Vietnam and China are set to expand self-driving tours in a border region, heard a conference co-held by Vietnam’s northern Quang Ninh province and Dongxing city in China’s southwest Guangzi Zhuang Autonomous Region on May 9.

Cars driven by Chinese tourists enter Vietnam through Mong Cai border gate (Photo: dantri.com.vn)

The tours are currently allowed to run between Quang Ninh’s Mong Cai city and Dongxing city.

At the conference, the two sides agreed to expand the area for the tour from Vietnam-China border to Guangxi’s cities of Fangchenggang, Nanning and Guilin and Quang Ninh’s Ha Long city in the future.

The Vietnamese government has allowed Quang Ninh to pilot self-drive tours from China to the province’s Ha Long city since March.

Self-drive tours through Vietnam-China border have become a new attraction after the launch of the Mong Cai - Dongxing route in November 2016. As of April 2018, a total 146 vehicles carrying 569 visitors travelled between the two cities.

During the four-day holidays from April 28 celebrating National Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day, the border city of Mong Cai welcomed about 50,000 tourists, with some 10,000 Chinese holiday-makers travelling through Mong Cai International Border Gate each day.

More than 4 million Chinese people visited Vietnam last year, representing a year-on-year surge of 48.6 percent.

In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam served over 1.35 million Chinese tourists, a year-on-year rise of 42.9 percent.-VNA