Vietnam gets ‘handsy’ with new tourist attraction

Ha Long Bay, My Khe Beach and the Cham Islands in Vietnam now have a giant competitor in their hands — literally — as a new tourist destination recently opened in the province of Da Nang.

Rising 1,400 meters above sea level is the beautiful Golden Bridge that snakes around the mountain. The bridge — a winding, golden pathway — is adorned with blooming flowers of striking colors. It’s a magnificent sight in the hills of Ba Na.

But that’s not the highlight of this new tourist attraction, which opened only last month as part of Thien Thai Garden. “Holding” the Golden Bridge is a pair of giant stone hands. The hands, although new, were given a weathered and surreal touch thanks to landscape group TA Landscape Architecture, who also gave an almost mystical appeal to the whole place because of the beautifully landscaped bridge. Moss, vines and other greens cover the hands to make the place seem like a setting from a historical period drama film.

This beautiful place is said to be included in the $2 billion project of the government. The project aims to attract more tourists to the area, which was once a scene depicting a quaint French town with over 200 villas.

In a bird’s-eye view, the hands look like they are holding a strand of golden hair (the Golden Bridge), which snakes around the hills in eight spans, all of which are lined with flowers like chrysanthemums. The view from the bridge is spectacular and is expected to attract more tourists in the coming months.

Chinese tourist boom

The opening of the new bridge is timely and complements the results of a new study, which shows Vietnam’s foreign tourists reached over 7.89 million in the first half of 2018, 27.2 percent higher than in H1 2017.

Among these, Chinese and South Korean tourists make up a big chunk of the figures, with over 2.56 million Chinese and 1.7 million South Koreans visiting the Southeast Asian country. This spelled out a 36 percent increase of Chinese tourists and a 60 percent increase of Korean tourists.

Some of the top places these nationalities visit include Nha Trang and Da Nang on the central coast of Vietnam. Here, hotels are always on high occupancy, and with the opening of the new tourist attraction, it can be expected that there will be more visitors to come to this mountain region. For the first half of the year, Da Nang recorded an excess of 1.6 million tourist arrival, surpassing last year’s number by as much as 50 percent.

Overall, Vietnam’s tourism landscape is enjoying a lucrative boom, with over 29 percent increase in the year 2017 compared to the previous year. Koreans and Chinese nationalities account for a big share of the rise, while Japanese and Europeans make up the third- and fourth-largest groups, respectively.

Looking at the current numbers, it would seem that Vietnam will surpass the impressive 12.9 million visitors of 2017, with this year’s data already going beyond the halfway mark of last year’s records.

(Featured image taken from the Cầu Vàng – Bà Nà Hills l cây cầu có đôi bàn tay khổng lồ ở Bà Nà Hills đẹp như tiên cảnh video by Kivico – Kiến Trúc Vì Cộng Đồng via YouTube)