The Son Tra Mountain will become a national tourism site that will host a luxury eco-tour resort complex by 2030, announced a press conference on February 15.

The Sung Co islet at the foot of Son Tra Mountain

Ha Van Sieu, deputy head of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, said at the event that the mountain, 600m above sea level and 10km from downtown Da Nang, will become a key destination along with world heritage sites in Hoi An town and the provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Binh, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen.

“The mountain has been a lung for Da Nang with its rich biodiversity and the Nature Reserve. That’s why the Government has decided to add it to the National Tourism plan, with the aim of hosting 4.6 million tourists in 2030,” Sieu said.

“Son Tra and Da Nang will be at the crossroads of Vietnam’s road and sea tourism as the city is situated in central Vietnam and links with the national highway and railway systems as well as deep sea ports,” he said.

Sieu said Son Tra alone is designed to accommodate 300,000 tourists in 1,600 luxury hotel rooms.

By 2030, the mountain is expected to earn tourism revenues of 4.3 trillion VND (190.3 million USD) and create 2,800 jobs, he added.

As planned, the Son Tra Mountain, which covers an area of 4.439ha, will have 1,056ha earmarked for development as a national eco-tourism and luxury resort in central Vietnam.  

Da Nang’s tourism department has said that it will introduce the Son Tra Sunset Tour later this year as the newest tourism service.

The tour will allow visitors to enjoy a breathtaking sunset panorama and a bird’s eye view of Son Tra peninsula as well as a corner of the city from 600m above sea level, the department said.

The Son Tra Mountain is already a popular tourist destination, with 10,000 tourists visiting every month.

The mountain shelters nearly 300 red-shanked douc langurs, which were declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2013.

The city has approved a long-term plan (until 2030) to protect biodiversity in the Son Tra Nature Reserve.

The Son Tra Peninsula Strategic Vision Plan, which was designed by the US’s Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), has been awarded an excellence prize by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the city’s construction department announced on February 15.

According to the government’s 2020-30 master plan for the tourism development in the central region, Da Nang, Son Tra and favourite tourism destinations like Hoi An, My Son Sanctuary and Hue Monument Complex will welcome six million foreign tourists and eight million domestic visitors, earning tourism revenues of 2.1 billion USD by 2020 and creating 80,000 jobs in the process.

Da Nang, which is situated in the East-West Economic Corridor, will help boost caravan tours and links with Mawlamyine and Dawei in Myanmar; Khon Kaen and Bangkok in Thailand; Savanakhet in Laos; Siam Reap in Cambodia; and the localities of Hue, Hoi An and Binh Dinh.

Da Nang focuses on developing Son Tra tourism area

The central city of Da Nang’s Department of Tourism has issued a master plan on the development of Son Tra National Tourism Area to 2025, aiming to lure 3.5 million visitors and revenue of about 1.9 trillion VND (83.5 million USD).

By 2030, the site expects to attract 4.6 million tourists with earnings of about 4.3 trillion VND, according to the plan which was approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in November 2016.

With an area of 4,439 hectares, Son Tra National Tourism Area is located in Son Tra peninsular in Tho Quang ward, Son Tra district.

By 2025, the area is expected to meet all criteria of a national tourism site, and become a high-end eco-tourism and resort centre as well as an important destination in the national road and sea tourism route in 2030.

Three service centres will be built in three gateways of the Son Tra peninsula, while areas serving ecotourism tourism, entertainment, sports and sight-seeing will be developed, including a flower and herbal park, a wildlife rescue centre, a safari park, a camping area and sight-seeing points.

Da Nang aims to develop Son Tra National Tourism Area based on reasonable exploitation of sea and forest resources, with priority on ecotourism, sports, resorts and cultural-spiritual tourism, thus boosting the growth of other service sectors.

According to Tran Thi Thanh Tam, Chairwoman of Son Tra district People’s Committee, the locality’s total retail and service revenue in 2016 increased by 20 times compared to that in 1997.

Tourism is a key economic sector in Da Nang in recent years.

In 2016, 5,51 million tourists visited the city, gegerating 16 trillion VND (717 million USD) in tourism revenue.

VNA