Bumper tourism season

Together with nationwide tourism growth, Hai Duong tourism has taken an impressive development step over the past time.

The Provincial People’s Committee in 2006 issued the scheme “Developing Hai Duong provincial tourism in the 2006 – 2010 period” to create a legal basis for efficient management and exploitation of tourism potential, formation of a system of tourist areas, routes, and destinations in the locality; and promotion of the development of a system of hotels, restaurants, stopovers, and entertainment establishments.

Therefore, the provincial tourism has taken an impressive development step with the average growth rate of staying visitors annually reaching nearly 18%; revenue, almost 17%; hotel rooms, over 16%; etc.

In the face of the development of and intense competition in the tourism sector, the Provincial People’s Committee in 2011 worked out the plan “Adjusting the general planning for developing Hai Duong provincial tourism to 2020″. Many schemes have been approved to introduce and popularize typical tourist destinations and products of the province.

Under the scheme “Developing Hai Duong provincial tourism in the 2011 – 2015 period”, cultural – historical, ecological, and trade village tours have been exploited, and tourism management and exploitation have been associated with protecting and embellishing landscapes and the environment to ensure sustainable tourism development. Along with that, clearer images of several tourist areas and destinations, such as Con Son – Kiep Bac, Chu Dau, and Chi Lang Nam Stork Island, have been created.

In late 2012, the scheme to build the pilot model “Developing community tourism in Stork Island, Chi Lang Nam, Thanh Mien district, to 2020″ awakened the potential of this unique eco-tourism area. By 2014, when Stork Island was recognized as a national relic and famous beautiful site, it had become an attractive destination.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Minh, Chairman of the Chi Lang Nam Commune People’s Committee, said since early this year, the relic had welcomed about 14,000 turns of tourists, up 4,000 turns over the same period last year. Of them, foreign arrivals accounted for around 7%. The increase in the number of visitors was caused by the recent recognition of Stork Island as a national relic. In addition, travel companies have also opened tours connecting Con Son – Kiep Bac relic site and Stork Island.

The Provincial Center for Tourism Information and Promotion (Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism) was established in 2012, marking a development step in popularizing the provincial tourism image. It was the first time promotion and popularization had been intensively and methodically done on a large scale.

Mr. Khong Quoc Tuan, director of the center, said since its establishment, the center had developed and organized tourism promotion and popularization strategies, guided and assisted enterprises in tourism propaganda and popularization in and outside the country, implemented the provincial tourism development targets, etc.

The center annually organizes booths at fairs to introduce the provincial tourism addresses and products. In 2014, it surveyed and collected information about 25 typical tourist destinations in the province; jointly organized three teams to survey such destinations as Con Son – Kiep Bac, Chu Van An temple (Chi Linh), Chu Dau pottery (Nam Sach), Dong Ngo, Minh Khanh, and Bach Hao pagodas and thieu litchis (Thanh Ha), etc. with the participation of over 200 turns of travel firms; and jointly surveyed the development of two new tours in the province’s Thanh Ha, Ninh Giang, and Thanh Mien.

In the same year, the center edited and published 2,000 guides to Hai Duong in Vietnamese and English; coordinated with the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Magazine to develop the column “Discovering Hai Duong tourism”; and co-produced reportages on important festivals and tourism areas with the Provincial Radio and Television.

This year, the center has collaborated with the Hai Duong Newspaper to intensify tourism propaganda and popularization…

Resources taken advantage of

Ms. Pham Thu Lien, Head of the Tourism Division (Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism), said Hai Duong had 149 national relics and 194 provincial ones associated with special folk festivals. Besides, attractive natural landscapes like Stork Island, the Huong river (Thanh Ha), systems of forests, lakes, and caves in Chi Linh and Kinh Mon, etc. have great tourism potential.

Thanks to attention and investment, staying visitors have surged from nearly 600,000 turns in 2010 to over 1.1 million turns in 2015 (14.5%/ year on average). Revenue has increased from VND727.9 billion in 2010 to an estimated VND1,350 billion this year (13%/ year on average).

The number of travel agencies has risen rapidly with nearly 200 enterprises and individual households in the province having done business and operated in the fields of travel, accommodation, passenger transport, and other tourism services so far.

The tourism product system has been formed clearer and brought into play particular cultural character and unique features, typically spiritual and cultural tourism products in Con Son – Kiep Bac, tourism products in Chu Dau pottery village, Stork Island eco-tourism, and tourism combined with conferences, workshops, and sports in Hai Duong city.

However, Hai Duong tourism still bears limitations and weaknesses in developing markets, attracting investment, and building tourism facilities, infrastructure, and products. Tourism popularization and promotion, service quality enhancement, and training and retraining of human resources to meet the sector’s development requirements have also encountered difficulties…

To efficiently promote the potential and turn tourism into the province’s spearhead economic sector, there should be more attention and participation of levels, sectors, and local authorities. On the basis of promoting available resources, the attraction of all capital sources of economic sectors should be taken advantage of to invest in developing tourism, improving the quality of products and services, efficiently exploiting the potential and advantages, creating specific and attractive tourism products, etc. to contribute to the provincial socio-economic development.

NGOC HUNG

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