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QUANG NINH IN FOCUS
commercial port under the Ly and Tran
dynasties. This was the gateway for
Vietnamese trade with the Chinese
in the north. Today, the wharf is still
lively with ships and fishing boats.
Every year, ships catch hundreds of
tons of fish, which assures the in-
habitants significant revenues and a
comfortable life.
Doc says the unspoiled natural
beauty and cultural, historical values
are favourable conditions for tourism
development in Van Don.
However, tourism has not yet de-
veloped because of poor infrastructure
connecting Van Don and other places.
In the past, Van Don was connected
with the mainland by ferries, but in
recent years, the province built some
bridges between the mainland and Van
Don. Since then, there has been an in-
creasing flow of tourists.
In the near future, when the spe-
cial economic zone is established,
islands including Ngoc Vung, Minh
Chau, Quan Lan and Bai Tu Long will
form a maritime tourism complex with
various kinds of activities such as trek-
king and caving.
“When the bridge linking Cua Ong
to Cai Bau Island as well as the project
to build an airport and upgrade infra-
structure facilities are finished, Van Don
is expected to be a new destination for
tourism, not only in Vietnam, but also in
Southeast Asia,” says Doc.
Place your bets
The plan to build a casino inte-
grated resort in Van Don has attracted
the attention of many foreign casino
operators, especially after the Viet-
namese government announced that
it will consider allowing Vietnamese
to enter the Van Don casino as part of
a pilot project.
Many foreign casino operators in-
cluding Las Vegas Sands, Phoenix Ma-
cau Tailoi and Casinos Austria have al-
ready been to the province and studied
the investment opportunity here. The
most active investors are the Vietnam-
ese Tuan Chau Group and Australia’s
ISC Corporation.
Just last month, this consortium
announced their investment plan for
an integrated resort and casino pro-
ject in Van Don. This covers an area of
2,000 hectares, comprising a casino,
marina, residential area and luxury
hotels. In addition, the investors pro-
posed building roads linking the pro-
ject with airports which will be built in
Van Don in the future.
“This is an ambitious plan, but it
could be feasible because of the pref-
erential policies and incentives that
the government will grant for Van
Don as a special economic zone,” says
Hong.
He adds that the government has
not yet decided who will be the devel-
oper of the project, so that opportu-
nity remains open: “Recently, we have
received much interest from foreign
investors. We want to find a casino
operator that is really experienced in
this industry”.
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