Talking about Nghe An sea tourism, first of all, we must mention Cua Lo beach tourism; then come to beaches such as Quynh beach (Quynh Luu), Bai Lu (Nghi Loc), Dien Thanh (Dien Chau)... Cua Lo is always a destination that attracts high attention from tourists during the peak summer tourist season when choosing Nghe An in particular and the North Central region in general.
With the potential advantages of beautiful beaches, important historical tourist sites, and development orientation according to Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW in 2013 of the Politburo, Cua Lo Town, along with Vinh City, has been identified as an economic zone in the strategy of 3 key economic zones of Nghe An until 2030. In which, services and tourism are a spearhead economic sector of the province. Located in the key zone, Cua Lo is identified as a "growth pole", meaning it must develop into a coastal tourist city with strong appeal, creating a spillover effect in socio-economic development for neighboring areas.
In recent years, Cua Lo town has implemented many solutions to attract investment, build, upgrade, expand, and re-plan the walking street system, green campus, etc. Especially recently, there has been a "revolution" to relocate the entire kiosk system along the beach to return clean and beautiful land to Cua Lo beach with the desire to attract investors to create a new, attractive landscape, aiming to develop 4-season tourism.
It is undeniable that the leadership, the enthusiasm of the town leaders and the consensus of the people of Cua Lo in re-planning this coastal city to be commensurate with its inherent tourism potential. However, Cua Lo currently only attracts visitors during the 3 summer months. And it can be said that, coming to Cua Lo, visitors have not yet clearly felt the full potential of a youthful, beautiful coastal tourist city, with a certain position on the Vietnamese tourism map, even with some foreign tourist markets.
In a discussion (on the sidelines) about Cua Lo tourism, we could not help but ponder the opinion of Mr. Mai Duc Hoan - Vice President of a large real estate corporation in the country headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City. He said: “I was born and raised in Nga Son district, Thanh Hoa province. People in my hometown Thanh Hoa province used to do sea tourism, typically Sam Son. However, it must be said that before the year 2000, Sam Son sea tourism was very “small” when compared to Cua Lo. In the summer of 1999, I took the exam at Vinh University; after finishing the exam, I rushed to Cua Lo to swim in the sea, visit the electronic market to satisfy my wish to visit once. Before and right after the Covid-19 pandemic, I visited Cua Lo several times. First to swim in the sea, relax, then to look for investment opportunities. One thing I noticed: Compared to before, Cua Lo has not changed much. The development speed of this coastal city is somewhat slower than other coastal cities in the country, especially in the southern provinces. And compared to Sam Son, Cua Lo has also “stagnated” in terms of infrastructure and growth in the number of tourists. Last year, I worked with the leaders of Cua Lo town and discussed with you guys here about this issue; in which I mentioned infrastructure…”.
When we discussed that the changes in the infrastructure system (including the planning stage) of Cua Lo are to move towards a new breakthrough development strategy, the story leads to Thanh Hoa's Sam Son beach tourism.
Some comments expressed praise: From a beach destination of the "coastal fishing village", Sam Son today has "stepped" quite quickly to become a smart tourist city, doing 4-season tourism. Journalist Nguyen Chung - reporter of Dai Doan Ket Newspaper, resident of Thanh Hoa province, made a comparison and expressed his opinion: Five or seven years ago, the number of visitors to Sam Son and Cua Lo was approximately the same. In the past 5 years, Sam Son tourism has surpassed, especially in the 2023 beach tourism season (welcoming 8.5 million visitors in the first 8 months of the year). There are 3 factors that make Sam Son outstanding: First, the traffic from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa is very convenient. Second, the way of doing tourism in Sam Son has changed, very clearly in the fact that there is no more overcharging, prices are transparent, tourists are placed in the position of choosing and owning the service; service quality has been improved; many new tourism products such as the Love Festival - Hon Trong Mai, Light Festival; Street Carnival Festival… Third, thanks to the investment of large investors, Sam Son has had high-class resorts, gradually becoming a modern coastal city… It is the invitation and attraction of many “eagles” for investment that has helped Sam Son fully meet the needs of domestic and international tourists and escape the concept of “Sam Son beach season”.
There are opinions that: In the North Central provinces, along with certain changes in Nghe An and Thanh Hoa sea tourism, Ha Tinh sea tourism is also having a remarkable acceleration. The total number of visitors to Ha Tinh sea tourism in the first 8 months of 2023 is estimated at 1.8 million (the total number of visitors to Ha Tinh in 2022 is 1.6 million)... Ha Tinh sea tourism areas are currently attracting many strong investors to invest.
Faced with the development of sea tourism in the provinces in the region, Nghe An sea tourism must of course put itself in an equally fierce competitive position to develop. In order to affirm the goal of becoming an attractive product and strongly attracting tourists, Nghe An sea tourism needs to soon have more effective strategies and tactics with many innovations in thinking and doing.
Discussing the story of developing sea tourism, Mr. Hoang Van Phuc - Vice Chairman of Cua Lo Town People's Committee, said: After the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic, Nghe An sea tourism still attracted a large number of tourists and has increased gradually over the years. In 2023, Cua Lo has been proactive in promoting and organizing a series of activities. The town has also built many roads, electricity and 150 high-class restaurants along with many new check-in points. Therefore, the number of visitors to Cua Lo in the past time is more than expected and is expected to exceed the plan and targets (in 2023, Cua Lo aims to strive to reach 3.4 million visitors).
Statistics show that the number of tourists to Cua Lo in particular and Nghe An beach in general has not decreased but has increased. However, it cannot be denied that the number of tourists to Nghe An beach has increased, but the increase is not significant if compared with the general growth situation...
Talking about this, Mr. Nguyen Manh Loi - Deputy Director of Nghe An Department of Tourism said: Nghe An sea tourism is highly seasonal, the sea tourism business operation time is 3-4 months each year in the summer; there is a lack of investors with strategy, experience, strong financial potential to invest in large projects with driving force, creating unique products that lead the market in sea and island tourism; there is a lack of entertainment services along the beaches and on the sea to attract tourists.
In addition (also according to Mr. Loi's discussion), there are many other problems, for example, with Cua Lo, there are limitations in providing services for guests, especially landscapes and freshwater bathing areas. There are still shortcomings in state management of tourism when there are still street vendors and beggars. Price management at certain peak times is not good. Cua Lo also lacks high-class entertainment venues. There are not many 4-star and 5-star hotel and restaurant systems to welcome high-quality guests, international guests...
In recent times, following tourism forums and consulting with a tourism manager and expert, we have noticed some common views: In order for Nghe An tourism to fully develop its potential, gradually "bringing in" the conditions for developing a specific service economy, in order for sea tourism to strongly attract tourists, and raise the brand towards 4-season tourism, it is necessary to build a variety of supporting services in the low season; strengthen the connection with tourist destinations in the province and in the region; diversify tourism products (such as MICE tourism, golf tourism, eco-tourism, etc.); build local specialty products with their own identity; strengthen promotion activities; organize tourism stimulus programs (discounts, promotions, etc.); strengthen training for tourism service business people on civilization and cultural behavior; especially, it is necessary to attract "eagles" to invest in order to have high-class tourism products.
