Developing Cua Lo tourism in depth

(Baonghean) - On September 26, 2006, the Standing Committee of Nghe An 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 (Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU). One of the goals of developing Cua Lo tourism is to focus on depth and quality.

Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the City Party Committee about this content.

PV:Can you tell us about the outstanding results over 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU?

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh:After more than 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU, Cua Lo in general and Cua Lo tourism in particular have made great strides in development, becoming the leading coastal tourist city in the region.

Urban infrastructure is planned and built quite synchronously and modernly; the economic structure shifts rapidly and strongly towards services, tourism - industry, construction - agriculture, fishery; in which, agriculture, fishery, and handicrafts have become commodity production, supplying the tourism industry; all resources are mobilized to the maximum for investment and development; culture and society have many positive changes; national defense and security are maintained; the political system is consolidated, built and strengthened.

Cua Lo Festival 2016. Photo: Quoc Hoang.

This result has been confirmed by the fact that Cua Lo town has attracted over 2.4 million visitors each year; the service and tourism industry accounts for 62% of the total production value in the town's economy. The infrastructure serving tourism activities currently has 288 hotels/9,151 rooms, which can serve about 20,000 visitors at the same time, including 45 hotels ranked from 1 to 5 stars and over 300 restaurants.

Several large projects to develop tourism have attracted investment, creating a new look for Cua Lo's tourism economy, such as the Vinpearl Cua Hoi Project, with a scale of more than 38.7 hectares, a total investment of 960 billion VND, expected to be completed in the 2017 tourist season; Vinh - Cua Lo Boulevard; Cua Hoi Bridge project...

This is also the basis and condition for Cua Lo to be determined to achieve the goal of attracting 3.2 - 3.5 million tourists by 2020 (an average increase of 7 - 8%/year); tourism revenue reaching 4,500 - 5,000 billion VND (an average increase of 18 - 20%/year). Average income per capita reaching 130 - 140 million VND. The proportion of services and tourism accounts for 62 - 63% of the economic structure.

The efforts of the Party Committee and people of Cua Lo Town after 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU have been recognized by the Party and State with the First Class Labor Medal; Cua Lo Town has been recognized as the first coastal tourist city in the country, the brand "Cua Lo Tourism" has been recognized; in particular, Resolution No. 26/NQ-TW dated July 30, 2013 of the 11th Politburo on the direction and tasks of developing Nghe An province until 2020 has identified Vinh city together with Cua Lo Town as the growth pole and spearhead of the province.

PV:How do you evaluate the comparative advantages of Cua Lo Town compared to other coastal tourist cities in the region?

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh:Despite the remarkable results, the implementation of Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU still has some shortcomings. The planning and development of Cua Lo urban infrastructure is still not synchronous and does not meet the development requirements.

The progress of implementing some projects, plans, works and constructions is slow: Expanding administrative boundaries; relocating works to the east of Binh Minh Street; 1/2000 planning of Nghi Thu and Nghi Thuy wards; Drainage and wastewater treatment project, water supply plant, longitudinal roads No. 2 and 3...; suspended projects of enterprises that have been assigned land.

Regarding tourism, the construction, promotion and advertisement of Cua Lo tourism image and brand need to be more professional; while the products are still monotonous, seasonal, and sensitive to objective impacts; the connection of tours and the connection of tourism business with other economic sectors are not really effective.

To catch up with the development speed of some other coastal tourist cities in the country and region, which have better comparative advantages, Cua Lo needs to make efforts to break through in the following years.

Cua Lo town is beautifying the urban area to prepare for the 2016 tourist season. Photo: Tran Tho Khoang

PV:Could you please tell us the orientations for Cua Lo Town to continue developing from now until 2020?

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh:At the working session with the Standing Committee of Cua Lo Town Party Committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee highly appreciated the results achieved over 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 05-NQ/TU, and at the same time emphasized the major orientations for Cua Lo to continue implementing Resolution No. 05-NQ/TU in the coming time with the goal of Cua Lo becoming a coastal tourism city, a type 2 urban area by 2020, worthy of continuing to play the role of a growth pole, a spearhead of growth of the province together with Vinh city; Cua Lo tourism develops in depth and focuses on quality.

Some key tasks that need to be carried out are to promote the expansion of administrative boundaries, develop planning according to the new, beautiful and modern urban architectural thinking; continue to improve the investment and business environment, support businesses to promote investment attraction, large-scale infrastructure and tourism projects to create a breakthrough and qualitative change; expand foreign relations and international cooperation in tourism; complete the infrastructure system and technical facilities serving tourism, including the infrastructure system of transport, information, communication, energy, water supply and drainage, environment and the fields of culture, education, health, ensuring political security, social order and safety to serve the development of the economy, society in general and tourism in particular.

In addition, the town will focus on training and developing tourism human resources to ensure quality, quantity, balance in occupational structure and training level to meet the requirements of tourism development and international integration; develop the market, promote and brand tourism in a professional direction; promote tourism associated with promoting the image of the homeland and country; link tourism promotion with trade promotion, investment promotion and diplomacy, culture; continue to perfect institutions, mechanisms, and policies to create a legal environment, and improve state management capacity on tourism.

The Party Committee and people of Cua Lo Town strive to fulfill and exceed the goals set by the Party Congresses at all levels for the 2015-2020 term and Resolution No. 05/NQ-TU.

PV:Thanks comrade!

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