New opportunities for tourism development in Nghe An.

(Baonghean) - Recently, the first-ever Sunflower Festival was held in Nghia Dan district. The festival's appeal was evident in the large number of tourists flocking to the area and its extensive media coverage. This also opens up many great opportunities for the development of tourism in Nghia Dan in particular and Nghe An province in general.

Nghia Dan welcomes over 150,000 visitors to the Sunflower Festival.

Tourists visit the sunflower field. Photo: Sach Nguyen.

Year-end highlights

Many years ago, tourism in Nghe An was only truly bustling during the summer, associated with destinations like President Ho Chi Minh's birthplace, Cua Lo, and Vinh City. This reality led to the conclusion that we only developed tourism during one season, while the rest of the year it fell into a state of "winter hibernation."

However, in the last two years, the tourism landscape of Nghe An has become much more vibrant with many attractive new destinations such as Cau Cau tea island in Thanh Chuong district, Bay Tang waterfall in Que Phong district, and especially the sunflower fields in Nghia Dan, which have become a rising star in Nghe An and Vietnam.

Typing the keyword "Nghia Dan tourism" into the Google search engine yields 980,000 results in just 0.60 seconds. Tourism websites, online newspapers, travel forums, and backpacking communities all use flattering terms like "paradise" and "stunning scenery" to describe this destination; they also provide detailed instructions on how to get there and where to eat, demonstrating the appeal of this place.

Seizing the opportunity and allure of the sunflower fields, last December, Nghe An province organized the first-ever Sunflower Festival in Nghia Dan district, combined with the Western Spring Festival, featuring a variety of activities such as: a Sunflower Beauty Contest, an exhibition of beautiful photos of Nghia Dan, sunflowers, and the land and people of Nghe An; and a display of products from Nghia Dan and other localities. This event truly created a highlight for tourism in Nghia Dan and Nghe An during the end of the year and received widespread media coverage.

According to statistics from the organizing committee, Nghia Dan attracted more than 150,000 tourists during the festival alone. Behind this huge influx of visitors, tourism and services in Nghia Dan also thrived with accompanying services. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tang – Head of the Culture and Information Department of Nghia Dan district – said that besides admiring the flowers, the stalls showcasing and selling local products were very popular.

Nghia Dan district has 6 stalls, not including stalls from other localities selling products such as sugarcane molasses, forest honey, oranges, guavas, etc., all of which are selling well. In addition, a new feature is the increased number of tourists coming on organized tours compared to previous years. "Since mid-2016, we have welcomed 5-6 groups from tourism companies to survey tours in preparation for the sunflower season."

"As a result, more than 300 tour groups recently visited Nghia Dan. The program included visits to the TH Group's milk production factory, sunflower fields, a cattle farm, and several orchards growing oranges, guavas, and organic vegetables, as well as free-range chicken farms. A percentage of the tourists also continued on to visit historical sites such as the Tru Village banyan tree and Ru Am cave," Mr. Tang happily stated.

On the other hand, according to our findings, most restaurants in the area are almost overloaded at times, especially in Nghia Son commune – home to the sunflower fields. Mr. Nguyen Huu Quy, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghia Son commune, said: The large number of tourists has helped the local trade and service industry develop rapidly.

Many tourist groups have visited orchards in the area and purchased some of the farmers' produce. Restaurants and eateries are also operating very busily. This contributes to changing the structure of the local economy, achieving the goal of increasing the proportion of the trade and service sector to 64% by the end of the term. "The commune is promoting the Nghia Son guava brand to advertise and serve market demand, especially during the tourist season," Mr. Quy said.

Tourism development should be considered within the overall context.

The allure of the sunflower fields brings multifaceted benefits to the locality, the province, and travel companies in exploiting tourist destinations in Nghia Dan. However, the issue is that behind the success of these festivals, from the perspective of travel agencies and managers, there are still concerns about further improving the quality of the festival and most effectively exploiting the tourism potential not only in Nghia Dan district but also in western Nghe An province.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Sunflower Festival, Mr. Ta Khac Uyen - Director of Nghe An Travel Company and Head of the Nghe An Travel Association - said that the festival brought success in many aspects. In the travel sector, it yielded very positive results with a large number of tourists purchasing tours, and the activities of travel agencies were more vibrant compared to this time in previous years. Furthermore, the image of Nghe An tourism was effectively promoted with the effect of the sunflower fields without incurring any costs.

However, from the perspective of a travel agent, Mr. Uyen suggested that the methods, layout, and activities of the festival should be more creative and distinctive; as well as promoting other destinations in the Mekong Delta so that more tourists visit and explore, which would naturally lead to much higher tourism returns.

Indeed, Nghia Dan district in particular, and western Nghe An province in general, have enormous tourism potential. Linking and cooperating to develop tourism among localities in western Nghe An and the entire province is of paramount importance in exploiting this "gold mine." Through this, the comparative advantages of each locality in terms of tourism potential and resources can be leveraged, and each locality can compensate for any shortcomings.

On the other hand, through linkages, tourism products will be enriched and diversified, creating distinctive, high-quality tourism products, and enhancing the competitiveness of tourism not only in Nghia Dan district but also in Nghe An province.

This was also an issue raised by the leaders of Nghia Dan district after the Sunflower Festival. According to Le Hong Son, Chairman of the Nghia Dan District People's Committee, the results achieved are only the first step. In the long term, for Nghia Dan tourism to develop sustainably, it must be placed within the context of overall tourism development linkages with localities in western Nghe An province, with Nghia Dan as the center.

Therefore, the province needs specific guidance and strategies to coordinate with the owners of the sunflower fields to maintain their sustainability; as well as solutions for linking tourism between localities.

Thanh Duy