Aside from its key international tourist markets, the Da Nang tourism industry is seeking new source ones in a professional and sustainable manner, with heed paid to attracting even more holidaymakers from around the world. Noticeably, in recent times, the city has seen a significant rise in the Thai tourist arrrivals.

Holiday-goers from Thailand, and Southeast Asia as a whole, like to experience new tourism products. Visitors are pictured visiting the Golden Bridge at the Sun World Ba Na Hills.

According to latest figures from the municipal Tourism Promotion Centre, last year, the Thai tourist numbers to Da Nang stood at about 56,174, accounting for 2.1% of the total foreign arrivals in the city, and 2.4 times higher than the figure seen in 2017.

In the first half of this year, 125,272 Thai visitors arrived in the city, making up for 6.68% of the total, up 4.51 times versus the year-ago period.

According to representatives of the city-based travel agencies, the sharp rise in the Thai tourist arrivals in the city is considered as a good sign for the tourism industry, especially helping the city’s overwhelming reliance on such its traditional source markets as China and South Korea that can lead to certain risks due to their instability and fluctuations.

In reality, it was reported that, during the first half of this year, the proportions of visitors from the 2 traditional Asian markets declined by nearly 5% and 2.3% against the figures seen in the same period last year, respectively.

Mr Nguyen Van Tai, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the city-based NECOTOUR, pointed out to the fact that, the hike in the number of Thai tourist arrivals to the city has been mainly attributed to the effective operation of the existing direct flights connecting Da Nang with Thailand.

There are many Da Nang-Bangkok flights operated by Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia and Vietjet Air, and more recently, the Thai AirAsia-launched direct service linking Da Nang to Chiang Mai with a frequency of 7 flights per week.

In order to ensure stability in the Thai tourist market in the upcoming years, it is high time for the city tourism industry to develop impressive new tourism products.

In his perspectives, Mr Nguyen Son Thuy, the Director of the Indochina Unique Tourist company, which specialises in exploiting the Thai market, remarked, in addition to the efficiency of the new routes to Thai destinations, tourism products offered by Central Viet Nam are quite special and very inviting, along with convenient traffic conditions, accommodations and services.

Besides, Da Nang is a gateway to the easy-to-reach UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites of Hue Citadel in Thua Thien Hue Province, and Hoi An and My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam Province.

The number of Thai holiday-goers to Viet Nam each month through their bookings via Indochina Unique Tourist reached about 4,000, of whom more than 1,000 arrive in Da Nang.

In order to ensure stability in the Thai tourist market in the upcoming years, Mr Thuy underlined must-do for the city tourism industry to develop its impressive new tourism products.

He affirmed, Da Nang boasts great tourism development potential as it is home to attractive community-based eco-tourism areas, the Son Tra Peninsula, time-honoured traditional craft villages. It is worth noting that handicraft products, souvenirs for tourists, and high-value seafood products have yet to be fully tapped. 

According to the municipal Department of Tourism, in the first half of this year, 1.76 foreign tourists stayed in Da Nang, an increase of 29% compared to the same period last year.

The tourist numbers to the city from such tourist markets as Southeast Asia, Japan and Europe have recorded its upward trend, especially the outstanding growth of the Thai tourist market.