Ha Long Bay nominated as Asia's leading tourist attraction

UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam is one of 12 nominees for Asia's leading tourist attraction category at 2021 World Travel Awards.

It will compete with other regional tourist destinations like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City in Beijing, Tokyo Imperial Palace, and Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.

The winner will be determined by votes from travelers around the world. Voting is open online on the World Travel Awards website, and will last until Sept. 1 this year. Voters are required to register for an account on the website before casting their ballot.

This year’s awards ceremony for Asia will take place on Oct. 6 in Dubai.

Since its recognition as a UNESCO natural world heritage in 1994, Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh Province, around two hours from Hanoi, has found a spot on the global tourism map, with travel bloggers and filmmakers hailing its emerald waters and thousands of towering limestone pillars topped by rainforests.

The bay helped Quang Ninh welcome 14 million tourists, including 5.7 million foreigners, in 2019, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year.

World Travel Awards was launched in 1993 to acknowledge excellence in the travel and tourism industry. Heralded as the "travel industry's equivalent of the Oscars" by The Wall Street Journal, the awards are handed out based on votes by the public and travel professionals across the globe.

Vietnam was named Asia’s leading culinary, culture and heritage destination at the 2020 World Travel Awards ceremony.