Sapa welcomed 801,173 visitors in the first six months of 2014. Therefore, to ensure the facilities and infrastructure meet the tourists’ demands while still maintaining the importance of a unique national identity, the Vietnamese government has proposed plans and invested in the infrastructure to develop Sapa as key tourism destination.
(TRAVPR.COM) VIETNAM - October 29th, 2014 - Sapa is the frontier town of Lào Cai Province in Northwest Vietnam. This mountainous town lies in the Hoang Lien Son Range at 1,600 m above sea level.
More than 100 years ago the French exploited Sapa and developed the region as a resort area. Nowadays, Sapa is known as an attractive destination for tourists not only because of the majestic scenery including Fansipan, the highest peak in Indochina and a unique climate with four seasons in one day, but also for the diversity of culture and customs from six ethnic minorities and the myriad fauna and flora in Hoang Lien National Park.
Sapa welcomed 801,173 visitors in the first six months of 2014. Therefore, to ensure the facilities and infrastructure meet the tourists’ demands while still maintaining the importance of a unique national identity, the Vietnamese government has proposed plans and invested in the infrastructure to develop Sapa as key tourism destination.
Building the highway linking Hanoi to Sapa
The highway was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Vietnam in recent years. After 7 years of implementation, the 245 -kilometer highway from Noi Bai to Lào Cai finally opened to traffic on September 21st 2014. The highway allows vehicles to run at speeds of up to 100 km/ hour, and is expected to cut the travel time in half from Hanoi to Lào Cai compared with previous journeys.
The highway was built to a very high standard, consisting of four lanes for traffic and two emergency stopping lanes. The total investment in this project was 1,464 million US dollars.
Supplementing this route, more than 30 kilometers of highway from Lào Cai to Sapa will be built shortly, providing tourists with the most convenient way to travel to Sapa.
Lào Cai Airport
Accordingly to the Ministry of Transport’s plans for 2020 – 2030, Lào Cai Airport will be built with a total capital of over VND 1,300 billion on an area of nearly 140 hectares. The runway will be 1.800 meters long and 30 meters wide, making it able to handle ATR72 and Bombardier aircraft. It is expected that Lào Cai Airport will serve approximately 200 passengers per day.
In a further development on September 20th 2014, during a meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the Lào Cai authorities, the Prime Minister agreed to work with the Ministry of Transport and upgrade the Lào Cai Airport project to able to receive larger Airbus 320 and 321 planes.
Sapa town planning
In a meeting with local authorities, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved for Lào Cai province to hire foreign consultants to plan Sapa to become a key tourism town in the Northwest of Vietnam.
The plan aims to develop tourism in Sapa while at the same time promoting the importance of a unique national identity.
Understand the strong demand from tourists for luxury accommodation, U Sapa Vietnam was opened on August 1st 2014. Ideally located close to the picturesque City Center Park U Sapa the hotel offers 57 luxuriously-appointed rooms and suites. Each room provides guests with all the necessities to ensure a perfect stay, including luxury bed linen, bathrobes and slippers, rain shower, complimentary wi-fi access, LCD TV with international satellite channels, personal in-room music selection, pillows and coffee percolator plus a selection of fine teas. The interior and exterior architecture, fixtures and fittings of the hotel itself have been sympathetically designed with touches of the bygone French Colonial era coupled with a uniquely Vietnamese twist.
What sets U Sapa apart from other luxury accommodation are the U “touches” unique to all U Hotels & Resorts. Touches that make a stay truly individual. U’s 24 hour room policy means you can check-out at exactly the same time of day as you checked-in giving you a full 24 hours use of your room and breakfast “whenever/wherever” allows guests to enjoy an a la carte breakfast at anytime and anywhere within the hotel if they choose not to dine in the restaurant during breakfast hours. The traditional welcome drink is replaced by a choice of any beverage from the in-room minibar plus there is free bicycle hire to explore the town and local and international telephones are charged a cost. One feature which U guests truly seem to appreciate is the “U Choose” program where amenities such as a choice of soap scents, minibar items, in-room music, teas and pillows can be pre-selected online before arrival.
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