Cua Lo Tourism: Leverage from Resolution 05

(Baonghean) - After 8 years of implementing Resolution 05/NQ-TU of the Provincial Party Committee on building and developing Cua Lo town into a tourist urban area, Cua Lo town has made steady progress, becoming a branded tourist urban area on the national tourism map...

New motivation

Cua Lo Town is one of the three key tourist destinations of the province with its own potentials and advantages. However, Cua Lo Town has not yet created a “key” tourist location; it has not yet exploited its advantages and potentials for development.

In order to orient Cua Lo Town to exploit the maximum potential of tourism services, develop rapidly and sustainably, and become a rich and beautiful tourist city of the country, on September 26, 2006, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee (term XVI) issued Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU on building and developing Cua Lo Town into a tourist city by 2015, with a view to 2020. In which, it emphasized 6 tasks and solutions of a comprehensive and holistic nature, from planning and implementing planning in the direction of urbanization; economic restructuring towards increasing the proportion of tourism services, developing industries and handicrafts; agricultural production of goods to serve tourism.... The issuance of the resolution at that time really created a driving force and new development orientation for Cua Lo. Mr. Phung Khac Minh, former Chairman of Thu Thuy Ward People's Committee commented, "In 2006, the tourism level of the people was still "each person doing it for themselves"; tourism infrastructure was still primitive, the fact that the Provincial Party Standing Committee issued a special resolution for the town was extremely valuable, truly creating opportunities and motivation for Cua Lo tourism to develop quickly and firmly."

A corner of Ngu Island's gravel beach with newly invested infrastructure to serve tourists. Photo: Sy Minh

To put Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee into practice, Cua Lo Town Party Committee also issued Resolution No. 05/NQ-ThuU on the Action Program to implement Resolution No. 05 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee. Accordingly, each level, each sector, agency and unit has a specific program, content and tasks for the common goal of building Cua Lo Town into a civilized and modern coastal tourism city.

Reach new heights

Thu Thuy Ward, one of the four central wards implementing the Resolution of the Provincial Party Committee and the City Party Committee, has identified planning and planning implementation as a highlight and breakthrough, contributing to creating a green - clean - beautiful urban appearance. Comrade Tran Phan Long, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thu Thuy Ward, said: Along with improving the quality of tourism services, people also gradually know how to take care of building a brand in the hearts of tourists so that visitors not only come to them once but also many times after that, through product quality, price, service style, clean environment... Thanks to specific orientation, many restaurant and hotel addresses are remembered by tourists, such as Thuy Hang Restaurant, Ngoc Vinh Restaurant, Hang Thao... In particular, in the ward, there are Tuan Nhat Restaurant and Huong Son Restaurant which have been recognized by the Town People's Committee as meeting the standards of "Civilized Restaurant". Currently, the tourism service economy in Thu Thuy ward has become a key economic sector with 75% of workers working in tourism and revenue reaching 319 billion VND / 559 billion VND of the total production value of the whole ward...

For Nghi Hoa ward, implementing Resolution 05 of the Provincial Party Committee and the City Party Committee, at first, the ward determined agricultural production in the direction of goods serving tourism. Based on that orientation, new crops were successively introduced to Nghi Hoa fields, bringing high economic efficiency such as: Korean squash, watermelon, peanuts, commercial glutinous corn, various vegetables and fresh flowers. Along with crop conversion, livestock projects such as: raising commercial cows, super lean pigs, free-range chickens, wild boars, porcupines... developed strongly. At the same time, the Ward Party Committee directed the economic shift to focus on tourism services. To do this, the Party Committee assigned the Pioneer Youth Union to open the first 2 kiosks and Secretary of the Youth Union Le Thanh Binh himself also voluntarily opened 1 more kiosk in the Cua Hoi beach area.

The ward has proactively invested in opening roads, connecting from Binh Minh Street to the beach, successively pulling electric lines for lighting, planning parking lots, drainage ditches... With the advantage of fresh and cheap food, from the initial 3 kiosks, there are now 9 kiosks and increasing every year, contributing to the formation of an increasingly bustling Cua Hoi tourist area. From a ward with no source of income, Nghi Hoa's budget revenue is now more than 1.2 billion VND, of which revenue from tourism services is 730 million VND. People's income has also increased accordingly, reaching an average of 37 million VND/person/year. Currently, the Song Ngu Son Tourism Project with the connection of 3 important tourist spots of the town: Ngu Island, Lan Chau Island and Nghi Hoa in the future, will certainly increase tourism services and improve the quality of tourism services, attracting more and more tourists to Nghi Hoa....

Deputy Secretary of Cua Lo Town Party Committee, comrade Phan Cong Luu, affirmed: Cua Lo tourism has made great strides, basically meeting the goals of the resolution on tourism development set by the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee and the Town Party Committee. That is, it has built the "brand" of Cua Lo tourism in the hearts of friends and tourists nationwide and internationally. Cua Lo has also truly become a center for tourism, resorts, organizing conferences, seminars and training centers. In 2013, Cua Lo Town attracted over 2.1 million visitors, making tourism a driving force and spearhead economy with a proportion of 70% of total production value. Urban planning work is being carried out quite systematically, meeting the requirements of a civilized and modern urban area with a spacious transportation system; Nearly 250 hotels and motels, including dozens of hotels meeting 2-star to 4-star standards, and over 300 kiosks providing tourism services.

However, to make Cua Lo tourism truly high quality and effective, more efforts are needed. In the immediate future, Cua Lo Town is continuing to promote the propaganda and promotion of Cua Lo tourism brand across the country and region, organizing the connection of many tours, routes, and locations in the province and the country; diversifying tourism types and promoting them. At the same time, continuing to implement the "5 no" movement, improving professionalism, cultural behavior, and communication in tourism; building Cua Lo branded products such as fish sauce, dried seafood, souvenirs, etc., to meet the shopping needs of tourists. At the same time, focusing on investing in infrastructure, urgent and key projects to create highlights for Cua Lo tourism.

Entering the 2014 sea tourism season, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee has decided to allow Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company to implement the project of ecological tourism complex, villas, resorts, Lan Chau - Song Ngu sports entertainment area with a total investment capital of up to 1,900 billion VND. The highlight of the project will be the construction of a cable car connecting the mainland with Ngu Island - a tourist destination with attractive landscapes. Right on Ngu Island, there will also be many new entertainment services such as mud bath, nude bath, paragliding, visiting the zoo, a system of high-class restaurants and hotels... The project is promising to create important highlights for the development of Cua Lo tourist urban area in a civilized and modern direction.

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