At least 70 per cent of tourism businesses in Da Nang have resumed operations after two waves of Covid-19, and all were committed to health and safety conditions.

Dancers on the beach in Da Nang. The city is a popular destination for Japanese tourists.

Vice director of the city’s tourism department, Nguyen Xuan Binh, spoke at the Da Nang tourism webinar – entitled: ‘Da Nang, the convergence of central Viet Nam’s heritages, a safe and fantastic destination in 2021’ – that was organised by the Japan Association of Travel Agents in the Japan Outbound Tourism Council’s Destination Webinar Series.

Binh said the webinar was an opportunity to provide information on Da Nang and central Viet Nam to Japanese tourists and partners of the Japan Association of Travel Agents.

He said Da Nang, located along the central coast of Viet Nam, includes UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites including Hoi An – a popular destination with many Japanese values.

“Da Nang is also a beach hotspot with fascinating local experiences in culture, cuisine and entertainment, MICE and golf tourism. We hope to draw higher Japanese tourists flows to the city and destinations in central Viet Nam,” Binh said.

He said Covid-19 has disrupted tourism between Viet Nam and Japan in 2020.

“I hope that tourism will recover as soon as flights between Da Nang and cities in Japan resume with determination in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

Binh added that Da Nang International Airport has been granted ‘Airport Health Accreditation’ by the Aviation Consulting (ACI), verifying Covid-19 prevention measures at the airport.

Vu Nam, deputy head of the tourism marketing department under the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, said Viet Nam was named the world's leading heritage destination at the World Travel Awards last November in Moscow, Russia.

In 2019, Viet Nam hosted 1.5 million tourists from Japan, and 500,000 Vietnamese travellers booked tours in Japan, and the figure would be 2 million tourists between the two countries in 2020.

Nam highly appreciated the efforts made by the Japan Association of Travel Agents in promoting destinations in the world including central Viet Nam.

He said Viet Nam has controlled Covid-19, as the country recorded 1,347 cases with 35 deaths as of December 1.

Yakabe Yoshinori, Chief Representative of the Consulate Office of Japan in Da Nang said Da Nang was safe in terms of security, traffic, and environment.

Da Nang was important to Japan’s diplomatic and economic policy as it is an entrance to the East Sea, and a good connection to the East-West Economic Corridors that links Viet Nam, Laos and Myanmar as well as the southern economic corridor, according to the diplomat.

“Da Nang and neighbouring provinces are a second home to 440 Japanese people, and the central region hosted 180,000 Japanese tourists. It’s expected that more and more Japanese tourists will come to Da Nang and central Viet Nam when Covid-19 is controlled,” said Yakabe Yoshinori.

The introduction of a Consulate Office of Japan in Da Nang aims to provide easy conditions for both Vietnamese and Japanese visiting each country as well as the increasing Japanese investment flow.
“The city is not only a good connection with world heritage sites including Hoi An, My Son Sanctuary and Hue Monuments Complex, Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng, but various choices for eco-tour services,” he said.

He added that a nursing home for old people will be built in Da Nang, and more Japanese would prefer coming to the city. He said there were 60 Japanese restaurants in Da Nang.

In March of 2020, the city’s tourism promotion centre inked an agreement on tourism promotion in Japan with Sunrise Group Asia (Sunrise Da Nang) company, looking to expand to new tourism markets in the future.

The agreement aims to support Japanese tourists and promotion programmes of Da Nang in Japan through two social networks – Danang Fantasticity and Sunrise Danang – to all cities in Japan.

In December, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Da Nang agreed to develop a joint tourism promotion programme to boost travel demand to the central region.

Road and train trips are available from Da Nang to two UNESCO-recognised world heritage sites – Hoi An and the My Son Sanctuary – and the world biosphere reserve Chàm Island-Hoi An in Quang Nam, as well as the Hue Monuments complex within one or two hours.

Source: VNS