Expanding Cua Lo's tourism space in depth will create a breakthrough in development.

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of November 30th, under the chairmanship of Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Central Committee of the Party, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee continued to listen to and give opinions on the results of 10 years of implementing Resolution 05-NQ/TU of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee (16th term) on building and developing Cua Lo town into a tourist city by 2015, with consideration to 2020.

Also attending were: Comrade Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; the Deputy Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committee: Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Nguyen Van Thong, Le Quang Huy; members of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, and representatives of relevant departments and agencies.

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Central Committee of the Party, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee - stated that: In order to develop Cua Lo into a shining example of a coastal tourism city, in addition to its beautiful coastline, Cua Lo needs to identify its key features and expand its tourism space in depth to create breakthrough development.

After 10 years of implementing Resolution 05 of the Provincial Party Committee on building and developing a tourist city, Cua Lo town has undergone positive changes, achieving and exceeding many basic targets. The economic structure has shifted towards a rapid increase in the proportion of tourism services (from 56.5% in 2006 to 62.1% in 2015); agriculture and fisheries, and industry and construction have decreased from 10.4% and 33.1% respectively to 5.6% and 32%.

Many small-scale industrial and craft village production models have been developed, creating jobs and stable income for workers, such as cold storage models, high-yield snakehead fish farming models, and seafood preservation and processing villages…

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Council - highly appreciated Cua Lo's efforts in striving to be recognized as a coastal tourist city by the Prime Minister. He also requested that Cua Lo pay special attention to preserving the marine environment (planning green spaces, handling household waste; controlling business establishments, etc.).

In addition, the town's Party Committee and government have focused on developing tourism, attracting investment, diversifying and upgrading service types, strengthening propaganda and promotion, linking and exploiting tourism tours and routes connecting Nghe An with key tourist destinations in the province, the country and the region.

Binh Minh Street (Cua Lo town). Archival photo.

From 2006 to 2015, the number of tourists increased by an average of 10% per year, from 1 million in 2006 to 2.43 million in 2015; tourism revenue increased by an average of 30% per year, from 245 billion VND in 2006 to 2,260 billion VND in 2015. To date, Cua Lo has 288 hotels with 9,151 rooms (including 45 hotels rated 1-4 stars), capable of serving approximately 20,000 tourists.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - assessed that in recent years, especially in 2016, Cua Lo has shown vision and clear development, attracting many large investment projects. Therefore, expanding its administrative boundaries is necessary.

Tourism infrastructure, including roads, electricity, and water supply and drainage, has been developed comprehensively. Over the past 10 years, the town has implemented numerous tourism infrastructure projects such as: Binh Minh Square, Lan Chau tourist port, Ngu Island port, inner-city transportation system, wastewater project phases 1 and 2 (Belgian ODA), lighting system, etc. Several planning adjustments have been made to align with the town's development, thereby attracting investment in projects such as a hotel complex, a 132.7-hectare golf course, Vinamilk Nghe An, Trang An confectionery factory, the Fishing Port tourist area, Muong Thanh Cua Lo Hotel, Saigon - Kim Lien Hotel, and more.

As a result, budget revenue increased from VND 75.2 billion in 2006 to VND 244.9 billion in 2015, an increase of 15% per year. Total social investment capital in the period 2006-2016 reached VND 11,942 billion; average per capita value increased from VND 10.6 million in 2006 to VND 60 million in 2015…

A view of Cua Lo. Archival photo.

Despite the achievements after 10 years of implementing Resolution 05 of the Provincial Party Committee, Cua Lo town still has some shortcomings and limitations, namely: the progress of some schemes, plans, projects, and works is still slow, such as the issue of expanding administrative boundaries, relocating structures east of Binh Minh road; the drainage and wastewater treatment project; stalled projects of enterprises that have been allocated land; tourism products are still monotonous and seasonal; there is a lack of investment in developing commodity production to connect with and serve tourism...

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee - proposed that the Provincial Party Standing Committee direct the implementation of the project to expand the urban space and administrative boundaries of Cua Lo town on schedule; prioritize support from the state budget and mobilize ODA to build key projects; agree to allow the town to benefit from some mechanisms and policies for exploiting land funds, increasing the allocation rate in some areas to concentrate capital on building essential and urgent infrastructure projects; and revoke investment projects that have been licensed and allocated land but have not been implemented or have been implemented slowly...

At the meeting, members of the Provincial Party Standing Committee contributed ideas to help Cua Lo coastal tourist city strive towards the goal of becoming a type 2 urban area in the 2018-2020 period, creating a foundation for building a green, clean, beautiful, prosperous, civilized, and modern coastal tourist city; a growth pole and a leading growth engine of the province, a bright spot for tourism nationwide.

Concluding this discussion, Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee - acknowledged and highly appreciated the results that Cua Lo has achieved over more than 10 years of implementing Resolution 05. He also emphasized that, in order to build Cua Lo into a coastal tourist city, in addition to its beautiful coastline, Cua Lo needs to identify its unique selling points and expand its tourism space in depth to create breakthrough development.

From identifying tourism products that are characteristic of Cua Lo in particular and Nghe An in general, to designing beautiful and rational architectural plans to attract tourists and investors, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh also stated that only with comprehensive solutions can Cua Lo achieve qualitative development, not simply expanding its administrative boundaries.

Cua Lo Beach. Archival photo.

Regarding the recommendations and proposals, the Provincial Party Secretary agreed that it was not yet necessary to issue a new Resolution on Cua Lo, but it was necessary to issue a specific conclusion to provide the right direction that was appropriate to the reality.

Regarding the issue of expanding administrative boundaries, the Provincial People's Committee is tasked with working with the three localities (Cua Lo, Vinh, and Nghi Loc) to agree on a specific plan. Regarding matters related to investing in upgrading Cua Lo's urban infrastructure, and policies for land exploitation, the Provincial Party Secretary requested that Cua Lo town develop a specific plan and submit it to the Provincial People's Committee for approval before presenting it to the Provincial Party Standing Committee and the Provincial People's Council for consideration.

At the same time, it is suggested that the Provincial People's Committee focus on directing the resolution of investment projects that have been licensed and allocated land but have not been implemented or have been implemented slowly, with prolonged progress in Cua Lo town, in order to attract capable investors to replace them or adjust the planning and functions to exploit and maximize the efficiency of land use.

Khanh Ly