Photo: Collected

Each tour at the world's largest cave only welcomes 10 guests, but 30 people are serving, in addition to entrance fees and environmental services.

The world's largest cave exploration tour, Son Doong, 4 days and 3 nights, can be compared to a 10-day vacation in Europe when considering the cost of 3,000 USD (69.8 million VND)/person. Many opinions say that the value of Son Doong tour is too expensive compared to its actual value, saying the experience is only for affluent people. What actually does the cost include?

The tour is designed according to European safety standards

Currently, Oxalis Adventure is the only company licensed to organize Son Doong cave exploration tours. In 2013, the company was licensed by the People's Committee of Quang Binh Province to design an adventure tour to explore this cave.

Each year, the number of visitors allowed into the cave is limited to 1,000 people. The tour lasts 4 days and 3 nights, taking visitors to explore underground river masterpieces, magnificent stalactites, the forests, weather, and unique flora and fauna inside the cave.

Mr. Nguyen Chau A, Director of the company, shared: "Safety for tourists and employees is our top priority in adventure tours and we are not allowed to bargain on any requirements related to safety." Mr. Howard Limbert, a British Royal cave expert, coordinated with the company to develop a safety plan. Therefore, all equipment was ordered from Europe and approved by Mr. Howard himself.

In addition, each tour only has 10 guests, but requires 30 people to serve. This includes 22 porters carrying luggage and food throughout the journey, 5 safety assistants, an international tour guide, a British Royal cave expert, 2 chefs, and a ranger. They made sure to bring 600 kg of equipment and supplies into and out of the cave, including human waste. All local porters and tour guides regularly take training courses on safety and rescue. In case of emergency, there will be a rescue helicopter.

Path to the Vietnam Wall in Son Doong cave (Photo by Tran Tuan Viet)

Environmental protection fees

In addition to 10% VAT, the tour price includes a 390 USD (8.8 million VND) entrance fee paid to Quang Binh province and a 210 USD (4.8 million VND) forest environmental service fee (7% of revenue). In 2020, the People's Committee of Quang Binh province decided to reduce the entrance fee by 50% to 195 USD (4.4 million VND), and the environmental service fee was also reduced correspondingly to 175 USD (4 million VND)/guest. Therefore, the tour price was reduced to 58.2 million VND to stimulate demand.

The tour price also includes full airport pick-up and drop-off costs, two nights of hotel accommodation, and meals before and after the tour. In addition, many other operating and administrative costs are included.

Mr. Nguyen Chau A shared that any activity has a certain impact on heritage. Therefore, environmental issues are also a factor that Quang Binh province and the company are very concerned about when operating tours. Therefore, the People's Committee of Quang Binh Province only allows organizing the tour to conquer Son Doong from January to August, leaving 4 months for the site to naturally recover. The limit of visitors per year is 1,000 people, based on the capacity of the campsites, and the tour times do not overlap, meaning 2 tours are not served at the same time.

Source: VnExpress