Connecting beach tourist spots in Nghe An

Rich potential

Located in the middle of the “Central region”, the summer is “burning hot”, the air is hot and stuffy, the beautiful beaches are the “gifts” of nature for Nghe An. On hot days, the beaches are the ideal destinations for people and tourists to “cool off”, breathe fresh air and find relaxing moments, receiving positive energy to work most effectively.

The beauty of Cua Lo beach. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Nghe An has more than 80 km of coastline, stretching from Hoang Mai town, through Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc districts to Cua Lo town. Among them are beautiful beaches, truly ideal destinations for swimming, entertainment and relaxation, notably Cua Lo beach, which is considered the most beautiful in the North Central region.

For many years, Cua Lo beach tourism has affirmed its brand, attracting a large number of domestic and international tourists, becoming the largest tourist destination of the province, leading in revenue.

Bai Lu Resort (Nghi Loc). Photo courtesy

Along with Cua Lo, the beaches in Quynh Nghia, Quynh Bang (Quynh Luu), Dien Thanh, Cua Hien (Dien Chau), Quynh Phuong (Hoang Mai town) and Bai Lu (Nghi Loc) are also being exploited to develop tourism. Although not as long and wide as Cua Lo beach, the above-mentioned beaches are endowed with their own unique features by nature.

For example, Quynh Nghia beach has Dragon Mountain protruding from the water surface, inside there is a beautiful cave, countless stalactites with different shapes reflected by sunlight creating a shimmering, magical beauty. Visitors can enter the cave by small boats, stroll around, sightsee to relax their minds and have interesting experiences.

Quynh Phuong beach is associated with the relic of Con temple, the most sacred temple in Nghe An and still preserving its ancient beauty. Coming here, visitors can swim, relax, and have the opportunity to worship and express their spiritual life, praying for peace and happiness.

The beauty of Quynh Luong beach (Quynh Luu). Photo: Dinh Tuyen

Bai Lu is attractive with its charming landscape and rocky beaches, considered a "masterpiece" of nature, suitable for relaxation needs. Meanwhile, Cua Hien beach attracts tourists with its pristine and quiet beauty, suitable for busy, stressed people who want to find a time and space to relax their mind...

These destinations have all been planned and built infrastructure to exploit the potential and develop tourism. The transportation system is increasingly convenient, food and accommodation services are developing, gradually meeting the increasing needs of tourists. Recently, these beaches have "attracted" a certain number of visitors, contributing to increasing income for local people.

Link to create “sea trails”

Whenever discussing the exploitation and development of marine tourism in Nghe An, many people share the opinion that most localities are currently “playing their own game”. That is, in the process of planning and building destinations, districts, cities and towns have not taken into account the factors of connection and cooperation with marine tourism areas and spots in other localities.

Quy Linh Temple, a temple located on the coast in Quynh Luong commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: Dinh Tuyen

This more or less affects the efficiency of exploitation as well as attracting tourists. Because except for Cua Lo and Bai Lu, the remaining tourist destinations are mainly domestic tourists, even local tourists, who come to swim and enjoy seafood, with a short experience time and a small number of guests staying, so the source of spending is also limited. Meanwhile, to have a large source of revenue, it is necessary to attract foreign tourists because they have a long experience and stay time.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Duc, Director of a travel agency in Hanoi, some tourist groups in the capital have contacted him and asked about tours to experience destinations along the coast of Nghe An, from Hoang Mai to Cua Lo. He tried to contact the localities but had difficulty connecting the destinations, so he had to go to Nghe An to survey and build the tour.

Experience the rhythm of life at Quynh beach. Photo: Dau Hong Son

During the survey, Mr. Duc realized that the coastal tourist destinations here all have a lot of potential for development, each destination has its own appeal. However, currently, each is doing its own thing, and there is no connection or cooperation between localities and destinations to improve the effectiveness of attracting tourists.

“In the tourism business, to have sustainable development and long-term effectiveness, we must strengthen connections. Linking coastal tourist destinations in Quynh and Hoang Mai with Bai Lu and Cua Lo is really necessary, creating a “sea lane” for tourists to extend their experience and stay,” said Mr. Nguyen Viet Duc.

Surveying some travel agencies in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, we learned that customers in these two big cities mainly book tours to Cua Lo, other beaches have not yet attracted visitors from other provinces. If there are, the length of stay is very short, even with Cua Lo, customers usually only stay for 2 days, 1 night.

The beauty of Quynh Phuong beach (Hoang Mai town). Photo: Long Ho

The reason is that tourism products are not diverse and somewhat similar. Therefore, localities need to create connections between new destinations to attract a large number of out-of-province visitors, both promoting the unique advantages of each destination and increasing income. And the important thing is that each destination must create its own features, build different products for tourists to explore and experience, avoiding monotony and boredom.

Besides swimming and relaxing, depending on available conditions, you can build tours to explore caves, experience village life, visit historical sites in coastal areas...