The central city of Da Nang should recognise where it is on the
world tourism map and the role the administration can play to boost the
tourism industry, said economist Tran Du Lich at a seminar on October
25.
The seminar, titled “Developing Da Nang into an
international centre of tourism and service industries”, drew 300
participants from the US , Japan , Germany , Singapore and
Vietnam .
” Da Nang is at the centre of many
tourism destinations and world heritage sites, including Hoi An, the My
Son Sanctuary, the Hue Monument Complex and Phong Nha-Ke Bang. The city
should develop a master plan to facilitate high quality tourism, not
just the number of visitors,” Lich said.
“The city has
to answer questions about how to make visitors stay longer and encourage
them to spend more during their vacations,” he suggested.
Vice Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho said the
seminar was a chance for experts and managers to discuss how to turn the
city into an international tourism destination.
“We
want to become an international destination by using our beautiful
beaches, mountains and pristine nature reserves in the Son Tra
peninsula,” Tho said, adding “The city has seen big changes after we
turned the slums into resorts and hotels that face the ocean. However,
we have yet to reach our full potential.”
Robert Day,
Vice President and Director of Planning and Landscape at WATG, said Da
Nang is already Vietnam ‘s third largest city and is still rapidly
developing.
“There have been several conferences
helping to define how, what and where Da Nang and its hinterland
should grow. But Da Nang ‘s land area and potential is far too big to
have one blanket approach to tourism over the entire city and its
hinterland,” Day said at the seminar.
“There is a real
need to develop distinct tourism zones within the city to cater for
different market segments. Being a true city, Da Nang also has the
physical space to provide most of the required accommodation and other
amenities anticipated for this central region.”
Peter Dyder, General Manager of Indochina Capital, said the city should increase international airlift.
“One factor that is impacting airlift and the arrival of new carriers
from new destinations is airport landing fees. The cost for an airline
to land in Da Nang is more than double that of comparable
destinations. This is prohibiting airlines flying to Da Nang as they
can not make adequate profit to justify the route,” Dyder said.
He also said the visa process needs to be simplified.
“To obtain a visa in a foreign country such as Australia , the US or
UK costs about 100 USD per person. A family of four adds up to 400
USD on visas alone, enough to make them reconsider coming to Vietnam
,” he said.
According to a report by the World Tourism
Orgnisation and World Travel and Tourism Council, Vietnam could
increase international arrivals by 8-18 percent if it implements the
visa on arrival system.
Dyder suggested the city should
create more international standard tourist attractions and events like
the Iron-Man Triathlon or even the Da Nang Formula One race weekend.
Don Lam, CEO of Vinacapital, said Da Nang should improve service quality and prioritise tourism development activities.
He said tourists have nowhere to go after 10pm in the city, while the marketing budget for tourism is too low.
Amir Ahmad Mohamad, General Manager of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Plaza Hotel Da
Nang, said the city is yet to develop into an international
entertainment centre to lure tourists during long vacations.
He said tourism and marketing promotion are still poor, while Da Nang
is just known as a destination for domestic visitors, not like Hoi
An.
Speaking at the conference, Director of the Vietnam
Institute of Economics Tran Dinh Thien pointed out that Da Nang
still lacks the qualities to make it a livable city.
“Sea tourism is our main attraction, but mountains, forests, crafts and
adventure tourism are not promoted enough. This is the reason why
tourists who visit the city just enjoy seafood on the beach for three or
four days,” Thien said.
“It has no city centre in the
tourism sense, and there aren’t many entertainment centres for people to
spend around the beach resorts and hotels.”
According
to the latest report, the city welcomed 3 million tourists in the first
three quarters this year, earning 7.8 trillion VND (371 million USD).
The city has 22,000 tourism workers, but 40 percent of them are unskillful.
Da Nang has attracted 60 investment projects in tourism property,
including 13 FDI projects worth 4 billion USD in total./.