Da Nang sets a target of welcoming 8.1 million visitors from both home and aboard by late this year. In order to realise this goal, the tourism industry is striving to promote the diversification of its international tourist markets, and accelerating the opening of direct flights connecting the city with other destinations worldwide with the intention of attracting even more visitors.

Foreign tourists are seen visiting the popular Marble Mountains Tourist Area

In 2018, the number of foreign tourist arrivals to Da Nang increased by 23.3% against the previous year to reach about 2.875 million, accounting for 37.53% of the total number of tourist arrivals.

South Korea and China are now Da Nang’s key international tourist markets, followed by such other countries as Japan, the U.S.A, Thailand, and Malaysia. In particular, South  Korean and Chinese tourists have consistently accounted for over 50% of the total tourist arrivals over the past 5 years.

However, Deputy Director of the municipal Tourism Department Truong Thi Hong Hanh pointed out to the fact that the city’s current overwhelming reliance on the Chinese and South Korean markets can lead to certain risks due to their instability.

Also, an issue of deep concern raised here that the city is now seeing an upward trend in the number of so-called zero-dong tours, mostly applied to the Chinese and South Korean tourists, that bring problems rather than benefits for the city. Such tours have resulted in the unfair competitive environment between travel businesses, the low quality of tourism services, and tax losses to the city budget.

Positively, recent years have seen an annual growth in the number of Japanese, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore tourist arrivals to the city.

According to Ms Huynh Thi Huong Lan, the Deputy Director of the municipal Tourism Promotion Centre, Western Europe, the U.S.A, Australia, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Muslim countries from the Middle East are all very potential markets.

However, Da Nang is facing a shortage of cultural tourism products satisfy the tastes of Western European, American and Australian visitors.

As for Muslim tourist markets, the biggest obstacle is the lack of non-stop flights connecting the city with these destinations. Another issue is that no cathedrals, prayer places, and restaurants with Halah certification have been opened in the city to cater for potential Muslim tourists.

It is really necessary for Da Nang to set specific goals for promoting these foreign tourist markets, assisting businesses in developing their products for Muslim tourists, in a tandem with identifying a strategy to develop specialised products and services in use by them.

Mr Cao Tri Dung, the Chairman of the municipal Travel Association, underlined a must-do for the city to promote the opening of new direct international routes. 

Heed should be paid to fully tapping the non-stop service connecting Da Nang with Qatar’s Doha to help the city connect with 150 destinations in the Middle East, Western Europe, and North America to attract increasing number of visitors from these highly potential regions.

Importance should also attached to strengthening the links with the neighbouring provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam to boost tourism promotion, and developing tourism products satisfying the demands of the targeted tourist markets.

As for the city’s international tourist market diversification plans for the 2019-2021 period, relevant local agencies will make joint efforts in conducting research into tourism products, especially those linked to natural elements.