Vinh City's Tourism Resources: Not "difficult," yet still facing obstacles?

(Baonghean) - If we were to list the places to visit and enjoy in Vinh City, it would still be affirmed that its tourism potential could attract many visitors if effective strategies were in place.

Investment promotion remains limited.

Located on the Trans-Vietnam and Trans-Asia transportation routes, Vinh has a convenient transportation system by road, rail, sea, and air. Vinh is a center for accommodation and distribution of domestic and foreign tourists from Northeast Thailand, Laos, and China, with key tourist tours in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces such as: Kim Lien historical site (Nam Dan) - the birthplace of President Ho Chi Minh, Cua Lo coastal tourist town, Nguyen Du historical site, and tourism in the western part of Nghe An province...

Vinh also boasts historical and cultural relics, numerous cultural and spiritual sites that attract a large number of tourists from within and outside the province, a system of international standard hotels from 3 to 5 stars, and a system of modern and luxurious restaurants, entertainment centers, and shopping malls, meeting the needs of tourists for rest, recreation, entertainment, and shopping. However, for a long time, Vinh's tourism has been heavily reliant on it as a transit point to other destinations.

Central Park - the green lung of Vinh City. Photo: Sy Minh.

Mr. Bui Quang Phuong, Head of the Culture and Information Department, said: "We hope that visitors to Vinh City will not miss the opportunity to visit the temple of King Quang Trung on Dung Quyet Mountain; and to learn about the artifacts that recreate a glorious period of history at the Soviet Nghe Tinh Museum and the Military Region 4 Museum."

Visiting Ho Chi Minh Square and enjoying the local specialties of Nghe An province is a must. However, to connect these locations within a single tour route, we need strategies that pique tourists' curiosity and interest to the point of creating a desire to visit Vinh.

This is a difficult problem, as travel companies have long neglected to focus on connecting tours within the city.

In fact, in recent years, the People's Committee of Vinh City has coordinated with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Tourism Promotion Center, and travel businesses in the province to organize surveys and seminars to evaluate Vinh City's tourism products and survey tourist destinations along the Vinh - Cua Lo - Nam Dan route to jointly develop tourism products; and coordinated with Viettravel Tourism Company to organize surveys and seminars to evaluate Vinh City's tourism products.

However, the results have not been entirely satisfactory. Regarding this issue, Ms. Vo Thi Thu Hoai, Director of Viettravel travel company, said: "Actually, we had developed small, self-contained tours and hoped tourists would enjoy them, but after a while, we had to reduce the number of stops, such as museums, and replace them with shopping destinations like supermarkets or traditional city markets, according to tourists' requests."

According to Ms. Vo Thi Thu Hoai, the company has focused on coordinating the development of flight routes and tours to neighboring countries Laos and Thailand to promote the city's tourism potential. The development of unique tourism products specifically for Vinh is still limited.

The Lam River waterfront road through Vinh City, viewed from Dung Quyet Mountain. Photo: Tran Hai.

In recent years, the city has invested in spiritual tourism products to attract visitors, but the results have not been as impactful as expected. Mr. Dau Vinh Thinh, Vice Chairman of the Vinh City People's Committee, stated:

“We have collaborated with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and tourism companies to organize festivals at historical and cultural sites in the area, especially the Ngoc Hoi - Dong Da Victory Festival and the distribution of commemorative cards at the Quang Trung Emperor's Temple on January 5th (lunar calendar), with the aim of gradually developing it into a regional festival. We have also organized the opening of an exhibition room displaying artifacts and documents related to the Tay Son era and the career of Emperor Quang Trung at the Quang Trung Emperor's Temple.”

However, according to Mr. Bui Quang Phuong, Head of the Culture and Information Department: Although there were many visitors, surveys showed that they were only from the region and neighboring areas of the city, and no companies registered to organize tours during the festival.

In light of this situation, the city is determined to make tourism a key sector in its strategy to realize the plan to develop Vinh into an economic center of the North Central region.

To make Vinh an attractive destination.

The project "Developing Vinh City into an economic and cultural center of the North Central region by 2020" states: Developing tourism in conjunction with the city's potential and advantages in regional, national, and international contexts; striving to become an attractive, friendly, and safe destination; and serving as a center for accommodation and distribution of tourists in the North Central region.

To realize this goal, the City Party Committee issued a Resolution on the development of tourism in Vinh City for the period 2016-2020 and beyond. The city set out a plan to: improve tourism infrastructure, paying attention to exploiting tourism products that suit the needs and tastes of tourists.

Tourists register for accommodation at Muong Thanh - Phuong Dong Hotel (Vinh City). Photo: PV

In particular, in developing tourism products, the city focuses on ecology and recreation. And in planning the development of key tourism areas with high competitiveness, Vinh will focus on the Lam River embankment, Hung Hoa mangrove forest, Quyet Mountain - Ben Thuy forest park, the integrated entertainment and culinary area in the South and Southwest of the city, the tourism cluster south of Vinh River and Cua Nam Lake, the ecological tourism area associated with the landscape of the mountains north of Cam River, and shopping areas for local tourism products.

Additionally, Ben Thuy Port will be upgraded into a tourist port, linking organized cruise tourism on the Lam River and the riverside ecological route with Cua Lo tourism.

However, if we only consider tourism products, there is much more to discuss. According to Mr. Bui Quang Phuong:

Firstly, attracting investment is crucial because only with investors and capital can we realize our tourism product targets.

Secondly, we need to prioritize these locations, as attracting investment for tourism products is proving difficult. Therefore, immediately after the resolution is issued, a plan and its implementation should be developed.

Thanh Nga