Cua Lo strives to welcome more than 1.8 million visitors in 2017

(Baonghean.vn) - How can each Cua Lo resident become a tour guide? From the lessons learned from other tourist cities, in the 2017 tourist season and the following years, what innovations will Cua Lo have in organizing events and tourism services to be more professional, "attracting" visitors to visit and stay all four seasons?

Scene of the press conference. Photo: Phuong Chi

Those were the concerns and frank sharing of journalists with the leaders of Cua Lo town and the tourism sector of Nghe An province at the press conference to promote Cua Lo tourism in 2017, which took place in Cua Lo town on the afternoon of April 17.

In 2016, Cua Lo town achieved many outstanding results in the tourism sector. During the year, Cua Lo tourism welcomed more than 1.6 million visitors, with revenue reaching 1,420 billion VND. Notably, it attracted, initiated and implemented a number of large projects such as Vinpearl Cua Hoi area of ​​Vingroup Corporation with a total investment of 900 billion VND; Cua Hoi bridge connecting Nghe An and Ha Tinh; expansion of Binh Minh road, wharfs No. 5 and No. 6 Cua Lo...

At the same time, successfully organized many grand events, creating beautiful impressions in the hearts of tourists such as Cua Lo Tourism Festival, Miss Beach City contest...

Journalist Tran Huu Nghia - Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Nghe An Newspaper gave his opinion on tourism activities in Cua Lo. Photo: Phuong Chi

At the press conference, many opinions for tourism in Cua Lo were raised by journalists. Journalist Thanh Chau - representative of Nhan Dan Newspaper, resident in Nghe An, said that in order to "resolve" the psychological problems of tourists after the environmental incident in the central coastal region, Cua Lo town should have a plan to monitor the marine environment daily, and accommodation and food service units should publicize the monitoring results so that tourists can monitor and feel secure when staying in Cua Lo.

Along with that, journalist Thanh Mai - Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper said that Cua Lo needs to increase professionalism in tourism activities. From the lessons learned in some other tourist cities such as Da Nang, Nha Trang, Can Tho ..., the town leaders must find a way to make Cua Lo tourism activities truly attractive, "stimulate" consumption and each Cua Lo resident must become a civilized and friendly tour guide.

View of Cua Lo coastal town. Photo: Sy Minh

“Cua Lo has a specialty of flashing squid and a service of renting basket boats and fishing for flashing squid at night, why not manage and develop it into a special service that “attracts” customers? In Phu Quoc, there is a very famous night market, why doesn’t Cua Lo research and develop it?” - journalist Thanh Mai raised the question.

Many journalists present at the meeting also agreed that Cua Lo needs to increase the number of qualified tourism officials, connect tours and routes more closely with travel businesses, promote the activities of rescue teams, sea watchtowers, etc. to spread the image of safe and attractive Cua Lo beach tourism.

Mr. Doan Tien Dung - Chairman of Cua Lo Town People's Committee spoke at the press conference. Photo: Phuong Chi

Responding to the opinions of journalists, Mr. Doan Tien Dung - Chairman of Cua Lo Town People's Committee thanked the contributions of journalists in spreading the image of Cua Lo to tourists near and far.

The head of the town government frankly acknowledged the positive and negative aspects of Cua Lo tourism activities that journalists pointed out, and also informed that Cua Lo town is currently strengthening inspections and granting certificates to restaurants and hotels to ensure food hygiene and safety criteria; increasing surprise inspections, combined with on-site testing methods; ensuring marine environmental monitoring once a week...

In addition, with the determination to "revive" tourism activities after the environmental incident in the Central region, the 2017 tourist season in Cua Lo has many new features: organizing a national fishing ceremony, a street music festival, and a national beach rattan ball tournament;Launched a travel advisory group to meet tourists' information needs during the 2017 travel season.

In particular, maintain a hotline to provide information and instructions on how to resolve visitors' suggestions; upgrade the website cualo.vn to support information lookup; all departments, branches and organizations of Cua Lo have Facebook accounts to publicize information about their activities and interact better with visitors from near and far.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Director of Nghe An Department of Tourism shared that recently, leaders of the tourism industry had a meeting with Viettel Nghe An and are having initial discussions to provide free wifi service for tourists coming to Cua Lo during the 2017 tourist season.

Also at the press conference, the leaders of the Nghe An Provincial Journalists Association launched a journalism contest on Cua Lo tourism - an annual journalism contest organized with the aim of promoting the town's tourism potential.

Phuong Chi