Businessmen from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi 'give advice' for tourism development in Nghe An

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc An - Deputy General Director of Fiditour - Vietluxtour Travel Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City)

Nghe An, in the past, in the minds of Vietnamese people in general, was the land of sunshine, of Lao wind, of poverty. This land was the homeland ofPresident Ho Chi Minhgreat. Regarding tourism, mainly the “return to the source” programs, bringing tourists to the Kim Lien National Special Relic Site; to the simple and rustic Cua Lo beach, are not enough to “hold” tourists, especially tourists from the South.

The beauty of Cua Lo Beach Tourist Area. Photo: Nguyen Canh Hung

Over time, along with the country's economic development, infrastructure, transportation, and services have developed, creating momentum for the tourism industry to develop. However, due to the climate, tourism can only be exploited half the time of the year. As for the remote South, Nghe An is still not strong enough to attract tourists.tourist centerbig cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, although there are direct flights from these localities.

We were fortunate to have surveyed the Western region of Nghe An with the Nghe An Department of Tourism and discovered many routes and tourist destinations that could be exploited, creating many different types of products, suitable for many types of customers, and could be exploited all year round.

Photo: Cong Kien

We temporarily propose new types of tourism in addition to traditional tours that can be exploited immediately: Sports tourism, adventure mountain climbing associated with Puxailaileng peak (Ky Son) and with Giang river, Pha Lai (Con Cuong); Cultural tourism to experience the identity of ethnic groups in the highlands...

However, Nghe An should not be too hasty to exploit the products to create the number of visitors but needs to prepare step by step. First of all, standardize the support services such as accommodation, transportation, tour guide work, menu and local travel agencies.

Promote to thekey markets, first of all, major tourist centers with convenient flights and transportation; survey, propose preferential policies and invite investors to invest in tourism.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc - Deputy Director of Exotic Vietnam Company (Ho Chi Minh City)

In my opinion, Nghe An is one of the localities with great tourism potential. This place has a rich history, landscape, gentle and hospitable people, many delicious dishes and especially the attention of the government in preserving the landscape and culture of the locality.

Our company is exploiting and developing tours aiming to share the love of nature and the unique features of local culture with each tourist. We find Nghe An a very suitable locality to exploit tours for this purpose.

Photo: Cong Kien

Nghe An has majestic mountains, vast fields, cool rivers and streams, the sea and many villages that still retain their own unique culture. I highly appreciate the preservation and conservation of the natural and cultural values ​​here. These are values ​​that not every place has, even money cannot buy.

I believe that in the future, Nghe An will have manytouriststo visit, not only historical tours but also many tourists who love nature, love culture, come to Nghe An to experience the unique values. I also hope that the government continues to pay attention to preserving and maintaining these values ​​for the sustainable development of tourism and for future generations.

Mr. Nguyen Phi Phong - Head of Product Department, Mytour Tourism Joint Stock Company (Hanoi)

The tourism characteristics of the central coastal provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh are focusing on developing sea tourism and the historical value of the land. Nghe An is the same, tourism businesses are focusing on developing sea tourism in Cua Lo, Quynh beach and spiritual historical destinations such as Kim Lien relic site, Hoang Muoi temple...

That is what makes tourists from big cities like Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho always think that Nghe An hasCua Loand Uncle Ho's hometown. This causes limitations for the economic development of tourism in Nghe An, because sea tourism can only be exploited during a few hot months each year.

I was fortunate to participate in a survey trip to Western Nghe An with the General Department of Tourism and Nghe An Department of Tourism last March. Through that, I realized that Nghe An, besides Cua Lo, Cua Hoi, Uncle Ho's hometown, destinations such as Puxailaileng peak (Ky Son), Pu Mat National Park, Giang - Pha Lai river (Con Cuong) and Hon Mat (Nghia Dan) ... are attractive destinations for tourists in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Photo: Dinh Tuyen

The problem here is that the promotion and communication of travel agencies are weak and have not been implemented in a synchronous and consistent manner. Currently, there are only the provincial press agencies and a number of businesses that are passionate about tourism communication but are not strong enough to promote tourism in Western Nghe An to take off.

In my opinion, for Nghe An tourism to develop further, we need to ensure the following factors: Travel companies start researching and building the most professional tourism products, researching the target audience and appropriate length of stay for the customer base; Destinations need legal support for safe tourism and standard accommodation facilities.

Nghe An Department of Tourism needs to promote links with regions to attract more tourists, must always determine to learn from experience and cooperate long-term. The most important thing is to strengthen communication, implement systematically through hot trend channels such as tiktok, facebook about destinations, thereby helping tourists across the country know about Nghe An tourism.

Ms. Le Minh Thu - Business Manager, Dac Sac Viet Trading and Tourism Limited Liability Company (Hanoi)

In my opinion, Western Nghe An has great potential for tourism development if it is invested in a systematic and planned way, with long-term orientation. This land is still completely new and unfamiliar to many tourists. This place still retains its wild, attractive natural beauty and the cultural identity of ethnic communities.

Therefore, Nghe An tourism industry needs to determineecotourismand community tourism are sustainable models in the Western region. The issue here is that they need to be planned, designed and built systematically, preserving the unique features and "soul" of each ethnic community.

Photo: Dinh Tuyen

With the advantage of natural landscape and peaceful beauty, Nghe An really creates an attraction for many tourists. Besides investing in infrastructure, Western Nghe An has also begun to prepare human resources, people have begun to get used to serving tourists. These are favorable factors in the first step, creating momentum for future development.

In addition to ecological and community tourism, adventure tourism and exploration, Western Nghe An also promises a lot of potential for development. For example, experiencing the mountain rangePuxailaileng, admire the sea of ​​clouds that seems like a fairyland; conquer the rapids at the source of Nam Non River (Ky Son) or kayak and windsurf on the river at Pha Lai Eco-tourism Area (Con Cuong)...

Despite its potential, Tay Nghe tourism is still not a favorite destination for tourists. For example, Pu Mat National Park still only welcomes visitors during the day, as a stopover, with very few visitors staying. Homestays still lack facilities and have not yet incorporated planning and construction of the surrounding landscape.

Promotion, introduction, connection and association have not been given proper attention. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on connecting tourism within the province, connecting with neighboring areas and connecting between regions to promote the development process.

In addition, the human resources are trained but not specialized, still formal, need more development projects, investment attention. It is necessary to preserve and enhance the cultural values ​​of ethnic groups; invest in infrastructure, can socialize community tourism by calling for investment capital from businesses, travel agencies...