Da Nang has increasingly affirmed its position on the world travel map with numerous international prestigious awards and recognitions.

A corner of the Golden Bridge at the Sun World Ba Na Hills Resort. Photo: NHAT HA

Since the beginning of the year, Da Nang has continuously been honoured with many international notable awards and recognitions by prestigious tourism magazines and websites in the world. Da Nang was one of two Vietnamese localtions to be included in the 25 best places to visit in Asia for 2022, and took 21^st place in Tripadvisor Ranking. TripAdvisor, the world-famous US travel website, announced its highly anticipated, annual community-powered Travellers’ Choice Awards for 2022: the Best of the Best Destinations in May. Da Nang is comfortable and friendly destination, with attractive cuisine. Joining culinary discovery tours is the most effective way to experience culture and life. TripAdvisor also suggests that visitors explore caves on Marble mountains and enjoy street food.

Besides, Da Nang has been named among the 10 best cities in the inaugural ‘Asia’s Best Awards’ from the New York-based Travel + Leisure, the world leading travel magazine. The list released by the American magazine late June, based on votes collected from readers around the world between January and April this year. Da Nang has made it onto the list of the top 10 best cities in Southeast Asia, coming in at 3^rd place. In the Asia’s Best Awards 2022, readers voted on a number of categories including their favourite hotels, resorts, restaurants, and bars throughout the Southeast Asian region, with various ‘best of’ lists for Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

In fact, for a long time, Da Nang has become world-famous not only for its beauty but also for its excellent infrastructure and accommodation services, along with its attractive tourism products. Many architectural highlights of Da Nang with unique designs and architecture have pulled tourists at both home and abroad. Included are the Rong (Dragon) Bridge, Wonder Park, and Love Bridge.

Many still recall the opening of the Vang (Golden) Bridge on Sun Group's Ba Na Hills in 2018, and this make Da Nang more attractive to both domestic and international visitors. The Golden Bridge features a pair of giant hands lifting the ribbon-like Golden Bridge up in the air. It was ranked among the top 100 World’s Greatest Places in 2018 by Time magazine. It was named one of the world’s most striking pedestrian bridges by the UK newspaper The Guardian in August 2018. Another UK newspaper, The Independent, has listed the the Cau Vang in its top 10 list of the world’s most incredible bridges. Other major news outlets like the BBC, AFP, Reuters, and CNN have also gushed over it. Business Insider, a U.S. business and technology news website based in New York City, has named the Golden Bridge on the top of Da Nang’s Sun World Ba Na Hills among the 28 most stunning bridges around the world in 2020. In addition, the Cau Vang has come first in a list of fresh wonders of the world in 2021 compiled by the UK’s daily newspaper Daily Mail.

In early June, the APEC Sculpture Park was named among seven new tourist attractions in Southeast Asia as voted by the South China Morning Post, the oldest English-language newspaper of Hong Kong (China). The APEC Sculpture Garden which officially opened to the public in mid-January 2022, is one of the best places in Da Nang to visit and and take photos. The site which is a new and unique architectural symbol of Da Nang is also the ideal venue for indoor and outdoor arts and cultural events due to its impressive design and breathtaking scenery, thereby attracting a great deal of attention from locals and tourists.

Located in Binh Hien Ward, Hai Chau District, the Park comprises a public park, a stroll garden associated with an existing sculpture garden, a main stage, a water fountain, a stage for organising cultural events, a playground for children, green areas, a parking space, and underground public toilets.

The highlight of the expanded APEC Park is the kite-shaped dome inspired from the idea of ‘High Flying Kite’, and nearly 200 tons of steel were used to create this item by the Ha Giang- Phuoc Tuong Mechanical Joint Stock Company.

Da Nang has confirmed the attractiveness of its tourism products and affirmed its tourism brand with international prestigious awards and recognitions.

Mr Nguyen Duc Quynh, the Director General of the Furama Resort Danang and the Chairman of the Da Nang Hotel Association said that Da Nang witnessed a significant increase in domestic tourist arrivals for the second quarter of 2022. Beach hotels and resorts in Da Nang are fully occupied on the weekends while the city always welcomes many MICE (Meetings-Incentives-Conferences-Exhibitions) visitors in the middle of the week, thereby helping to drive rapid recovery of the city's tourism sector.

Mr Cao Tri Dung, the Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association remarked that Da Nang has affirmed the pervasiveness of its image as an attractive travel destination for international tourists with international prestigious awards and recognitions.

He also hopes for more exciting city-hosted events and special programs like international fireworks festivals, food festivals, the Enjoy Da Nang Summer Festival that will make the city unique and special, as well as make it more inviting to domestic and international tourists in a bid to increase tourist arrivals in the city.

Reporting by NHAT HA – Translating by H.L