Ha Long Bay will compete with other regional tourist destinations like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City in Beijing and Tokyo Imperial Palace. The winner will be determined by votes from travelers around the world. Voting is open online on the World Travel Awards website, and will last until Sept. 1 this year. This year’s awards ceremony for Asia will take place on Oct. 6 in Dubai. Since its recognition as a UNESCO natural world heritage in 1994, Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh Province, around two hours from Hanoi, has found a spot on the global tourism map, with travel bloggers and filmmakers hailing its emerald waters and thousands of towering limestone pillars topped by rainforests. The bay helped Quang Ninh welcome 14 million tourists, including 5.7 million foreigners, in 2019, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year./.