Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a plan to build Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh into a national tourist site by 2030.

Thien Duong cave in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park

The park aims to receive 2.5 million visitors by 2025, with 300,000 foreigners, raking in about 4 trillion VND (176.18 million USD). It targets 3.5 million visitors by 2030, with estimated tourism revenue reaching 8.2 trillion VND (361.05 million USD).

In the future, park authorities will focus on developing tourism products in line with the preservation of its globally recognised values, while launching new tours to explore its biodiversity as well as archaeological, geological and cultural values.

The national park will prioritise sight-seeing and experience tours, community-based and resort tourism. It will also launch new routes of waterway tourism and devise linked travel routes and offer different types of tourism.

To realise the target, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park will work to improve existing travel routes, particularly trekking tours in its vast network of caves of Son Doong, Phong Nha – Tien Son and historical sites, among others.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003 due to its impressive scenery and archaeological value.

In 2016, Son Doong Cave, located in the heart of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, was recognised as the largest of its kind by three international organisations, including Guinness (based in the UK), the Association World Record (based in Hong Kong) and WorldKings (based in the US and India).

The 1,645m-long cave system, which extends through a mountain, was also named one of the most captivating caves on earth by National Geographic.-VNA