Boost for Nghe An tourism

(Baonghean) -With the aim of removing obstacles for tourism businesses, and at the same time preparing for a favorable 2014 tourism season, on April 11, 2014 in Cua Lo Town, the Provincial People's Committee organized a dialogue conference between provincial leaders and tourism and service businesses in the province. This dialogue attracted a large number of tourism businesses in the area to participate with many open and frank opinions with the hope that Nghe An tourism will increasingly affirm its brand.

Mr. Vo An Huy - Deputy Director of Saigon - Kim Lien Joint Stock Company spoke at the conference.

"Hot" about shortcomings in tourism activities

In her opening speech at the dialogue, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh emphasized: The provincial leaders hope that this will be a forum and an opportunity for the provincial leaders to listen to the opinions of businesses and businesses should also openly reflect on the difficulties and obstacles in the process of tourism business. Therefore, the dialogue heated up when businesses all had the same opinion: they were very excited and highly agreed that the provincial leaders have recently paid great attention to the business activities of tourism businesses. The organization of the dialogue also demonstrated the determination of the provincial leaders in developing Nghe An tourism industry.

Mr. Vo An Huy - Deputy Director of Saigon - Kim Lien Joint Stock Company opened with the very passionate and concerned opinion of a business in the accommodation and travel business: Let's start with the smallest but most important things, which is to build and re-plan the public toilet system along Cua Lo beach, destinations such as Ho Chi Minh Square, historical and cultural relics... And Mr. Huy recounted many unforgettable memories that his company had led guests on tours, including many foreign guests who were very dissatisfied when visiting historical relics. They said that our relics are very beautiful, very sacred, carefully preserved by the people, but it is very inconvenient when there is no public toilet system, and if there is, it is very unsanitary. In particular, according to Mr. Huy, Cua Lo Town must be the first locality to build public toilets along the beach.

Mr. Vo Hong Sang - Director of Thai Son International Travel Joint Stock Company; Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa - representative of Hoang Son International Travel Company said: The problem of making visas for Nghe An and Ha Tinh tourists to travel to Korea is extremely difficult, mainly because the documents are returned due to many reasons, including the reason that many Nghe An workers have fled and stayed in Korea while traveling. Besides, the quality of service and prices between travel companies also have unhealthy competition, snatching, and seasonality. Many companies have not registered for international travel business but still take tourists on international tours.

Restaurants in neighboring areas such as Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen and other tourist destinations in the West have inadequate facilities and lack of enthusiasm in serving tourists. Many times when taking tourists on tours, travel agencies have had difficulty booking food and accommodation when tourists want to stay overnight. Some routes within Vinh City have regulations prohibiting tourist vehicles with 16 seats or more from circulating, affecting the pick-up and drop-off of guests staying at some hotels and restaurants on that route as well as visiting tourist destinations in the area such as Nguyen Sy Sach, Le Hong Phong, Ho Tung Mau, Truong Thi streets, etc.

At the dialogue, representatives of hotels and motels in Cua Lo Town reflected: Tourism businesses in Cua Lo still face difficulties in land, electricity, water, urban tax policies... doing business for only 3 months but have to pay taxes for the whole year; construction planning only covers 70% of the land area to avoid concreting but have to pay taxes on 100% of the area with a common tax rate, electricity prices are still high... The situation of squeezing and overcharging customers by hybrid and electric vehicles in the town still occurs, causing dissatisfaction among tourists.

Concerned about the shortcomings in business and tourism infrastructure, people and businessmen are happy with the current drastic directions for the tourism industry. Representative of Nghe An Tourism Association - Mr. Hoang Trung Chau said: “In more than 20 years of tourism, the provincial leaders have never been so interested and closely directed the activities of the tourism industry as in the recent past. And this is also the first time that the Provincial People's Committee has organized a dialogue conference to listen to the thoughts and aspirations of tourism businesses, with the desire to remove difficulties for businesses, so we are very excited, thank the provincial leaders very much. As an association, what we have long wanted and been concerned about is: we must have a common tourist information center for the whole province, where there is a telephone connection between hotels and destinations in the whole province so that when travel agencies and tourists need to get information, it will be easier and more professional. As for the Vinh - Vientiane route, due to the lack of customers recently, we request that Vietnam Airlines, if they delay flights, must notify customers at least 2 days in advance, and there should not be a situation of sudden flight delays, causing many dissatisfied customers

Passion, concerns

In response to concerns from tourism businesses, at the dialogue, relevant departments and agencies answered frankly and directly to each issue. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tien - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Cua Lo Town discussed the construction of public toilets along the beach: Previously, along the beach, the Town had a number of public toilets built, but during the process of being used improperly, leading to unsanitary conditions. The Town has heard about this issue many times, so in the summer of 2014, the Town has repaired and renovated 6 standard toilets. These toilets will be handed over to the Urban Management Team for management. Regarding the issue of security and order in general, and the management of hybrid and electric vehicle systems in particular, the Town will continue to rectify. Promote propaganda and inform people and tourists of hotline numbers to cooperate with the police, at the same time raise vigilance, actively protect their property, fight against crime and social evils, contributing to ensuring security and order in the area.

The representative of the Department of Transport also explained the issue related to the ban on stopping and parking of tourist vehicles in the inner city: In the passenger transport regulations, passenger transport routes must have regulations on stopping and parking points - that is the principle and regulation of the law. As for tourist vehicles, there is no ban on any street, so we will re-check all signs, if there are any, we will fix them immediately or add additional signs.

With a passion and concern for tourism, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Thi Le Thanh affirmed: With diverse and rich potential, in recent times, the tourism industry has made great efforts to attract and exploit tourism potential, introducing Nghe An tourism to domestic and international friends. In addition to domestic exploitation, we have also opened international flights to create the most favorable conditions for tourists when visiting tourist destinations in Nghe An. However, it must be objectively recognized that our tourism development is still not stable, the number of international visitors has decreased sharply, the spending of tourists is still low, and tourism products are monotonous. The development of tourist accommodation facilities is still spontaneous, not according to planning, leading to low efficiency.

Tourism activities have limited competitiveness and low service quality. Most travel agencies only focus on bringing Nghe An tourists to travel domestically and abroad, with little attention paid to exploiting and bringing tourists from other places to visit and travel domestically. To build a destination brand and create momentum for Nghe An tourism, it is necessary to focus on developing typical tourism products of each locality. Tourism associations need to promptly handle difficulties and obstacles for tourism businesses... There is a close connection between tourism associations in the province and large provinces such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City... including countries such as Laos, the northeastern regions of Thailand. For the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, it is recommended that the industry advise on priority policies for tourism businesses, regularly honor tourism businesses that operate well and effectively; and have practical forms of support for tourism businesses. Highlights such as Nam Dan, Vinh, and Cua Lo must always have stable prices in all aspects, creating close links and avoiding seasonal price dumping.

Provincial leaders always accompany businesses to remove difficulties and obstacles, trying to find timely support policies for tourism businesses.

Thanh Thuy - Thu Huong