Van Don in contention for world's leading regional airport award

Van Don in the northern Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam's first private airport, is one of seven nominees in the world's leading regional airport category at the World Travel Awards.

The other six are Chubu Centrair International Airport in Japan, Denver International Airport in the U.S., Gimpo International Airport in South Korea, King Shaka International Airport in South Africa, London City Airport in the U.K., and Salalah Airport in Oman.

Inaugurated in December 2018, the VND7.5 trillion ($324 million) airport is 50 kilometers from UNESCO-recognized world heritage site Ha Long Bay.

A regional airport is an airport serving traffic within a relatively small or lightly populated geographical area and usually does not have customs and immigration facilities to process traffic between countries.

The annual final shortlist of nominees in each World Travel Awards category is reached via criteria such as being the winners from the corresponding regional award and having been vetted and approved by WTA commendations.

The winner will be determined by votes from travelers around the world at the awards website.

The awards ceremony will be held on November 26 in Russia.

The World Travel Awards, launched in 1993, acknowledge excellence in the travel and tourism industry, and have been described as the "travel industry's equivalent of the Oscars."