Phan Thiet fishing port.

Binh Thuan was the common name of the southern Central region in the time of the Nguyen lords, who allowed land reclamation and expansion. Over the past 300 years, changes in the local boundary, administrative units and population through historical ups and downs formed the present-day Binh Thuan Province.

Binh Thuan Province

- Area: 781,043 hecta.
- Population: 1,187,559.
- Ethnic groups: the Kinh (majority) makes up 80% of the population, then come the Cham, Hoa, Co Ho, etc.
- Geography: Binh Thuan Province is 188 km from Ho Chi Minh City. It borders Ninh Thuan Province in the north and north-east; Lam Dong Province in the north-west and north, Dong Nai Province in the west, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province in the south, and the sea in the east and south-east.
- Administrative units: It has Phan Thiet provincial town, LaGi town and eight districts of Tuy Phong, Bac Binh, North Ham Thuan, South Ham Thuan, Ham Tan, Duc Linh, Tanh Linh and Phu Quy.
- Terrain: Binh Thuan is at the end of the Truong Son Range, which is more than 1,000 m above sea level and stretches to the sea, with high slopes. There is La Nga River and six smaller rivers. The cultivable land accounts for one-seventh of the total area. Along the coastline, there are many sandy hills and salty submerged areas.
- Climate: The Province is in the driest area nationwide, with little rainfall, about 1,000-1,600 mm per year (half the average rainfall in the South). The average temperature is 27oC, and the average humidity is 80%.
- National-scale projects: the group of Ham Thuan-Da Mi hydro-electric plants, with a total capacity of 476 MW/h.

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Chairman of Binh Thuan People’s Committee

Huynh Tan Thanh.

In the control room of Da Mi-Ham Thuan Hydro-
electric Plant.

Making fish sauce.

Packing blue dragon fruits
for export.

Processing cashew for export at FATIMEX Company.

The 100-year-old stone lighthouse of Khe Ga.

4-star Novotel Hotel.

In late October 1995, thousands of domestic and foreign scientists and tourists flocked to Mui Ne beach in Binh Thuan Province to enjoy and study a universal wonder, i.e. a total solar eclipse, which might return in a hundred years. When visiting this land, visitors all discovered the magnificence of the local beauty-spots and its economic potential. Throughout the province, there are rice fields, luxuriant cashew farms and orchards, plentiful sea products, salt marshes, shrimp-rearing ponds, fishing ports or fish drying yards, and fish sauce making factories.

Binh Thuan is endowed by nature with a 192-km coastline, the island district of Phu Quy and many other smaller islands, bays and fishing grounds with different sea currents, which are home to schools of fish, shrimps, cuttlefish and other sea creatures. With a fleet of 4,600 ships, big and small, the local experienced fishermen catch annually about 130,000 tonnes of sea products. The most notable sea product is the cuttlefish, with an annual output of 20,000 tonnes, which are processed into frozen and dried products and much sought after domestically and overseas. Phan Thiet fish sauce is a famous brand nationwide due to its quality and unique taste. Each year about 20 million litres of Phan Thiet fish sauce are supplied to the domestic market. The area of more than 52,000 ha of salty submerged beaches provides favourable conditions for rearing prawns, making rafts to rear crabs and fish, and especially oysters, which make up 75% of the national sea produce output. These products are processed for export under the famous brand “Queen Scallop”. In recent years, the coastal districts have strongly developed the cultivation of aquatic products, especially prawns, that has greatly attracted foreign investment from different sources.

The local soil, available with much sunshine but less rainfall, is not suited to rice growing. But it is good for long-term industrial plants such as rubber, cashew, pepper, blue dragon fruits (with 25,000 tonnes for export annually) and cotton (an area of 10,000 ha was established for cotton growing). The State has invested hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong in building water reservoirs and irrigation works for production and daily use.

The Province’s tourist potential was exploited only recently, but it quickly attracted the attention of both domestic and foreign investors. Along the 20-km stretch of land from Phan Thiet Town to Mui Ne beach and Rom Island, many tourist projects have been implemented. After a couple of years, Binh Thuan has been marked on the map as the country’s 10^th tourist destination, where diverse forms of tourist services are provided to the visitors, such as eco-tours, excursions, sanatoriums for disease treatment and relaxation.

Ancient architectural works have been preserved, of which there is Poshanu Tower worshipping Shiva Deity and dating back 1,200 years. It is the only Cham architectural work built with large bricks. The bricks were ground and stuck to one another in a unique way.

In 1996, there were a few mini hotels and rest houses in Phan Thiet Town, which could play host to only a few thousand visitors. At present, 202 tourist projects capitalized at VND 1,300 billion and 7 foreign-invested projects with a total capital of USD 30 million have been granted licences, out of which 67 domestic projects and 4 foreign projects are operating. These tourist projects are implemented in great harmony with the surrounding environment and equipped with modern technology, providing the most convenient and comfortable services to the visitors. During Summer vacations, national holidays and week-ends, visitors from other provinces and cities come to Phan Thiet Town and Rom Island in great numbers. They can visit Vinh Hao spa resort, climb the mountain and take a bath at Takou hot spring, join in an adventurous excursion to Bien Lac Lake, cross Ch’reo Waterfall or take a trek in Tanh Linh primitive forest. Tourism has really become an economic sector that recorded the highest growth rate in the province.

Talking about the local economic development, Binh Thuan People’s Committee Chairman Huynh Tan Thanh said: “Formerly some of the plans to develop the economy used to exhaust the resources of the sea and forests. This led to decreased output of fish and shrimps along the coastline, a surplus amount of blue dragon fruits, and the reason the elephants in Tanh Linh forest became more wild and even killed human beings due to the shortage of food and living area.

The provincial authorities began urgent tasks to protect and restore the ecological environment, including closing the forest gates against wanton exploitation, growing more trees and controlling the management of the forests, and investing more in the off-shore fishing fleet. They also mapped out areas to rear and process sea products and changed species of the plants and animals suited to the local soil throughout the province. Thanks to all these efforts, infrastructure for developing both the highland and coastal areas has been built. More economic zones were established, and a stable source of products with high values was created.”

The Chairman added: “Binh Thuan’s economy, after ten years of its re-establishment and development, has recorded an average growth rate of 11 %. Infrastructure built in this period of time, including projects for transportation, irrigation works, electricity and water supply systems in service of production and daily life, all helped renew the social and economic life in the urban and rural areas. The entire province is now striving to change the local economic structure for the better in order to produce more high-value products for export, attract more investment in farming and sea produce processing technologies, and create favourable conditions for the local tourist sector to work more effectively and become an economic spearhead in the coming years.”

Collecting salt.

Boat race in Phan Thiet.

Sand dunes in Mui Ne.

Poshanu Towers.

The 18-hole golf course at Novotel Hotel is rated the best in Vietnam.

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( Source : Viet Nam Agency)