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EXPAT LIFE
18
A
t 42 years of age, Nguyen
Hung, a state company officer
in Hanoi, dreams that one day
he will climb Fansipan, also
known as the roof of Indochina. “Only
a few of my friends have realised this
dream. I have been told since I was
young that it is a really fantastic experi-
ence, but also very challenging. Every
young person wants to conquer it once
in their life,” Hung said.
However, should Hung realise his
dream, he says it would not have the
same meaning if he arrived at the top
to be greeted by dozens of people fresh
from their cable car ascent.
A cable system is now being devel-
oped by the Fansipan-Sapa Cable Car
Tourism Service Company, a member of
Sun Group, with investment of VND4.2
trillion ($200 million). Expected to be
put into operation in 2015, the system
will be the highest and longest three
line cable car system in Asia.
Located near Sapa in the Hoang
Lien Son mountain range, Fansipan is
well known for its ecological variety,
with about 2,024 floral varieties and
327 faunal species. Concerns are being
voiced that this variety would be threat-
ened by the new system.
Pham Ha, CEO of Luxury Travel, said
that he was shocked when he heard
about this project: “This is the craziest
project that I have ever heard of. Fan-
sipan is one of the best destinations for
mountainous adventure and it is very
attractive for both domestic and interna-
tional adventure tourists. I am sure that
there is not any foreigner who is inter-
ested in adventure tourism with a cable
car running over it like this,” he said.
Moreover, Ha believes the cable
car system, together with its other fa-
cilities such as restaurants and hotels,
a golf course and a resort, will break up
the landscape of the Hoang Lien Son
mountain range and the unique culture
of this area. He says it will reduce the
attractiveness of Fansipan in particular
and Sapa in general. As a result, it will
reduce tourist numbers.
Ron Marchand, a Dutchman who
climbed the mountain with a 45-strong
group from the Medical Committee
Netherlands-Vietnam in June this year,
told
Timeout
that he thinks this project
will spoil the attraction of climbing the
peak forever: “It will denigrate the ef-
forts of all those who have climbed to
the summit in the past. In many other
countries your highest mountain is
considered as something sacred which
would forever be spoilt by a cable car.
In addition this is the Centre of the Na-
tional Lai Chau Mountain Nature Park,
The construction of a cable car system running to the peak of Vietnam’s high-
est mountain, Fansipan, has triggered plenty of controversy, with tourism ex-
perts and tourists raising concerns that the lure of the mountain will be forever
removed.
Bich Ngoc
reports.
KILLING
the magic
TOURISM