Central Vietnam Tourism: Still everyone does their own thing
Although tourism linkages between the central coastal provinces have been discussed in recent years, in reality this has not been implemented. According to many tourism experts, the reason is that the provinces in the region are too local. The situation of “separatism” is still deeply ingrained in the minds of those working in tourism management.
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Thua Thien - Hue tourism industry is focusing on restoring traditional festivals to attract tourists. |
Links on... paper!
“Localism is a huge barrier to linkage,” said Mr. Ho Viet, former Head of the General Department of Tourism Office in the Central region, who has conducted many research projects on tourism linkage products in the Central region. According to him, tourism managers have sat together, but when it comes to the issue of “Who will operate?”, no one will give in, everyone wants to operate to bring benefits to their locality first. Therefore, linkages are still on paper or, if they exist, they are quite cautious.
Vitours Travel Company, which has successfully implemented tours linking the Central Heritage Road and the East-West Economic Corridor - EWEC, gave a typical example: The trio located next to each other, with the most tourism advantages, Hue - Da Nang - Quang Nam, are still not well connected. "That is the easiest group to connect but has not been able to do it yet, now adding some other localities that do not have much tourism potential, it is even more difficult", commented Mr. Cao Tri Dung, Director of Vitours. “In fact, the three localities have had some activities together in the past 5 years such as making publications, holding introductions and promoting tourism in many places in the country, with the spirit of “3 localities, 1 destination”. However, when operating, the team leaders proposed the common program too late compared to the annual plans of the other localities, so we encountered many difficulties when starting to work on the common program”, said Mr. Ngo Quang Vinh, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang.
According to research from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), each year the Central region welcomes millions of international visitors, but the average length of stay of visitors in Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, and Hoi An is only 1.5 - 2.5 days/visitor with an average spending of 76 USD/visitor/day.
At the Workshop on development linkage of 7 central coastal provinces from Thua Thien-Hue to Khanh Hoa held at the end of 2011, the parties agreed to take tourism as the first linkage target, because this smokeless industry is a strength that every locality has potential. However, in reality, this linkage is only nominal, remaining only on paper and has not been actually implemented.
Tourism products are too vague
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Huong Giang Tourism Joint Stock Company, said that with a length of more than 1,000km and many beautiful beaches, many bays, natural reserves and historical relics, festivals associated with marine culture, but only in June and July 2011, all 4 provinces of Khanh Hoa, Da Nang, Thua Thien - Hue and Ninh Thuan held sea tourism festivals at the same time. The similar organization at the same time not only makes tourists bored but also causes waste, while the results are not as expected, tourists are divided into 4 places.
At the end of 2011, a survey conducted by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam and the International Labor Organization (ILO) concluded that: Tourism products featuring culture, craft villages and the sincere, honest, hospitable people of Quang Nam... are the advantages of Quang Nam tourism. However, Quang Nam tourism
Need a "conductor"
Tourism professionals all believe that the "conductor" must come from the ministerial level, to coordinate activities as well as allocate joint funds, coordinate central and local promotion budgets, and avoid the situation where localities do not "accept" each other and do things their own way.
Mr. Ngo Hoa, Permanent Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thua Thien - Hue Province, Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee of the National Tourism Year for the North Central Coast - Hue 2012, said: It is necessary to have the connection of localities, especially Hue, the connecting place of the North Central and South Central regions, and also connect Da Nang, Quang Nam and major tourist centers such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to create economic and social effects for the event of the National Tourism Year for the North Central Coast - Hue 2012.
Dr. Tran Du Lich (Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ho Chi Minh City) said that it is necessary to create regional tourism products, such as Khanh Hoa needs to focus on developing types of sea and island tourism, investing more in the Nha Trang sea festival, forming a tourist city. Phu Yen is associated with eco-tourism, culture, especially stone culture. Binh Dinh can also develop eco-tourism, culture associated with historical relic chains - festivals, Binh Dinh martial arts festival. Quang Ngai develops sea tourism, opens tourist routes connecting with Cu Lao Cham, Ly Son. Quang Nam focuses on cultural heritage tourism, resort tourism. Da Nang develops sea tourism, resorts, becoming a center for transferring tourists and tourism services. Thua Thien-Hue focuses on cultural tourism (heritage, festivals, cuisine), craft village tourism, ecology and becomes a center for training human resources for the region... Only then can overlap and competition be thoroughly resolved. And from there, real connections will form.
"The General Department of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism need to orient support for key areas, for each region, and not let each cluster do it on its own, which will continue to lead to fragmented and unsynchronized investment. In the North, it can be poured into Hai Phong - Quang Ninh, in the South into Can Tho - Vung Tau, in the Central region, it should focus on Hue - Da Nang - Quang Ninh. Grandfather Ngo Quang Vinh,Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Da Nang |
According to SGGP
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