Ninh Binh province in nothern Vietnam was ranked seventh in the list of 10 world's most welcoming regions this year at the 11th annual Traveller Review Awards of travel site Booking.com.
Ninh Binh, about 95 km from Hanoi's center, is home to the UNESCO world cultural and natural heritage site Trang An Landscape Complex.
Last July, Ninh Binh was listed by Travel + Leisure among 12 coolest Asian film locations to visit. The U.S. travel site credits the listing to the province being a filming location for the 2017 blockbuster “Kong: Skull Island.”
"As the largest production ever shot in Vietnam ($190 million), Kong: Skull Island demanded filming locations as expansive as the budget. Trang An, Van Long and Tam Coc (Ninh Binh province), the iconic Ha Long Bay, and the entrance of the Tu Lan Caves were all featured," it notes.
The Ninh Binh area is known as the inland cousin of Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO natural heritage site in Quang Ninh province.
In 2021, Ninh Binh was ranked the first in the top seven experiences not to be missed when visiting Vietnam by the oldest daily newspaper in France - Le Figaro.
In 2018, it was named among the world's 15 most underrated destinations by British national daily The Telegraph.
The other regions in the list in order are: La Rioja (Spain), Epirus (Greece), Oberosterreich (Austria), County Down (U.K.), Mures, (Romania), Marlborough (New Zealand), Limon (Costa Rica), Newfoundland & Labrador (Canada) and North Dakota (U.S).