In order to make the most of destinations and tourists' time, the coordination and careful preparation between tourism and commerce industries in Da Nang need to be strengthened in the coming time. The scientific calculation and reasonable tour arrangement will help travellers both visit many destinations and have a comfortable shopping time.

The Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre displays local featured souvenirs at the Routes Asia 2022. Photo: THU HA

Stimulating ‘spending’ demand with featured products

Shopping activities are indispensable to most tourists during their travel itineraries. Each tourist market often has different needs. For instance, travellers from Asian countries like to buy cashew nuts, coffee, quick ‘ao dai’ tailoring service, dried fruit, and food as gifts. Meanwhile, tourists from European countries are more inclined to purchase souvenirs.

Chairman of the Da Nang Tour Guides’ Association Vo Van Anh said that small traders at the Han Market are now quite quick in grasping the psychology of tourists. In addition to offering a wide range of specialty items such as dried fruits, dried seafood and handbags, they take the initiative to self-learn English, South Korean, Chinese, and Thai languages to communicate with customers and invite them to buy and try their products, giving foreign shoppers a feeling of peace of mind when experiencing and enjoying products they will buy.

He, however, stressed the need for small traders to ensure the quality of their goods, and diversify souvenir products in terms of materials and designs, in order to better serve customers.

Mrs. Nam Dinh, the owner of a specialty agricultural stall at the Han Market, affirmed that after many years of trading at the market and regularly interacting with tourists, she knows that tourists really love traditional markets. With the same items, customers will prefer to go shopping at traditional markets to stores because the market is not only a place to buy and sell unique products but also bears cultural characteristics of the destination.

She remarked each small trader must be fun and reputable sale person in order to attract more shoppers. Also, she affirmed that by keeping the value of a traditional market in combination with promoting commercial civilisation, small traders will contribute to promoting the development of tourism in particular and the city in general.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thien, the Deputy Director of the Hai Van Cat International Travel JSC (Hava Travel), said that sightseeing combined with shopping is essential in a tourism programme. Currently, Hava Travel in particular, and travel agencies in general, include shopping attractions at specialty supermarkets and local traditional markets into the tour programme in a bid to satisfy the needs of tourists as well as stimulate consumption in tourism.

“The psychology of tourists, especially domestic ones, when coming to an unusual place is often very curious about the lifestyle, culture, customs and habits of local people. Visitors like to go to traditional markets to experience because at each market there are very unique items that are not easy to find in other places or big stores or supermarkets" Mr. Thien shared.

To add to the series of souvenir products for tourists, Mrs. Tran My Quyen, Director of the Thinh Minh An Co., Ltd., chose to distribute souvenirs bearing the typical images of Da Nang such as Dragon, Han River and Tran Thi Ly bridges, Hue T-junction overpass, the Da Nang Administration Centre. These products are made from bamboo toothpicks by Mr. Hua Van Minh from Son Tra District.

In addition, there are models of Da Nang's bridges and its iconic spots such as 'Carp Turns into a Dragon' statue and Sun Wheel delicately carved on wooden surfaces by the Hai Chau District-based Conomi souvenir production facility.

Mrs. Quyen noted that these souvenirs produced by the people of Da Nang bearing the images of the city's tourist spots and relics will contribute to promoting images of Da Nang to friends and partners at both home and abroad.

Tourism and commerce need to go hand in hand

Statistics released by the municipal Department of Tourism showed that in 2022, the total number of guests served by local accommodation establishments was 3.69 million, an increase of 3.1 times compared to 2021, an increase of 5% compared to the plan assigned by the municipal People's Committee. Of this, there were 483,000 international visitors, an increase of 4.6 times compared to 2021 and 3.2 million domestic ones, 3 times higher than that in 2021.

Notably, the revenue of accommodation and travel reached VND 8,872 billion, more than 3.5 times higher than the previous year’s and an increase of 2.5% compared to 2019.

The revenue of accommodation, catering and travel hit VND21.3 trillion, making up for 17% of the city's economic structure, nearly doubling in 2021 and recovering equivalent to 2019.

With the rapid recovery of tourism, it is forecast that this year and the following years, domestic and international visitors will go to destinations for not only resting and trying local food, but also going shopping and experiencing other services on demand.

For this reason, it is important for the tourism industry to always be associated with trade and services. This is an indispensable and objective requirement in the process of promoting sustainable tourism development in Viet Nam in general, including Da Nang.

Mr. Phan Van Thuc, Managing Director of the Da Nang Bel Group Hospitality remarked that although the city has night markets, shopping malls, commercial centers and traditional markets, shopping products have not really met the increasing needs of tourists. The main reason is thought to be that most of traditional markets or existing commercial centers mostly serve the lives of locals and popular tourists.

He said Da Nang has yet to have large commercial and shopping centers so that tourists can purchase high-class and top-quality branded products. He, therefore, underlined a must-do for the city to foster the effective link between tourism and commerce in an effort to stimulate tourists’ shopping demand when they come to Da Nang.

Reporting by Q.TRANG, T.HA - Translating by M.DUNG