Dong Van stone plateau popular with visitors

The Dong Van Stone Plateau in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang attracted 30,000 tourists, including over 10,000 foreigners, helping raise the province’s tourism revenue to VND41 billion (USD1.98 million) in July.

The Dong Van Stone Plateau

Covering a total area of nearly 2,400 sq.m., the Dong Van Stone Plateau housed 34 percent of the province’s population.
The recognition of Dong Van as the first geopark in Vietnam and the second in Southeast Asia by the Global Network of National Geoparks (GGN) in October last year had created an impetus for local tourism development.
Ha Giang province developed community cultural villages and tourism infrastructure in an effort to lure more than 350,000 tourists in 2011, bringing in around VND300 billion (USD14.55 million) in revenue.
Also, since 2007, Ha Giang province invested over VND989 billion (USD48 million) to build 91 water reservoirs on the Dong Van Stone Plateau, of which 37 have been completed and put into use.
The operation of the reservoirs helps solve long-lasting water shortages and improve the lives of ethnic minority people in the province’s four poor mountainous districts, namely Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac.
They also help boost economic development and maintain political stability in the border area of the nation.