Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Ninh Binh. (Source: CheckinVietnam)

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex being recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage (2014 - 2024), Ninh Binh province organizes the Ninh Binh Tourism Food Festival and the Trang An - Cuc Phuong Hot Air Balloon Festival.

The Ninh Binh Tourism Food Festival 2024 is organized to introduce, perform, and exchange culture and cuisine between districts, cities, and culinary businesses in Ninh Binh province. This is an extremely important event contributing to preserving, honoring, and promoting the value of traditional culinary culture, researching and restoring dishes in the style of the ancient Hoa Lu Royal Court.

At the same time, through the Festival, the value and quality of dishes of the ancient capital Hoa Lu will be enhanced to serve tourists, creating new, unique and attractive tourism products, attracting a large number of people and domestic and international tourists.

Ninh Binh Tourism Food Festival will take place from October 18-29, 2024, with the opening ceremony at 7:00 p.m. on October 18, 2024 at Ninh Binh Dinosaur Park, Square 3, Ninh Binh City.

The event attracted the participation of 8 districts and cities in the province with 100 booths of domestic and foreign enterprises participating in the competition and exhibition.

The main activities taking place during the Festival include the Regional Cuisine Exhibition Space; Tourism Cuisine Competition (October 24) with the following competitions: Traditional feasts (for the King), food preparation; discussion on developing Ninh Binh culinary tourism culture (October 22).

The series of activities responding to the event include competitions: Artistic flower arrangement, English champion, cake making, running, children's balancing, clay figurine making, chess, cooking sweet soup, mixing, searching for tourism ambassadors - shining with Ninh Binh culinary tourism...

In particular, at the Opening Ceremony, there will be a culinary promotion activity by the Vietnam Chefs Association, the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, and the Vietnam Royal Chefs Association, cooking a giant pot of crab soup with 999 servings to thank visitors. The event is open free of charge to residents and visitors.

Ninh Binh Tourism Culinary Festival is one of the activities to promote the image of the tourism destination brand, culinary culture, people, potentials and advantages of tourism development of Ninh Binh province.

Aiming to become a tourism center of the country and the region, making tourism a key economic sector, the implementation of new tourism products with a view of the majestic landscape and nature of Trang An Heritage from above, combining traditional cultural and artistic activities with the modern colorful festival of hot air balloons will bring many experiences to visitors.

The ancient capital of Ninh Binh is not only famous for its enchanting ancient beauty or majestic landscapes, but also for its unique cuisine. (Source: Ninh Binh Newspaper)

The Trang An - Cuc Phuong Hot Air Balloon Festival will take place from October 26 to 29, 2024. The festival will feature 35 Hot Air Balloons and Paragliders (13 Hot Air Balloons and 22 Paragliders) piloted by foreign pilots and the Hanoi Paragliding Club.

The opening ceremony will take place at 7:30 am on October 26 at Trang An Cultural Park. The time for locals and tourists to experience flying and hanging on hot air balloons will be from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and from after 4:30 pm to 9:00 pm.

For sightseeing activities, taking photos and checking in with the hot air balloon performance, it is held from 7:30 am to 9:30 am and from 3:30 pm every day.

Within the framework of the Festival, the Organizing Committee arranged 120 booths displaying specialties from regions across the country, booths displaying gifts for tourists, and tourism booths of the provinces.

The festivals are attractive activities to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex being recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage (2014 - 2024).

With a consistent strategy of developing green, sustainable tourism; community-based tourism, respecting natural values, cultural history to the maximum, along with a systematic approach to developing unique tourism products with creative combinations of Culture - Art - natural landscapes, Ninh Binh is increasingly affirming its position, becoming an unmissable destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

In 2023, Ninh Binh province welcomed over 6.5 million tourists, including nearly 500,000 international visitors. In the first 9 months of 2024, the whole province welcomed over 7.3 million visitors, an increase of 32% over the same period last year. Of which: domestic visitors welcomed 6.39 million visitors, international visitors welcomed over 907,000 visitors. Estimated revenue reached over 7,200 billion VND, an increase of 43% over the same period in 2023. Ninh Binh is always in the group of provinces and cities with the largest number of visitors in the country.

With its unique natural beauty, over the years, Ninh Binh has been ranked high in the list of top attractive destinations in Vietnam and the world by domestic and international organizations. In 2020, Trips to Discover (USA) listed Ninh Binh in the list of 14 most attractive destinations in Asia.

In 2022, Travel and Leisure Magazine (USA) ranked Ninh Binh among the 12 most beautiful filming locations in Asia. In 2023, Ninh Binh won the Traveler Review Award, being the only representative of Vietnam to be in the top 10 friendliest destinations in the world.

Forbes Magazine (USA) voted Ninh Binh as one of the 23 most worth-visiting destinations in the world. Most recently in 2024, Ninh Binh ranked 4th in the “Top 10 wonders of the world for people who don’t like crowds”; top 10 most attractive experiences in the world.