Ten years ago, Da Nang was only considered as a convenient transit point for both domestic and international visitors to arrive in the Hue Citadel and Quang Nam Province’s Hoi An City.

The opening of more air routes is one of the most important factors to exploit potential tourist markets

However, in recent years, the seaside city has been emerging as Asia’s leading festival and events destination, and it has been named amongst top must-visit destinations in Viet Nam.

These positive results have been mainly attributed to the city’s great efforts in building synchronous infrastructure, including seaport, airport, accommodation establishments, tourism services, and entertainment areas.

The focus has been on attracting strategic investors, regularly constructing new tourist sites, and developing even more new and attractive tourism products in a bid to fully tap the city’s maritime tourism potentials.

In particular, many 5-star accommodation establishments have been built in the city, creating a foundation for the development of high-end tourism.

The majority of such hotels and resorts are under the management of international groups, including AccorHotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hyatt Hotel Group, Marriot Hotels, Serenity Holding, Japan's Route Inn Group, Spanish SBH Group, and Hilton Hotels and Resorts Group.

In addition, a large number of entertainment and shopping areas have been constructed, including the Ba Na Hills, the Nui Than Tai Hot Spring Park, and the Asia Park.

Mr Ngo Quang Vinh, Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, noted the the tourism sector’s recent remarkable achievements have been proved by numerous prestigious awards the city has received after votes by readers of reputed magazines and tourism organisation worldwide.

“Over recent years, the city has welcomed an increasing number of visitors from both home and abroad, showing an average annual growth rate of around 20%. Last year, both the number of visitors and the turnover of the tourism sector exceeded the year’s targets”, he added.

Mr Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Director of the Omega Tourism Co Ltd (Omega tour), explained the reason for the rapid growth in the number of visitors to the city was thought to be the safe and friendly tourism environment.

He added the opening of non-stop international air routes from the Da Nang International Airport to destinations around the world have made the travel of air passengers more convenient, and brought even more visitor arrivals from foreign countries to the city.

Director Vinh also suggested that the city leaders should make greater efforts to ensure a safer and friendlier tourism environment as well as develop high-quality human resources in a bid to meet rapid growth of the hospitability sector.

A representative from a local travel agent proposed that a new international terminal at Da Nang International Airport should be built soon. The purpose is to help ease the airport’s passenger overload, and open more non-stop international air routes connecting the city with the world’s destinations.

According to the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre, more non-stop flights connecting Da Nang with Southeast Asian countries will be opened in the coming time.

In particular, the Sriwijaya Air, Indonesia's 3^rd largest airline, will operate daily non-stop charter flights between Jakarta and Da Nang.

Meanwhile, Malindo Airways will launch a new route connecting Da Nang and Kuala Lumpur with a frequency of 7 flights per week, as well as more charter flights between Japan to Da Nang.