Developing quality tourism and hi-tech agriculture is one of the toppriority tasks in Da Lat city’s economic development plan for the2015-2020 period, as determined at the city’s freshly-ended PartyCongress.

City authorities considered the twosectors as major factors to accelerate the city’s economicrestructuring, turning it into a national centre of eco-tourism andhi-tech agriculture production.

The city said itwould prioritise the development of advantageous tourism products andhigh-calibre accommodations and maintain its brand as a “City of flowerfestivals”.

Besides upgrading Xuan Huong Lakeand Hoa Binh Square in the heart of the city, tours connecting the citywith neighbouring areas such as the Bi Doup and Cat Tien national parkor the Dambri tourist area in Bao Loc city are being organised.

The city also plans to develop diverse agriculture combined with amodern processing industry to turn the city into a centre of producingclean and organic vegetables and fruits.

Threeflower villages - Thai Phien, Ha Dong and Van Thanh - will be developedinto the city’s attractive tourist destinations.

The city’s total land area for agriculture is currently 10,500hectares, 4,720 of which are dedicated to hi-tech farming.

From 2011-2015, the city welcomed some 17 million tourists,representing an average growth of 10 percent per year. The city’stourism sector set a growth goal of between 8-10 percent per year duringthe 2016-2020 period.

By 2020, the city expectsto increase agriculture production value to 4.35 trillion VND (200million USD), equal to 300 million VND (13,740 USD) per hectare.-VNA