Forbes has named the northern Vietnamese province of Ninh Binh among the top 23 best places to travel this year. The province is often referred to as one of the most beautiful hidden gems throughout all of the Asian continent, and visitors can tour scenic landscapes, taste local cuisine, bike through rice fields, and hike limestone mountains to enjoy incredible views. In the first quarter of the year, Ninh Binh welcomed a total of 3.2 million tourist arrivals, surging 4.8-fold year on year, among which nearly 126,000 were international travelers. A cold spell has hit northeastern provinces and some areas in north-central provinces since April 7 morning, making the temperature drop to 18-21 degrees Celsius. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has said that taking full advantage of Vietnam’s numerous FTAs and rolling out measures to promote trade are keys to boosting the country’s export in the future, as the Southeast Asian economy’s export has picked up in March, reaching $29.57 billion, a 13.5% increase from February. Domestic firms were hit the hardest, dropping by 17.4% compared to foreign firms, who also experienced a drop of 10%. Vietnam should consider expanding its export markets to ASEAN, which is also the country’s fourth largest trading partner, and look for opportunities with other countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, according to ADB Country Director for Vietnam Andrew Jeffries.