Since the beginning of 2023, Da Nang travel demand has increased up, leading to a strong recovery in passenger transport. It is forecasted that Da Nang's passenger transport will continue to prosper when the peak summer tourist season and the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival are nearing.

Transport activities in Da Nang have prospered again. Photo: THANH LAN

According to the Da Nang Department of Transport, transportation activities in the first four months of 2023 continued to grow strongly.

Particularly in the first quarter of 2023, the volume of passenger traffic reached 181.7 million Hk.km, an increase of 13.8%. Inland waterway transport vehicles transported 174,466 passengers, 21 times higher than the same period last year. In April, passenger transport reached 77.4 million Hk.km, up 30.5% over the same period in 2022; accumulated in 4 months is estimated at 285.6 million Hk.km, up 30.4%.

The volume of goods circulation is estimated at 348.3 million T.km, up 15.9% over the same period in 2022. The revenue from transportation, warehousing, transportation support services, postal delivery in the month reached VND 2,729 billion, up 31.8% over the same period.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, a representative of Timbow Co., Ltd. in the field of passenger transportation, in 2022, the company had to reduce the number of cars due to no passengers. This year, the number of visitors has increased significantly, especially on weekends, the seat occupation rate reached 80 - 90%.

Currently, the company is implementing a plan to serve guests in the summer of 2023 and the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival 2023. It is expected that the company will mobilise all the vehicles to serve the maximum travel needs of customers.

Similarly, since the beginning of the year, more than 100 passenger cars from the Long Hien Transport and Service Company have operated continuously.

During the past 4 months, Mr. Tran Thanh Van, the company’s driver, is always busy with work, sometimes driving continuously on Saturdays and Sundays.

Many passenger transport vehicles travel along coastal routes in Da Nang such as Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, Vo Nguyen Gia. Photo: T.L

According to Van, recently, tourism activities have recovered again, along with that, the number of visitors to Da Nang has increased day by day, so many travel agencies in the city have reached over 90% of the plan.

As said by Mr. Le Vinh, Director of Vinhle Travel Service Co., Ltd, in the first months of 2023, along with the increasing travel demand of tourists, socio-economic activities have grown again, which means that with transportation service will prosper.

In addition, transport enterprises, and passenger transport in particular, have made timely preparations for the recovery phase immediately after the COVID-19 is under control. company is promoting connections with travel agencies to prepare for the work of serving Da Nang visitors during the 2023 Da Nang International Fireworks Festival”, said Mr. Vinh.

Meanwhile, the drivers of Mai Linh Da Nang taxi company are also quite happy with a rise in passenger numbers. According to the Da Nang Tourism Transport Association, when tourism recovers, tourist transport businesses also return to strong activities.

Notably, in the first quarter of 2023, the total number of guests staying in Da Nang reached 1.4 million, an increase of more than 4.6 times over the same period last year; including nearly 400,000 international visitors.

Currently, every day, Da Nang welcomes more than 60 international and over 70 domestic flights, nearly equal to the peak of 2019, the time before the COVID-19 outbreak.

Over the past 3 months, the coastal central Vietnamese city also welcomed 9 cruise ships with a total of more than 7,000 guests onboard.

Reporting by THANH LAN - Translating by A.THU