The Lao Cai Province, as well as other north-western provinces, were selected to host the National Tourism Year 2017 Lao Cai – Tay Bac (North-western region), whose success has contributed significantly to local socio-economic development. 
At a ceremony held in Lao Cai to round off the National Tourism Year 2017 on December 16, Dang Xuan Phong, Chairman of the Lao Cai Province People’s Committee, said that through the year, the awareness of agencies, businesses and people about the role of tourism as well as their responsibility for the tourism sector have been improved significantly. 

North-western provinces should promote linkage for typical tourism products.

Therefore, he noted, the sector has attracted many strategic investors and many households have escaped from poverty thanks to tourism. 
On this occasion, Lao Cai received Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s decision recognizing Sa Pa resort town as a national tourism site, which is also the second of its kind nationwide. 
The PM has also agreed in principle with Lao Cai’s planning to upgrade Sa Pa District to a town in 2018. 
On December 16, the Steering Committee of the North-western Region, the Economic Commission, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Lao Cai People’s Committee also organized a conference to promote regional tourism products. 
The participants stressed the need to promptly build a master plan on tourism development for the region and sub-regions by 2030.
In order to efficiently exploit the potential of tourism in the northwestern region, delegates at the workshop suggested promoting linkage for typical tourism products in each locality and forming a closed tourism chain with quality assurance and safety.
Politburo Member Nguyen Van Binh urged the Northwest to further study the building of specific tourism products and at the same time strengthen the linkage with other regions and sub-regions with similar conditions in terms of space and connection routes.
Binh, who is also the Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Economic Affairs cum Head of the Northwestern Steering Committee, stressed the need for implementing bilateral links in two provinces or multilateral linkages in various provinces with large tourism centers such as Ha Noi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, to create momentum for development.
He suggested focusing on developing interregional and inter-provincial tourism products, such as the spiritual tour along the Red River or the Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway; travelling through Moc Chau plateau (Son La) - Bac Ha market (Lao Cai) - Xin Man (Ha Giang); and exploring the Mu Cang Chai terraced fields (Yen Bai) and Sa Pa (Lao Cai).
Particular attention should also be paid to building a system of community-based tourist spots and ecological tourism areas in each province, Binh said, noting that when linking, it is necessary to orient and select resources and cultural nuances of each locality in order to build unique tourism products to avoid duplicated products.
On this occasion, 11 tourism and travel businesses that have excellent achievements in developing tourism in the northwestern region were honored by the Northwestern Steering Committee. At the event, tourism enterprises, tour operators and the northwestern provinces signed cooperation programs for tourism development.