Quang Ninh (VNA) –🐈 The northeastern coastal province of Quang Ninh has identifiedthat maintaining COVID-19-free zones, dubbed ‘green zones’, serves as a prerequisitecondition for tourism and services recovery in the new normal.

The provincewill gradually ease COVID-19 restrictions inside its boundary and only resume tourismactivities once it is safe to do so. In October,Quang Ninh will resume some tourism services serving only visitors from inside the province, while applying stringentpreventive measures towards a pilot programme of welcoming tourists from otherlocalities next month. It is to set up links with its neighbour Hai Phong port city to open safe tours. Under theplan, Quang Ninh will build safe multi-day tours to Tuan Chau island and thethree islands of Co To, Van Don and Hai Ha, Mong Cai coastal city, as well as to mountainous communes in the province’s Binh Lieu district. Local authoritiesalso encourage overnight tours in Ha Long Bay and closed-loop services. The provincewill soon join hands with Central Highlands localities that have broughtCOVID-19 under control to study the launch of ‘one route-two destinations’ toursin the time to come. The Partydelegation of the Quang Ninh People’s Committee has been asked to instructlocalities and relevant agencies to study plans of setting up points of sale for productsin the ‘One Commune, One Product’ (OCOP) programme and OCOP fairs at provincialand district levels, in an effort to increase visitors' spending while travelling in the province.  During the2021 - 2025 period, it is set to develop 300 new OCOP products, at least 250 ofwhich will be rated three to five stars, with the participation of at least 50economic organisations. Between2017 and 2020, the local OCOP programme had its focus switched from quantity toquality as more than 200 products were rated three to five stars, which is saidto have helped improve rural residents’ living conditions and contributed tothe building of new-style rural areas. Quang Ninh,one of the three nuclei of the northern key economic region, has implementedthe OCOP programme since 2013, and it is now taking the lead nationwide in thisregard. At present,Quang Ninh has 456 items in the OCOP programme, 236 of which have been grantedratings of three to five stars. To be given star ratings, those products havemet basic, even advanced, standards, been made in modern and professionalmanufacturing processes, and had their packages and labels perfected. A campaignhas been rolled out to call on local people to prioritise ‘Make-in-Quang Ninh’products and services in a bid to bolster consumption and contribute to thegross regional domestic product. Since thefourth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks hit Vietnam in late April until October 1,Quang Ninh has basically kept the pandemic under control. It had gone through94 days without new infections in the community by October 1 and administered the firstCOVID-19 shot for most of local residents. People enteringthe province must be fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 using RealTime RT-PCR method within 48 hours. Quang Ninhset a target of welcoming 1.9-2 million tourists and earning 4-4.5 trillion VND(175.6 - 197.5 million USD) from tourism services in the last quarter of 2021. It is home to Ha Long Bay,around two hours from Hanoi, which has earned a permanent spot on the global tourism map, withtravel bloggers and filmmakers hailing its emerald waters and thousands oftowering limestone pillars topped by rainforests. The bayhelped Quang Ninh welcome 14 million tourists, including 5.7 millionforeigners, in 2019, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year. Ha Long Bay, literally 'descending dragon' bay, was twice recognised as a World NaturalHeritage site by UNESCO in 1994 and 2000. The bay spans 1,553 square kilometresand includes 1,969 islands of various sizes. It features thousands of limestonekarsts and islets in various shapes and sizes./.