships and collaboration among the cities and provinces, government agencies, associations and businesses in the whole area. Previously, Tay Ninh Province had put into operation the five-star Sunrise Hotel and Vincom Plaza Complex.
One of the most important factors in the development has been the dedication, responsibility and professionalism of the big investors, including the Sun Group. After the serious effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the whole population, the management of this tourist site has lowered the ticket prices, but continues to ensure the best possible quality services. The tourist site has built some new structures to provide more services for tourists.
The management always ensures the visitors can enjoy their trip and be pleased and welcomed by a well-mannered and professional staff who often greet visitors warmly with words like “Hello!”, “Please!” and “See you again”, making it part of the culture of the site. Additionally, the price of accommodation services has all been reduced around the province in an effort to attract more visitors and enable the tourism sector to gradually recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to Ba Den Mountain, Tay Ninh Province has the potential for development of other types of religious tourism services, beautiful spots, ecological and resort areas for holidaymakers. Among them are the national historic site of the Southern Central Revolutionary Army Base, An Thoi Underground Tunnel, Binh Thanh Old Tower, Tay Ninh Caodaist Pagoda, Dau Tieng Reservoir, Lo Go-Xa Mat National Park and Trang Bang District which is famous for its village trade of dew-wetted rice paper.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of Tay Ninh Province, said that the province is determined to make tourism the main driving force for economic growth by 2030 as suggested by the Resolution introduced at the eighth session of the 12th Party Central Committee. In order to reach this goal, the province has been striving to attract investments in tourism, with special concentration on making the Ba Den Mountain Tourist Site an interesting international hotspot for religious tourism, thereby promoting the growth of local tourism.
So as to take full advantage of all its potential, Tay Ninh Province will make great efforts to create a variety of tourism products of a specific nature; improve collaboration and relationships for tourism development; and focus on product development, brand building and improving the ability to cope with new situations. It is also essential to focus and promote marketing; attract investments; connect tourism spots and routes; create some night tourist sites; do research and develop ecological tourism services along the Vam Co Dong and Saigon rivers; introduce holiday and medical treatment tours; and take the best advantage of the historic relics and cultural heritage of Tay Ninh Province.
