Sa Pa is bestowed on natural beauty and unique ethnic minority characteristics, cool weather around the year, which makes Sa Pa a favorite tourist attraction.
Sa Pa is an important tourist site of Lao Cai province, which has some 300 hotels and motels with 6,000 rooms for visitors.
Since the opening of the Hanoi-Lao Cai Highway and Fansipan cable system, the number of tourists visiting Sa Pa has increased sharply. At a peak period, as many as 11,000 tourists use the cable system per day.
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| Sa Pa-a special tourist attraction of Vietnam. Photo: Travel.com |
In summer or on weekends, local hotels fail to accommodate a huge number of visitors. For better management of tourism activities, the Sa Pa District Police have deployed an online registration network for temporary resident permit application since 2015, especially in the communes providing “Home Stay” services, such as Ta Van, Ta Phin, Ban Ho.
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| Breath-taking scene in Sa Pa. |
In the past few years, with the rise of adventure tourism, many tourists tried to climb up the Fansipan mount without local guides, leading to unfortunate consequences.
To minimize accidents on tourists’ trips, the local inter-sector inspection team issued regulations requiring travel agents and hotels to include local tourist guides to tour programs on exploration of the Fansipan, and to report the details of the tour to the inspection team.
Sa Pa is home to about 60,000 people of 6 ethnic groups, including Hmong (51%), Yao (11%). Although Sapa, with a wide range of ethnic characteristics and customs, is really a tourist attraction, local people have a low level of knowledge. In this circumstance, the local police plays an important role in dealing with local issues as well as issues related to tourists.
As a result, it is crucial for the local police to use reasonable methods and take appropriate measures to avoid complicating and affecting security and social order, said Senior Colonel Tran Van Truong, Chief of the Sa Pa District Police.
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| Adventure tours are trending around the world, including Sa Pa. |
The Police Chief also told a story about local police’s success in rescuing Noam Burshtein, an Israeli tourist. The foreigner got lost and went missing while trying to explore the Fansipan 2 years ago. In spite of severe weather conditions and craggy terrains, police officers managed to find out and rescue Noam.
The Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam sent a letter of gratitude to the Sa Pa District Police for rescuing their citizen.
Ensuring security and social order in a popular tourist destination like Sa Pa greatly pressures the district’s Police force. However, with their efforts and sense of responsibility, the Sa Pa District Police have maintained a worry-free environment for tourists.
