Affirming Nghe An tourism brand

(Baonghean) - Comrade Nguyen Manh Cuong - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism answered an interview with Nghe An Newspaper

Reporter:After 4 years of implementing the 5-year plan 2011 - 2015, 1 year of implementing Resolution 26-NQ/T.T, the province's socio-economic situation in general and the tourism sector in particular have made remarkable progress (the number of guests staying reached 3.5 million; tourism service revenue over 2,300 billion VND), reaching 100% of the target assigned by the 17th Provincial Party Congress. To achieve that result, what breakthroughs has the tourism sector made, sir?

Cua Lo Beach seen from above. Photo: Sy Minh

Comrade Nguyen Manh Cuong:During the past term, with the attention, leadership and drastic and close direction of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council and Provincial People's Committee, Nghe An Tourism has made strong breakthroughs.

First of all, the industry has focused on building and maintaining the Nghe An tourism brand with the main content being to build a civilized, safe, friendly tourism environment, gradually improving quality to attract tourists. To carry out the above tasks, the industry has coordinated with the Provincial People's Committee to issue a series of documents on tourism environment management such as Regulations on ensuring security and order, environmental sanitation and safety for tourists at tourist attractions in the area; management of jet ski service activities in Cua Lo Town, documents on management of service activities at relics, festivals...; strengthening inspection, examination and handling of violations. The industry has also directed and guided key tourist localities such as the city. Vinh, Cua Lo, Nam Dan deploy solutions to ensure security and order, environmental sanitation, food safety and hygiene..., build a "5 no" model, security team, self-management team, civilized restaurants..., publicly post hotline numbers to receive and handle tourists' feedback.

Second, many infrastructure investment projects serving socio-economic development related to tourism have been invested, tourism infrastructure continues to develop. The highlight is that in December 2013, Nghe An officially opened the Vinh - Da Lat flight route.

Along with domestic routes, in January 2014, Nghe An also officially opened a direct flight from Vinh to Vientiane with a frequency of 4 flights/week. This is the first new route of Vietnam Airlines in 2014 and also the first international route operated from Vinh airport. Up to now, Vinh airport has been invested in upgrading and planned to become an international airport. Along with the air route, the railway overpass on route 46 Vinh - Nam Dan, National Highway 46B Cua Lo - Nam Dan, Vinh - Cua Hoi route, Ben Thuy II bridge,... were also inaugurated, contributing to shortening travel time between tourist destinations in the province and creating conditions for expanding cooperation with provinces in the country and the region.

In the 4 years from 2011 to 2014, the province had 207 more hotels and motels put into use with a total investment capital of 1,955 billion VND, bringing the total number of accommodation establishments in the area to 665 by the end of the term, including 1 5-star hotel, 5 4-star hotels, 12 3-star hotels and over 60 1-2 star hotels.

Third, the cooperation in building typical products was vigorously implemented in the second half of the term (2013 - 2015). Specifically: In November 2013, the three localities of Cua Lo - Nam Dan - Vinh signed a cooperation agreement to promote the advantages of the three districts, cities and towns in the journey to visit attractive destinations for tourists when coming to Nghe An. In particular, after the heritage of Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk songs was recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity, this cooperation became even more meaningful when at the end of the term, all three localities will join hands to bring Vi and Giam folk songs to serve tourists.

In parallel with the connection within the province, in recent times, our province has promoted the connection between provinces in the North Central region including 6 provinces along National Highway 1A stretching from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue to promote tourism activities.

In addition, the province has also promoted and expanded the connection with countries in the region and countries sharing the border. Specifically: Currently, we have built many road tours from Vinh to provinces of Laos, Northeastern Thailand such as Vientiane Capital - Udonthani Province, Bangkok Capital... with tours such as "Eating three countries in one day", "Three ancient capitals, one destination", "Three countries, one destination"...

Fourthly, human resource training and training to improve tourism knowledge for people working in tourism are of interest to localities and are given top priority. The quality of tourism human resource training at training facilities in the province has made a new change, the cooperative relationship between training facilities and tourism businesses has initially been formed with a training model based on addresses and orders. Thanks to that, the quality of labor in tourism service businesses has been raised a step (in 2013, for the first time, Nghe An tourism won a First Prize for international tour guides), the rate of trained labor is increasing, contributing to the goal of sustainable tourism development.

Reporter:Besides the achievements, what limitations does the tourism industry have that need to be overcome, sir?

Comrade Nguyen Manh Cuong:That is, Nghe An tourism products have not had a breakthrough change, uneven quality, low competitiveness, lacking new, unique products, regional scale to attract domestic and international visitors. The progress of planned tourism investment projects is generally slow, prolonged, even not implemented such as Cua Nam Lake Tourism and Entertainment Area, Giang Son Hot Mineral Water Tourism Area (Do Luong), Hai Thinh Tourism Area. Some newly registered projects but the feasibility is not high due to limited financial capacity of investors and have not attracted foreign investors to invest in tourism projects. Although there are many efforts in tourism activities, in general, there is still a lack of professionalism, weak competitiveness, especially the ability to reach out to exploit the international and regional inbound market. Although tourism promotion has had positive changes, it has not gone into depth, has a focus, key points, and the form is still monotonous.

Reporter:To achieve the goal of tourism becoming a truly important economic sector of the province by 2020, with unique products and an attractive destination for domestic and international tourists, what is the direction of the industry in the period of 2016 - 2020, sir?

Nghe folk songs are exploited to serve tourists.

Comrade Nguyen Manh Cuong:In the coming time, we will focus on supplementing and adjusting the master plan for tourism development in Nghe An to 2020, with a vision to 2030 to suit the new situation, thereby promoting investment in tourism infrastructure development on the basis of taking advantage of capital support from national programs, foreign countries, and enterprises; focusing on investing in perfecting key tourism products in which Nghe An has strengths. Exploiting existing tourism routes and gradually implementing new tourism routes, linking cultural and spiritual tourism with traditional festivals; promoting tourism promotion to expand the tourist market. Building tourism human resources to meet the immediate and long-term tourism development requirements. Promoting investment attraction to develop high-end coastal resorts, eco-tourism areas, entertainment areas, service facilities for tourists, means of passenger transport, etc.; Strengthening the effectiveness of State management of tourism in accordance with the spirit of Directive 14/CT-TTg dated July 2, 2015 of the Prime Minister, focusing on coordinating the management of prices of services for tourists, ensuring the quality of goods and services; security, order and safety for tourists... to continue to achieve the goal of building a civilized, safe and quality tourism environment in Nghe An, contributing to sustainable tourism development.

To achieve that goal, the tourism industry really needs the attention, leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee, the drastic participation and solidarity of the entire industry and related units with the desire: Nghe An tourism increasingly affirms its brand in the region, on the international tourism map.

Reporter:Thank you comrade!

Thanh Thuy

(Perform)