In recent years, Da Nang has become more inviting to both domestic and foreign investors thanks to its stunning landscapes, along with its beautiful beaches with their soft white sand and clear blue water, plus its professional sea-related tourism support services.

Foreign visitors enjoying a city tour by cyclo.

During their one-day stay in the city, Mr and Mrs Clarissa Parfit from Australia visited some of local popular attractions, including the Marble Mountains and the Museum of Cham Sculpture.

Mrs Clarissa said her family had previously planned to visit Quang Nam Province’s Hoi An City after getting off Holland America's MS Westerdam cruise ship which berthed at the city’s Tien Sa Port. However, they changed their schedules and spent a half their day on taking a tour around the city due to active recommendations of tourist attractions in the city from Tourist Support Centre’s employees.

“We are very impressed by the city’s Museum of Cham Sculpture which is now home to rich collections of valuable Cham artifacts”, she added.

Mr Sakai Hideyuky from Japan remarked he instantly fell in love with the city the first time he visited because of the friendliness and hospitality of the local residents. Therefore, he decided to move from Ho Chi Minh City to reside in Da Nang.

Currently, Da Nang is home to 785 accommodation establishments offering a total of 35,615 rooms. The presence of the world's largest hotel groups such as InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Marriott International, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Sheraton and Pullman has partly proved that Da Nang has emerged as a magnet for FDI, hereby contributing to enhancing the city’s tourism brand and its service quality.

In addition, Da Nang has recorded a significant rise in domestic and foreign visitor arrivals. In 2018 alone, the city welcomed a total of 7.6 million visitors from both home and abroad. Thanks to this, the tourism sector earned an estimated 24 trillion VND in revenue.

Mr Nguyen Nhu Nam, the General Director of the Viet Nam Travel Mart Company, remarked 2018 marked a successful year for the city’s tourism sector as there was a significant increase in arrivals from both home and abroad. As a result, the city proudly hosted numerous international-scale events and festivals last year.

“The main reasons are thought to be that the quality of accommodation services has been enhanced, and the city boasts numerous best places to visit, and good transport infrastructure.” Mr Nam explained.

Visitors at the Marble Mountains.

Meanwhile, Vice Director of the Saigontourist Da Nang company Tran Luc highlighted Da Nang’s great potential for the development of tourism due to being a gateway to the UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites of Hue Citadel in Thua Thien Hue Province, and Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam Province.

Besides, the city boasts a wide range of attractive tourism products.

However, he underlined the importance of building more shopping centres in the heart of the city in order to satisfy the increasing demand of visitors, and issuing a tax refund policy for shoppers.

Mr Luc also underscored the significance of building more public parking areas, and developing new plans for traffic arrangements nearby popular tourist attractions in the city. In addition, marine environment management, waste water treatment, and eco-tourism refurbishment activities were also highlighted.

Deputy Director of the municipal Tourism Department Nguyen Xuan Binh highlighted the significance of expanding the city’s tourist market into Australia, along with European, American, Middle East and ASEAN nations. The intention is to attract travellers there, and reduce the city’s dependence on its traditional international tourist markets.

Even more effective measures should be taken to promote the development of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), ecotourism, and holiday and cultural tourism, as well as improve the professional skills of employees working for the tourism sector.

The use of e-marketing application should be promoted amongst tourism businesses in order to help them enhance their professionalism in tourism advertisement activities both at home and abroad.