In recent years, Da Nang’s tourism industry has made impressive and fast-paced strides, securing a better stature on the world tourism map as a safe, attractive and hospitable destination. The city’s annual tourism growth has partly attributed to such favourably inherent pull factors as a rapidly growing influx of international visitors setting their footsteps on Asian destinations, the city’s stable socio-political security and its deeper global integration, plus the release of many distinctive tourism incentives.

The Cau Vang (Golden Bridge) on the top of Da Nang’s Sun World Ba Na Hills is very inviting to visitors from both home and overseas thanks to its unique architecture.

The 2015 - 2020 period has seen an impressive facelift for Da Nang tourism industry, with the presence of high-end projects developed by such internationally and domestically-renowned brands as Sun Group, DHC, BRG, AHT and Vingroup.

Over the past 5 years, more than 1,000 billion VND worth of public investment capital and over 76,000 billion VND in private investment were poured into the hospitality industry.

Notably, 3.500 billion VND was spent on constructing an international passenger terminal in the Da Nang International Airport, whilst 65,000 billion VND went to the development of serviced accommodation establishments and restaurants, and 10,000 billion VND for the embellishment of tourist attractions citywide.

Also, Da Nang recorded an average annual growth rate of 16.73%, a 3.67% jump as compared to the target set by the municipal government. In 2019, the city welcomed a combined total of 8.6 million domestic and foreign visitors, 1.56 times higher than the figured reported in 2016.

Da Nang Department of Tourism Director Truong Thi Hong Hanh highlighted the birth of highly inviting festivals and events which are regarded as attractive drawcards for visitors from both home and overseas. Renowned amongst them are the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival, the Da Nang International Marathon (DNIM), the IRONMAN 70.3, and the ‘Charming Da Nang’ musical programme.

Besides, such international –level large-scale as the 5^th Asian Beach Games (ABG5), the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week 2017, the Asia Golf Tourism Convention 2017 and the Da Nang International Tourism Fair 2016 saw the surprise participations of famoust politicians, billionaires and investors worldwide.

It is worth praising that Da Nang topped the ‘Trending Destinations in 2020’ list published by Google based on Google global travel and hotel search data, taking into account search frequency, popularity, price, as well as conditions for travel.

Over recent times, the comprehensive application of information and communication technologies in tourism has emerged high on the top-priority tasks in a bid to push ahead the tourism sector.

2016 marked the debut of a mobile application called ‘Danang FantastiCity’, which provides visitors with all useful tourism information about the city. Developed by the municipal Tourism Promotion Centre and the city-based Gola Software company, the tech app can be operated by either IOS or Android systems in the 5 languages.

After that, in an attempt to increase the number of tourist self-service tools and information channels, the Da Nang Department of Tourism and the city-based Hekate Technology Co to jointly launched Danang FantastiCity Chatbot, the first of its kind in Viet Nam. Users can make a request orally or by typing, and the chatbot will automatically and quickly find the right answer.

June saw a Da Nang and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)-signed bilateral agreement under which, a 30-second video highlighting the beauty of the city is shown on BBC’s Asia-Pacific channel daily at intervals of peak hours during the month. The intention was to wide publicise the city’s charm as a dynamic, friendly and safe destination for international tourists with its rich traditional culture and unique and diverse cuisines.

Da Nang has set up its representative offices in South Korea, China, and Japan to promote the city’s tourism in these countries.  The city is planning to open similar offices in Europe, Australia, and other emerging tourist markets with huge growth potential, in the coming time. 

Over the 2021 -2025 period, plans will mapped out to spur the diversification of high-quality tourism products associated with luxurious beachfront resorts. Besides, the great potential of night-time economy will be fully tapped, with a heed to entertainment, dining, shopping, sightseeing services.

By D.M –Translated by A.T