Vietnam’s northern Quang Ninh province, Laos’ Luang Prabang and Thailand’s Udonthani are working together for raise their profile on the global tourism map through making the most of their World Heritage sites in a “three heritages-one destination” programme.

The so called Heritage triangle project, connecting Ha Long Bay, Luang Prabang and Ban Chiang, was initiated in 2006 as part of the efforts to tap the great tourism potential in the region.

However, the scheme only really took off in 2014 after the three localities actually built a plan of actions.

Carrying out the plan, Quang Ninh has invited art troupes from Uthonthani and Luang Prabang provinces to attend and perform at the annual Ha Long Carnival.

Many multilateral and bilateral talks have been organised in the three localities to encourage the involvement of tourism enterprises in seeking cooperation and designing tourism packages in the heritage triangle.

In February this year, Udonthani province launched a tourism labour training with the participation of trainees from Quang Ninh and Luang Prabang, aiming to develop tourism workforce while enhancing connectivity and experience exchanging in tourism and art among the localities.

However, vice director of Quang Ninh provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Trinh Dang Thanh called for closer coordination in marketing and tourism promotional activities such as survey trips for the media and foreign travel agencies. The three provinces are yet to built any tours connecting the three heritage sites, and their tourism companies have not realised any specific cooperation linkage.

Tourism experts also recommended the study of heritage tours as well as logo design for the heritage triangle to serve promotion work. They also urged local tourism associations and media agencies to establish ties for the building of joint tours and promoting the three destinations.

Quang Ninh province pledges to create favourable conditions for Lao and Thai businesses to join cultural events to link tours and boost investment. It hopes to learn from Udonthani in managing tourism and developing public tourism, eco-tourism and green tourism, which are Thailand’s strengths.

VNA