A total of over 300 restaurants, cafés, bars, hotels and shopping centres in Da Nang are now offering free restrooms for tourists in the downtown area as part of an effort to boost the local hospitality sector.

A cafe offers a free restroom for tourists and locals — VNS Photo Cong Thanh

Mr Nguyen Xuan Binh, the Deputy Director of the municipal Tourism Department, said the campaign was launched in 2015 with the participation of 100 downtown restaurants and cafés in total.  He affirmed the city’s plans for encouraging more local restaurants and café owners to offer free restrooms for visitors arriving in the city in the coming years.

Mr Binh added that the Department also offered a smart phone application called ‘Comfort as Home’ to help tourists find free restrooms across the city.

Mr Nguyen Hong Son, the Vice Chairman of Hai Chau District’s Business Association, said tourists can recognise free restroom sites with the logo saying ‘Comfort as Home’, or ‘Free Restroom’ on the door.  He said the free service will help reduce the city’s expenditures on building public toilets.

The logo of free restrooms launched at local restaurants, cafes, hotels and shopping centres  — VNS Photo Cong Thanh

Da Nang, with only 20 public toilets in total, has determined that it needs more than 6,000 public restrooms for tourists and local people at a cost of 10 trillion VND (440 million US$).

In May, the Department opened information desks at the city’s International Airport’s new terminal and downtown areas to provide free information, brochures and maps for tourists.

Last year, the Department launched its fanpage, Danang FantasiCity, as an official channel of Da Nang’s tourism sector on Facebook.  The city hosted 5.1 million tourists in total, including 1.76 million foreigners, between January and September, bringing 15 trillion VND (663 million US$) to the local economy.

(Source: VNS/ DA NANG Today)