Central provinces struggle to draw tourists
14/04/08 (GMT+7)
Although the central provinces of Vietnam have beautiful beaches and five World Heritage sites, the region has had a host of problems in developing its tourism industry.
 There are around 200 beach resort projects from Quang Binh to Binh Thuan provinces. But they’re collecting dust as the region crawls forward with little direction.
"Foreign tourists coming to Vietnam need not only food and lodging. The most important thing is that they want to learn about the culture and history of the country," said James Clain, a Dutchman who has spent many years bringing tourists to the central provinces.
"To develop tourism, Vietnam should multiply what do they have. If tourists can only walk around the beach and go sightseeing, they don’t want to stay long and don’t want to come back," Clain added.
He said tourists prefer Thailand and China despite the lower quality accommodation and the higher costs.
"They want to spend money, but Vietnam doesn’t have the places or services for them," he said.
Duong Dang Cao from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the central provinces want to develop tourism, but have not invested in making their locations unique.
"The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism does not have a role in the developing management of the provinces," Cao said.
"There is no master plan for tourism development for the region as a whole. There is nothing that sets apart each province. They all offer the same activities – diving, parachuting, swimming. There’s no difference from one province to another," said Nguyen Quoc Thanh, vice director of Hue’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.
The lack of system wide planning extends to the hotels and airlines. They seem to develop without clear knowledge of the tourist market. Hotel accommodation may be insufficient or oversupplied in some areas. Meanwhile, airlines do not offer daily flights based on customer demand.
There are also problems with high costs, insufficient hygiene practices and vendors who are too aggressive and turn off tourists.
Going local
"Tourism is a process that requires co-ordination of facilities and services. The most important thing is to establish a close relationship among the different companies, local officials and residents to create a complete tourism package," said Vo Thi Thu, director of Hoi An Tourism Company.
Her company works with 400 local and foreign companies. It has been growing at an annual rate of 20 to 25 per cent.
Thu worked with local residents to create the "Live like locals for a day" tour. Tourists can visit Tra Que vegetable village, Kim Bong carpenter village and places that produce the famous silk lanterns of Hoi An.
The tour attracts more than 1,000 visitors per day and has significantly raised the living standards of local residents.
"Co-operation with local residents has encouraged us to create another tour," said Thu.
(Source: VNS)
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