Da Nang is seeing a strong rebound in tourism this summer, especially in the domestic tourist market, which is bringing both opportunities and challenges for the city about how to maintain its attractiveness for tourists.

Tourists arriving at the Da Nang Airport. Photo: XUAN SON

Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Truong Thi Hong Hanh remarked that, since late first quarter of this year, tourist attractions in Da Nang have received a large number of visitors from both home and abroad.

In particular, the Sun World Ba Na Hills tourist area has welcomed more than 760,000 visitors, a 4-fold increase over the same period in 2021, the Nui Than Tai Hot Spring Park over 210,000, 5 times higher than the same period in 2021, and the Marble Mountains tourist area more than 150,000. The average occupancy rate at hotels on weekends reaches between 70 and 75%.

In June alone, accommodation establishments citywide served more than 417,000 visitor arrivals, 8.8 times higher than the same period last year. The number of domestic tourist arrivals to the city was estimated at 389,000, nearly 10 times higher than the same period last year.

As accumulated in the first 6 months of 2022, the number of guest arrivals staying at local accommodation establishments reached an estimate of 1.32 million, up 33.6% against 2021.

Besides, Da Nang has been honoured with some notable international awards and titles.

Specifically, Da Nang has been listed in this year's list of top 25 Best Places to visit in Asia in 2022 by TripAdvisor, the world-famous US travel website. It has been ranked 3^rd among the 10 best cities in Southeast Asia in Asia's Best Awards 2022, recently unveiled by the Travel & Leisure magazine.

The coastal city has surpassed 14 other Vietnamese provinces and cities with strong tourism strengths to take the lead in the first edition of the Viet Nam Tourism Competitiveness Indexes (VTCI).

Director Hanh remarked that the aforementioned positive results were mainly attributed to the city’s ceaseless efforts in speeding up virtual marketing campaigns, calling for KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) and communication agencies to take Da Nang trips to promote the city's tourism images, and ensuring order security and safety for tourists, especially during the peak tourist season.  

Moreover, the city focused on renewing existing tourism products, and developing new and unique ones in a bid to satisfy the growing demands of locals and visitors.

Specifically mentioned were the launching of the Da Nang - Ly Son, and CT15 - Bai Da inland waterway tourist routes, and sightseeing helicopter tours; the opening of Thai Lai eco-tourism village, Danang Color Beach entertainment complex, and tourism services along the My An Beach; and the inauguration of the APEC Sculpture Park.

Additionally, many tourism stimulus programmes were organised in the city, especially the Routes Asia 2022.

The city paid special attention to resuming international routes, holding ceremonies to welcome the first resumed flights from Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, and Malaysia, and welcoming famtrip delegations from South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.

Since mid-March, Da Nang has received about 14,781 domestic and international flights with more than 1.35 million passengers.

Along with that, the department prioritised boosting the linkage with other localities nationwide to promote tourism by cooperating with 5 central regional localities to display tourism products at the Viet Nam International Tourism Mart - VITM Ha Noi 2022 in late March, joining the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2022 in April, and introducing local tourism in Ha Noi and Hai Phong.

Many exciting events are being organised in the city to increase tourist numbers. IN PHOTO: The Sun Fest Street Carnival themed ‘Take me to the Sun’ takes place on weekend evenings is drawing much attention from a large number of visitors. Photo: THU HA

However, Director Hanh pointed out some difficulties and challenges facing the city’s tourism sector. Included are the weather anomalies, competitiveness for prices, new tourism products and flexible policies to attract tourists with other famous destinations nationwide and worldwide such as Thailand, Bali, Phu Quoc, Quy Nhon, high service costs due to rising fuel prices, and lack of human resources in hospitality sector, especially senior, skilled and experienced personnel.

Also, the ability and level of recovery of the international tourism market are still slow due to different open-door policies of different countries. The communication and promotion work of Da Nang destination abroad is not strong due to limited financial resources.

In an effort to tackle the abovementioned problems, Da Nang tourism industry has identified groups of tasks and solutions to restore and develop tourism in a sustainable way.

Top priority will be given to guaranteeing the security, safety and environmental sanitation of tourist spots, improving the quality of professional services, and issuing a code of conduct for serving tourists.

In the coming time, importance will be attached to promoting the resumption of international routes, and the opening of new ones, especially routes to India and the Philippines.

Heed will be paid to welcoming famtrip delegations from Southeast Asian nations and Japan, as well as introducing Da Nang in key international tourist markets of Japan, India, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Efforts will be made to promote the application of information technology in the operation of the tourism stimulus website at http://www.enjoydanang.vn/, deploy the second phase of the VR360 virtual tourism system 'One touch to Da Nang' at https://vr360.danangfantasticity.com/, and cooperate with theViettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group to develop smart travel cards to serve tourists.

Last but not least, the city will continue to develop eco-friendly tourism products, and tourism services and products associated with innovative thinking, technology, nature, and traditional culture and history.

Reporting by THU HA - Translating by M.DUNG