Need a 'general director' for tourism development in the West

The "general director" must have a development strategy and investment phases that are convincing enough for local authorities, investors, and domestic and foreign travel agencies.

Recently, domestic and foreign tourists love to visit Ninh Binh eco-tourism complex. These are the Nature Reserve, Van Long Wetland, Thung Nham Bird Garden, Cuc Phuong National Park, Trang An Spiritual Tourism Area... If you pay attention, you will see that the climate and soil of this land are quite similar to Western Nghe An, even some places with wild and interesting beauty of many places in Western Nghe An are even more highly appreciated.

Trang An Eco-tourism Area (Ninh Binh) is very attractive to tourists.

For example, for comparison: Thung Nham area, located in the southwest, about 12 km from Ninh Binh city, is one of the addresses of Ninh Binh tourist complex that is attracting visitors to the capital. Thung Nham eco-tourism area - Bird Garden in Ninh Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, is one of the tourist destinations converging cultural, spiritual, landscape and biodiversity elements. If going from Hanoi, families with conditions only take more than 1 hour by car. The most satisfying point when coming to Thung Nham is that visitors can come into contact with the beauty in the core areas of Trang An eco-tourism area, visitors can row a boat through the forest canopy, enjoy the peaceful scenery of clouds and water, immerse themselves in nature to observe and explore the wild life of birds such as storks, herons, eagles, cranes... In addition to breathing fresh air, enjoying clean food with fish released in natural lakes; pigs and chickens raised in the traditional way; The wild vegetables here are truly unique: the green color of the herbs is characteristic, the taste is slightly bitter but refreshing, the water is sweet and fragrant like traditional Chinese medicine.

As a native of Nghe An, I know that my hometown's Western region also has many charming landscapes. The Western region of Nghe An is known for 11 districts and towns: Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Tan Ky, Nghia Dan and Thai Hoa town, with an area of ​​nearly 1.4 million hectares, accounting for 84% of the province's total area. There is Pu Mat National Park (over 91,000 hectares) and 2 National Nature Reserves: Pu Hoat (43,000 hectares), Pu Huong (40,000 hectares). Both Pu Mat National Park and the above 2 reserves have just been recognized by UNESCO as world biosphere reserves. Pu Mat National Park is a natural forest typical of the primeval forest ecosystem of the tropical humid forests of the Northern Truong Son region of Vietnam. For scientists, this place is no longer strange because of its biodiversity with 2,494 plant species, 132 mammal species, 361 bird species, 53 reptile species, 33 amphibian species, 83 fish species, 39 bat species and 1,080 insect species...

Muong Thanh Dien Lam Eco-tourism Area (Dien Chau) attracts tourists from all over the world

Currently, many travel companies have exploited Pu Mat National Park tours so that visitors can not only admire the wild beauty of the primeval forest with the highest biodiversity in Vietnam, but also get acquainted with and come into contact with the unique and sophisticated culture of the Thai people.

But clearly, the exploitation of tourism potential in the Western Nghe An region has not yet received attention, and has not yet called for investment attraction in line with what is currently available. There are many reasons, but in our opinion, the cause of all reasons is that the province has not yet found a "general director" with a discerning eye like Mr. Paul Stone - former General Director of the luxury Furama Resort Danang, "father" of the tourism chain "Central Heritage Road". The success of Central tourism in general, and Da Nang tourism in particular, is partly due to this German man.

Like the Ninh Binh tourism complex, Nghe An needs to have a master plan for a part of the tourist destinations: discovery and adventure tours combined with health and relaxation, spiritual tourism... to build sightseeing spots, special souvenir products, unique festivals, entertainment areas, culinary areas with the colors of the Western highlands. The "general director" must have a development strategy, with investment phases that are convincing enough for local authorities, investors, and domestic and foreign travel agencies. It is necessary to build a talented marketing strategy for both domestic and foreign markets, in addition to building a roadmap for infrastructure investment in the complex, including developing transportation connecting Hanoi, Vinh with the Western region of Nghe An. Diversify types of transportation according to tourists' needs: air, rail, road and take advantage of seaports to attract international visitors on 5-star cruise ships like Da Nang.

Of course, it is not easy to choose a qualified "general director", nor can it be a day or two to attract tourists to a wild land. Simply, at Thung Nham - Ninh Binh, the owner Pham Cong Chat also had to spend more than 10 years of persistent construction to get the "first ripe fruit" with approximately 60,000 visitors/year and still increasing. But clearly, if Nghe An continues to exploit its potential in a fragmented way, without planning and long-term investment, it will lose a great opportunity for tourism business.

Muong Thanh Dien Lam Eco-tourism Area (Dien Chau) attracts tourists from all over the world

In the immediate future, we propose that the People's Committee of Nghe An province should regularly invite the owners of large domestic and foreign travel agencies (especially companies with Nghe An people as leaders) to visit, promote and introduce preferential policies for local tourism development. Invest in building a website with full and extensive information about the Western region of the province in particular and Nghe An tourist destinations in general, proactively work with large travel agencies to build weekend tours to build a community. Collaborate with Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh provinces and the Railway sector to develop a train plan connecting tourist attractions in the Central provinces. Organize bus routes from the airport and train stations to the Western region and establish a tourist bus route around Nghe An following the Sinh cafe travel model, "ta ba-lo" style for students.

It is known that the People's Committee of Nghe An province approved the draft Project to establish the Department of Tourism in early 2017 to further promote tourism development; that is a necessary condition, but more importantly, the provincial leaders must mobilize the entire political system, especially relevant levels and functional sectors, to ponder a big question: "Why can other provinces do it, but we can't?".

Nguyen An Thanh