Developing Danang tourism with mountains, rivers, forests and beaches

Developing Danang tourism with mountains, rivers, forests and beaches

“The orientation of the tourism development of Da Nang up to 2030, with a vision for 2045 has been planned in the idea of leaning against mountains, view towards the beaches, and Son Tra, Ba Na, Hai Van and Ngu Hanh Son will enclose the core which is the city center. At the same time, Da Nang Bay and the coastal areas of Tho Quang, My Khe and Non Nuoc will be the centres of beach tourism; Cu De river in the north and Tuy Loan river in the south are the boundaries for development radius, connecting with the southern tourism centre (Dien Ban, Hoi An) through Co Co river to develop eco-tourism, islands, mountains, rivers and lakes, associating with local communities; developing Son Tra peninsula, Hai Van pass and the west of the city in the implementation of eco-tourism”, Binh Xuan Nguyen, Deputy Director of Da Nang Tourism Department shared in the interview, regarding the challenges and development orientation of the city tourism industry.

The world’s famous tourist brands have been launched in Da Nang: InterContinental, Novotel, Hyatt, Pullman, Marriott, Hilton, IHG, etc., contributing to improve service quality, attracting high quality human resources, and enhance the brand name of Danang tourism.

Tourism attractions are increasingly diversified and improved in quality such as: French Village, Fantasy Park of Ba Na Hills Area, new recreational activities at Asia Park, Than Tai Mountain hot spring, Helio Center entertainment area, Cocobay… and many resorts, hotels archived prestigious international tourist awards

The city has successfully organized many international-level festivals such as: International Fireworks Festival, International Tourism Fair on beach resorts and M.I.C.E,  International Marathon,  Clipper Race international sailboat race, Iron Man 70.3 Vietnam Contest, etc. through which Da Nang tourism destination brand has gradually been affirmed, with the voted titles such as top 10 attractive destinations in Asia, top 10 brightest emerging destinations in the world, Asia’s top event and festival destination.

Within the 15 years from 2003 to 2018, the average annual growth rate of visitors to Da Nang was 19.5%; The average annual growth rate of total tourism revenue is 25.5% (in 2004 total tourism revenue was 814 billion VND, it is expected to be 22,500 billion VND in 2018 (an increase of 27.6 times). In 2019, the total the number of tourists was estimated at 8,692,421, increasing by 13.4% compared to the same period in 2018. Of which, international visitors were estimated at 3,522,928, increasing by 22.5% over the same period in 2018. Total tourism revenue is estimated at 30,973 billion VND, up 16.7% compared to the same period in 2018.

The increasing number of international tourists coming to Da Nang has also given the city certain requirements and challenges:

The rise of the tourist number has led to the increase of many tourist services to serve customers (restaurants, shopping centers, entertainment services…). Controlling and improving service quality to meet the needs of tourists is an issue management agencies are facing.

The development of international tourists requires the labour force in tourism industry to be trained to meet quality, especially about professional skills and foreign languages. Another challenge is improving transportation infrastructure and public transport for foreign tourists.

Greeting many international tourists from different markets requires the city to constantly develop a variety of tourism products and entertainment products to satisfy different target groups.

A major current problem the city is facing is protecting the natural ecological environment when the number of tourists is increasing rapidly. That would require the cooperation of many organizations and government agencies to manage and coordinate the tourism development, ensuring sustainable development.

In the coming years, Da Nang will focus on implementing some main solutions:

Follow Da Nang tourism goals in the period of 2020-2030, with a vision to 2045. Develop sustainable tourism with high quality services, associated with potential resorts, building Da Nang tourism branding become a resort paradise, and a smart, safe and friendly tourist destination, heading to become one of the Asia Travel Centers and the International Convention and Event Centers.

Research and promulgate specific mechanisms to encourage the development of tourism products, especially the tourist night-time economic development mechanism; Invest in infrastructure to support tourists synchronously and modernly, Diversify tourism products; Improve human resources by training, retraining and supplementing professional skills to meet tourism development requirements; Ensure a sustainable tourism environment; Enhance tourism promotion and marketing, organizing international events, and promoting regional cooperation to exploit potentials and strengths of Da Nang city and regional advantages.

**
Da Nang is at an important transitional moment when it is about to enter the final year of the 5-year plan (2015-2020) to implement the Tourism Development Scheme. He himself also asserted: This is an important time to determine how Da Nang would create a different direction, towards restructuring from quantity to quality, restructuring the market, developing products and services based on quality. So how has the policy of focusing in the quality of services, products, and restructuring towards quality implemented and what results have been achieved?

We are continuing to implement effectively the policy of the plan to diversify the international market for the period of 2019-2021. In addition, it is time to focus on attracting high-quality international tourist markets, such as: Continue to develop international direct flights to Da Nang from potential markets such as Russia, Australia, India, etc.; Implement solutions to attract good growing markets such as Japan and other Asian countries, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. At the same time, expand and attract new markets such as Europe, America and Australia.

Cooperate with potential giant travel companies and businesses in Europe, the world’s largest travel groups and travel consulting companies such as TUI, Accors, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Alibaba, etc. in order to introduce information, increase the brand awareness of Da Nang tourism in Europe, build a business cooperation relationship between Da Nang tourism and other major tourism enterprises and companies in Europe.

Restructure the tourism industry by shifting from quantity to quality: Research and implement the scheme of restructuring the tourism industry to ensure professionalism, modernity and sustainable development, following the laws of market economy and international integration; ensure effective management from government. Support businesses in creating new and unique tourism products, meeting the needs and tastes of diverse tourists, also be high competitive in order to build and preserve Da Nang tourism brand. Focus to developing human resources, synchronizing infrastructure system and tourism facilities.

***

According to the plan of the city government, due to the importance of the tourism industry in the economic structure, the overall urbanization development and general planning of Da Nang would need integrated conditions for the tourism development. Could you share more details about these issues?

Currently, the city is very focused and actively implementing, building projects to adjust the general planning of Da Nang city to 2030, vision to 2045. We determine this is one of the important opportunities, therefore, the Department of Tourism is currently focusing on researching, proposing specific solutions and policies that are strategic for the coming time, focusing on some main contents as follows:

The orientation of the tourism development of Da Nang up to 2030, with a vision for 2045 has been planned in the idea of leaning against mountains, view towards the beaches, and Son Tra, Ba Na, Hai Van and Ngu Hanh Son will enclose the core which is the city center. At the same time, Da Nang Bay and the coastal areas of Tho Quang, My Khe and Non Nuoc will be the centers of beach tourism;

Cu De river in the north and Tuy Loan river in the south are the boundaries for development radius, connecting with the southern tourism center (Dien Ban, Hoi An) through Co Co river to develop eco-tourism, islands, mountains, rivers and lakes, associating with local communities.

Identify 4 main product groups of Danang tourism: luxury beach and resort tourism; shopping tourism, conferences (MICE); cultural, historical, spiritual, ecological, village and local trade tourism; urban tourism (City Break) linking central city Da Nang with Hoi An and Hue. Additional products would include golf tourism, culinary tourism, beauty and wellness tourism.

By Nguyen Tran