Attending the special gala ceremony held on October 12 in Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang province, representatives of Sun World Fansipan Legend were delighted to receive this highly prestigious award at what The Wall Street Journal calls “the Oscars of the world travel industry.” 

“We’re absolutely thrilled to win this award. It’s a great honor that acknowledges the huge efforts we have made to bring a truly world-class tourism product to Sa Pa,” said Nguyen Xuan Chien, Director of Sun World Fansipan Legend.

“The fruits of our labor have not only been recognized but rewarded with this award, which will also spur us on to continually strive towards making Sun World Fansipan Legend the country’s leading tourism attraction,” Chien said.

Invested by Sun Group and open since 2016, Sun World Fansipan connects Sa Pa to the peak of Fansipan with a cable-car and offers visitors unique insights into the indigenous cultures of the mountainous northwest. In just a few years, the work has transformed Sa Pa from a sleepy backwater into one of Vietnam’s premier destinations.

The location is part and parcel with the experience. Visitors to Sun World Fansipan Legend have many unique vantage points to admire the primitive forests on the Hoang Lien mountain range, the poetic purity of Muong Hoa valley, and the awe-inspiring heights all around — especially the “rooftop of Indochina”, Mount Fansipan.

Within the complex, visitors can immerse themselves in the northwestern mountainous culture by attending traditional festivals and discovering all about the many hill tribes who have lived all around the “City in the clouds” for many centuries. 

Departing from Sapa town, the Muong Hoa funicular is a wonderful journey that connects the town with the Fansipan cable car station. The funicular ride will thrill people of all ages as it trundles through mysterious tunnels, crosses a viaduct and offers passengers wide-views of the beautiful natural landscapes at an altitude of 1,600 meters.

On the walkway to the station of Fansipan cable car, visitors can appreciate the splendor of a beautiful rose garden with hundreds of ancient blooming roses, as well as the purple flower fields, agricultural products of the hill tribes, who live in the northwest, and their many traditional festivals.

Holding two Guinness World Records, Sun World Fansipan Legend Cable Car System will give passengers an out-of-this-world experience as it ascends toward the peak of Fansipan. The views are literally breathtaking.

Passengers will see the golden rice terraces and tiny villages down below. At the top of Fansipan, a complex of spiritual buildings and shrines showcase the ancient beauty of Vietnamese architecture as well as the country’s spiritual beliefs. When visitors reach the top of Fansipan peak, they will be standing at a height of 3,143m above sea level.

Besides its attractive tourism features, Sun World Fansipan Legend is also a symbol of Vietnam’s dynamic rise. The whole project, and especially the cable car system, is the result of an extraordinary engineering effort considering the terrain on the rugged slopes of Mount Fansipan.

The project has undoubtedly been a driving force for the development of tourism for Sapa in particular and Lao Cai province in general. Since opening, the number of tourists coming to Sapa has risen spectacularly. In 2013, tourist arrivals to Lao Cai reached 1.2 million. In the first half of 2019, the province welcomed more than 2.9 million visitors, generating revenue of approximately VND11,250 billion. That’s an increase of 50% over the same period in 2018 and equivalent to 442.9% of the revenue in 2013, when Sun Group had just broken ground on the project.

In fact, that year, the number of tourists to Sapa only reached 720,000 arrivals, generating a total tourism revenue of VND576 billion. By contrast, in 2018, Sa Pa welcomed 2.7 million tourist arrivals, generating VND3,900 billion in revenue. In the first half of 2019, there have been 1.65 million visitors, generating VND5,200 billion in revenue.

Having Sun World Fansipan Legend recognized as “Vietnam’s Leading Tourist Attraction 2019” is certainly a huge acknowledgement of the tireless efforts made by Sun Group to develop and deliver truly world-class tourism products and high-grade, transformative projects that have made an immense contribution in promoting Vietnam as a travel destination all around the world.

Thanh Van