Linking tourism development among 4 provinces in North Central Vietnam: Still a case of everyone acting independently.

Attending the conference, on behalf of Nghe An province were Mr. Le Minh Thong - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Coordinating Board for Tourism Development of Nghe An - Thanh Hoa - Ha Tinh - Quang Binh; leaders of the Department of Tourism, and relevant departments and agencies.

Representing the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh were leaders from the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Tourism.

Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee Le Minh Thong delivered a welcoming speech to the delegates attending the conference. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Let's discuss a few specific things, not too many.

At the conference, delegates representing the tourism sectors of the four provinces frankly analyzed the process of tourism cooperation over the past period. Mr. Le Tran Sang, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ha Tinh province, pointed out that in 2017, despite signing a memorandum of agreement on cooperation and tourism development among the four North Central provinces, in reality, little progress was made. The forms, content, and activities of the cooperation were monotonous and lacked depth, resulting in limited impact. Furthermore, there was no established brand identity to position the destinations of the four provinces; the budget allocated for cooperation activities was limited and unstable.

Mr. Sang expressed his opinion: "In my view, we should only discuss a few specific things that are feasible, and not talk about too many things at once!"

The Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ha Tinh province stated: "Let's only discuss a few things that are feasible; we shouldn't discuss too many things at once." (Photo: Phuoc Anh)

Agreeing with Mr. Le Tran Sang's opinion, Mr. Nguyen Van Ky - Deputy Director of the Quang Binh Provincial Department of Tourism - said that the weak coordination is evident in many aspects. In recent years, all four provinces have been more or less affected by marine environmental incidents, directly impacting the tourism industry, but due to a lack of coordination, there is no common voice to propose a policy to support tourism in overcoming difficulties.

Furthermore, regarding the quality of human resources in tourism, all four provinces face limitations in foreign language skills. "However, we haven't sat down together to see if there are any solutions to address this, or how we need to work with training institutions," Mr. Ky stated.

The head of Nghe An's Department of Tourism expressed concern about the tourism growth rate of the four provinces. Photo: Phuoc Anh

The head of the Nghe An Department of Tourism, Nguyen Manh Cuong, frankly stated his views on the tourism growth rate of the four provinces. In 2017, the number of tourists visiting the four provinces reached over 19.7 million, an increase of 35.75% compared to 2016, including over 450,000 international tourists, an increase of 71.25% compared to 2016. “Such a growth rate is very promising, but the question is whether that growth is sustainable? If it increases further in 2018, will the current accommodation facilities and tourism services in the four provinces be able to meet the demand?” Mr. Cuong said.

In the spirit of detailed discussion, the conference focused on the following main topics: participation in trade fairs for promotion and advertising; identifying international markets to jointly exploit, namely Thailand and China; defining a common tourism product line as beach tourism; and based on that, developing a common tourism brand identity for the four provinces…

Individual policies must, however, be geared towards a common goal.

Thach Hai beach in Ha Tinh province is increasingly attracting tourists for sightseeing and relaxation. Photo: Internet

At the conference, representatives from various provinces exchanged and discussed several policies to support tourism development. The Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ha Tinh province stated that the province has recently implemented two very beneficial policies.

Firstly, businesses investing in tourism projects in Ha Tinh, if aligned with the province's planning, will receive a 4% interest rate subsidy; businesses purchasing tourist transport vehicles with 16 seats or more, or tourist yachts and boats, will also receive a 4% interest rate subsidy. Secondly, any travel company from Ha Tinh that establishes a representative office in other provinces and brings tourists to Ha Tinh will receive a subsidy of 150 million VND; travel companies from other provinces that establish offices and bring tourists to Ha Tinh will also receive financial support. This policy is in effect from January 1, 2018, until 2025.

Cave exploration tourism is an attractive tourism product of Quang Binh province. Photo: Internet

Quang Binh province has also taken many positive steps to boost tourism. Vice Chairman of the Quang Binh Provincial People's Committee, Tran Tien Dung, revealed that the province recently spent $80,000 USD on a promotional film for an American television channel. Quang Binh also has a policy to support the construction of restaurants with a subsidy of 500,000 VND/m2, 3-star hotels with a subsidy of 500 million VND, and 5-star hotels with a maximum subsidy of 2 billion VND…

Representing the Thanh Hoa province's tourism sector, Ms. Vuong Thi Hai Yen, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, also shared that the province is very interested in investing in tourism and in 2018 continued to allocate 30 billion VND to this sector, which has been identified as a "key" area.

“Therefore, based on the mechanisms, policies, and resources of the state, there is no reason why the four provinces should not strengthen effective cooperation. Each province has its own policies, but the goals must be in agreement,” Ms. Yen said, emphasizing, “at least each province has several hundred million dong allocated for tourism promotion activities; it cannot be said that there is no money at all. So, at this conference, we agree on specific activities, and once we have signed the agreement, we must implement it; we cannot withdraw at that point!”

Concluding the conference, Vice Chairman of the Nghe An Provincial People's Committee Le Minh Thong - Head of the Nghe An - Thanh Hoa - Ha Tinh - Quang Binh Tourism Development Coordination Board in 2017 - assessed that 2018 is a year of significant importance for the cooperation and development of tourism among the localities. Based on the agreements reached at the conference, the provinces need to regularly exchange and learn from each other's experiences, strengthen coordination in training and improving the quality of human resources, continue to develop traditional tours and routes, and build new tourism products…

The Tourism Associations of four provinces signed a memorandum of cooperation for tourism development. Photo: Phuoc Anh

At the conference, the Tourism Association of the four provinces of Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh signed a memorandum of cooperation on tourism linkages for 2018. Simultaneously, the role of Head of the Coordinating Committee for Tourism Development of Nghe An - Thanh Hoa - Ha Tinh - Quang Binh in 2018 was transferred to Thanh Hoa province.