The tourism department of Ninh Binh Province, home to the complex, said early this week that UNESCO has issued a warning. The complex can allow a maximum of 3.5 million visitors a year, according to UNESCO's heritage management plan, but the number was 7.4 million this year. Given the National Tourism Year to be celebrated in Ninh Binh with a series of cultural events next year, the number of people visiting the UNESCO heritage site is likely to be even higher. The Trang An limestone complex is famous for boat tours of caves and attracts millions of visitors every year. Photo by Shutterstock/Anh Tran. However, local tourism officials dismissed the fears saying visitors mainly sit on boats for cave tours, and there are not many entertainment or eating options, which would affect the heritage site. They claimed the tourist overload only happens during the Lunar New Year festival, or Tet, the biggest and most important holiday in Vietnam, while some tourist sites of the complex … [Read more...] about World heritage site receives UNESCO warning over tourist overload
