Lam Dong tourism sector is to integrate itself into Southeast Asian and gradually to Asia-Pacific tourism;

"Da Lat-City of Flowers - Venue of 2000" is the theme selected by Lam Dong province’s tourism sector in response to the National Tourism Action Plan for 2000 known as "Viet Nam - Destination for The New Millennium."

Da Lat is located in Lam Dong province at an elevation of 1,500 m. It is approximately 200km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City and bears the look of an old French city. It was founded in 1897 by Doctor Alexandre Yersin, who recommended that the area should be developed as a resort town.

The site is well known for its beautiful flowers and lakes. The climate of Da Lat is suitable for various kinds of flowers such as orchids, roses, lilies, and camellias.

With its favourable climate conditions and breath- taking scenery, Da Lat is an ideal resort place not only in Vietnam but also in the Southeast Asian region.

The province’s poor infrastructure and an unqualified contingent of tourism staff in the ‘80s made the central highland city extremely quiet, however.

The "non-smoke" industry of Lam Dong province was restarted in the ‘90s with the completion of a master plan for tourism development till 2010 in 1996. Based on the master plan, Lam Dong tourism sector was able to design pre-feasibility studies to call for investment and zone off 90 scenic and cultural sites in the province with 50 in Da Lat city alone.

Making use of natural resources to develop the tourism sector, Lam Dong has to date mapped out a number of socio- economic development policies to manage and develop the tourism industry. Efforts have been made to simplify administrative procedures to attract both foreign and domestic investment. As a result, a total amount of VND 850 billion (roughly US$70 million) was spent to upgrade and restore the entertainment and recreation areas, scenic spots and the construction of new accommodation facilities.

To date, the province has 299 hotels with over 3,700 rooms, including 20 hotels with 750 rooms of international standard. In addition, nearly 300 lodging houses with over 2,700 rooms are also available for tourists in the province.

The province receives 650,000 visitors annually, including 13,000 foreigners, a two-fold increase compared to the figure registered in 1993. As a result, Lam Dong tourism sector’s budget remittance made up over 6 per cent of the province's budget revenues and earnings from tourism services accounted for nearly 28 per cent of the provincial gross domestic product (GDP). The tourism sector of Lam Dong achieved a total turnover of nearly VND170 billion in 1998 from VND81 billion in 1994.

One of the major targets of the "Da Lat: City of Flowers - Venue of 2000" plan is to raise businesses’ and people’s awareness on how to make effective use of natural resources and promote the cultural value so as to obtain sustainable development for the province.

To this end, the tourism sector of Lam Dong has defined in its tourism development strategy targets of promoting various types of tours, including ecological, cultural and sight-seeing ones, turning Da Lat into an ideal place for organizing conferences and seminars, and intensifying marketing efforts with due attention given to the domestic market.

Another target of Lam Dong tourism sector is to integrate itself into the regional tourism sector of Southeast Asia and gradually to that of Asia-Pacific. Lively tourism festival activities will be held in Da Lat in the year 2000. Prominent among year 2000 festival activities will be a grand ceremony to mark the centenary eve. Traditional festivals such as the Spring Festival, and Love Festival will be held in Da Lat next year.

Major activities under the theme "Da Lat: City of Flowers - Venue of 2000" will be organized in June and July next year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Vietnam's Tourism and the World Tourism Day.