Building a coastal tourism city: Starting from small things

(Baonghean) - Blessed by nature with beautiful beaches and many attractive seafood specialties, Cua Lo Town has become a destination for domestic and foreign tourists. In 2014, the coastal town was full of life as it entered its twenties, and was recognized by the Government as a coastal tourism city. That added new vitality to the Party Committee and people of Cua Lo to strive to build the town to be more and more worthy.

Cua Lo coastal town - Photo Internet

Meet all criteria

Cua Lo is recognized by the Government as a “Coastal Tourist Urban Area” and is one of the important destinations in the master plan for Vietnam’s tourism development until 2020. That is one of the most basic conditions for Cua Lo Town to confidently promote economic and social development. With the advantages of nature, the gentle, long beach and the gathering of many famous landscapes and landscapes such as the mountains: Quang Trung, Lap Thach, Nui Lo and the island system: Lan Chau, Mui Rong, Hon Ngu, Hon Mat… along with the rich cultural traditions are important driving forces for the development of the coastal town.

A favorable criterion is the transportation system connecting the North-South and East-West routes with Cua Lo Town. Tourists from all over the country can find Cua Lo on two cross-Vietnam roads, National Highway 1A and Ho Chi Minh Road; National Highways 46, 48, 7, 8 go to the western districts, out of the province and to Laos, Northeast Thailand. Vinh Airport is located about 10km from Cua Lo, Vinh Station connects the North-South railway line about 17km from the coastal town, which is convenient for domestic and international tourists to come to Cua Lo.

From within, Cua Lo Town has been building a synchronous, convenient, international-standard infrastructure system, meeting the diverse needs of domestic and foreign tourists. The specific targets that Cua Lo has achieved include ensuring the area of ​​sand for 1 tourist, the area of ​​water surface for 1 tourist, the area of ​​outdoor entertainment, accommodation facilities, entertainment areas, cultural works, scenic spots, local specialty restaurants, traditional markets, food streets, shopping malls, conference centers, credit card payment systems, foreign currency exchange, beauty and fashion services, etc. All of these create a spacious appearance of an attractive coastal city.

Along with that, Cua Lo is also proud of its unique tourism products. These are sightseeing and resort tourism, eco-tourism, spiritual tourism associated with the community and other tourism products such as adventure sports, cruise tourism, commercial tourism with many seafood products. That creates important satellite services for the development of the resort tourism industry. Looking at the economic structure, we can see that Cua Lo Town has identified the Tourism - Service industry as the spearhead, accounting for over 50%, in particular, the town has a friendly tourism environment and ensures security and safety for tourists.

Stretch to grow

Being recognized as a coastal tourism urban area is an honor and pride for the Party Committee and people of Cua Lo Town. However, it also poses new challenges on the development path of the locality. Discussing this issue, Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Provincial Party Committee member, Secretary of Cua Lo Town Party Committee affirmed: With the new brand as a coastal tourism urban area, Cua Lo will have more opportunities to attract investment for development. The town is actively mobilizing resources from the Central, the province, from businesses and the people to develop production, business and services. To continue to build and develop the coastal tourism brand, the town continues to invest comprehensively in the inner-city traffic system as well as the traffic system connecting with regions and areas. Focus on comprehensive investment in infrastructure, accommodation facilities, food and beverage businesses, entertainment venues, souvenir shops, etc.

And when it is a coastal tourist city, it is necessary to consider investing in tourist attractions serving middle-class and high-end tourists instead of budget tourism as it has been done before. The town will also focus on investing in building human resources to serve the needs of tourists, along with improving the culture of behavior and serving tourists in a friendly manner. Resolution 26 of the 11th Politburo on the direction and tasks of developing Nghe An until 2020 has identified Vinh and Cua Lo as a growth pole of Nghe An province. In the general planning for building Vinh City, which has just been approved by the Prime Minister until 2030 to 2050, it will be 250 km2, including 4 relatively independent sub-regions and Cua Lo is an important growth pole. During the 2015 - 2020 term, Cua Lo will continue to expand its space and link with Vinh City - Nam Dan - Nghi Loc to develop tourism.

To implement the set plans, since the beginning of 2015, the town has implemented many practical tasks, such as developing a plan to organize festivals, urban beautification, and tourism promotion and advertising. During that process, the town People's Committee, along with functional departments, branches, wards and communes, actively sought solutions to manage tourism and services, and created appropriate mechanisms and policies to promote development. The town's leaders have also clearly assigned and decentralized people and tasks, along with regular inspection and supervision of the direction and implementation of tasks. During the development process, the town continues to implement the "5 no" policy (No price gouging; No soliciting or stalking customers; No massage or street vending; No harming the environment; No disturbing security and order). Accordingly, wards and communes have increased coordination with the police, urban inspectors, and tourism security teams in managing tourism activities to gradually strictly implement the "5 no's". Cua Lo town directed the expansion of the self-management group model, installing loudspeakers along the beach and in residential areas to raise awareness of building a tourist city. At the same time, assigning business households and accommodation establishments to manage the area and use area, exploiting marine resources in conjunction with the task of environmental protection.

Souvenir shopping in Cua Lo. Photo: Xuan Nhuong

One of the key tasks that is also being urged to be implemented is to build a model of alleys and civilized restaurants according to the approved roadmap; raise awareness of the local community in participating in environmental protection and tourism business. In addition to state management of tourism, the work of promoting the friendly and hospitable image of the coastal city will continue to be focused on and promoted. In particular, focusing on promoting professionalism in tourism promotion activities towards taking destinations, tourism products and tourism brands as the main promotion objects, attracting tourists. Organizations and businesses proactively participate according to the mechanism of "same goals, same sharing" with strengthening tourism connections between Vinh City - Cua Lo Town - Nam Dan, visual propaganda by installing a number of clusters and large-sized billboards at main traffic routes, train stations, bus stations, Vinh airport, border gates; Print publications, brochures, VCDs, connect Cua Lo website with electronic information portals of provinces and cities nationwide...

Start with small actions

With the position of a coastal tourism city, Cua Lo Town not only focuses on macro-level orientations and plans but also focuses on building brands and images from small actions of each individual. To be worthy of being a coastal tourism city, more than anyone else, the citizens of Cua Lo must always be aware of their role as volunteer propagandists for tourism activities. The picture of Cua Lo can only be embellished by each individual's strokes and each small action. It can be the action of building a friendly tourism environment, behaving culturally with tourists, not littering, enthusiastically connecting tourists with tourism services, or simply the dedication of a tram driver, a vendor, etc. to guide tourists. All will create a perfect beauty, creating trust for tourists when coming to Cua Lo.

The friendliness and hospitality of tourism workers build the brand for Cua Lo, but it requires a more professional tourism team from sales people to restaurant owners, large and small businesses. To attract more tourists to Cua Lo, it is necessary to promote promotion, strengthen the connection of destinations and honor traditional cultural values, the friendliness of the people of the coastal city. Those values, together with the potential of beautiful beaches, clear blue sea, modern and luxurious resorts and delicious and attractive dishes, will be the factors that keep tourists staying longer and coming back to Cua Lo many times...

An Nhan