In the first half of 2023, Da Nang's tourism industry is making great efforts to organise events and activities to lure more tourists. According to international partners, the city still needs to develop new and unique tourism products to attract visitors and compete with other international tourist destinations.

Da Nang needs to create more unique and special tourism products to attract tourists. In the photo: Tourists at the Marble Mountains. Photo: T.H

Boosting digital technology apps

Mr. Jun Byoung Moon, Director of the Stay Hotel and Mode Tour Company specialising in exploiting South Korean guests, said that the number of South Korean visitors to Da Nang is not as much as before the COVID-19 pandemic because guests tend to visit new destinations.

Visitors traveling for the first time will usually book tours through travel agencies, but guests will travel on their own. Therefore, travel agencies that want to exploit many visitors must have preferential and discount programmes.

In addition, the entry process needs to be further simplified. The city also needs to organise many special festivals such as Songkran and beer festivals.

Besides, travel agencies, hotels, and airlines have to shake hands and build discount and preferential product packages to attract more customers. Not only travel units and accommodation establishments, many service providers are increasingly upgrading and perfecting products and services in a bid to meet the increasing needs of tourists.

Recently, the Da Nang International Terminal has cooperated with Korean Air to deploy automatic self-check-in kiosks for passengers of this airline.

Mr. Do Trong Hau, the Deputy General Director of the Da Nang International Terminal Investment and Operation JSC (AHT), said that after a trial operation period, the company will reevaluate the successful implementation of the automatic self-check-in kiosks and door-to-door system.

AHT will integrate the software data to allow all airlines operating flights to and from Da Nang International Airport to use this system.

Additionally, the firm plans to deploy more services, such as automated boarding gates and self-baggage drop systems, he said, adding that when all these systems are synchronised, passengers will save a significant amount of time during the check-in process, allowing them to enjoy and experience various amenities and services at the airport.

According to Mr. Do Trong Hau, since the beginning of the year, the number of international passengers through Da Nang International Airport has increased gradually over the months. In June, each day, the airport has about 45 departing passenger flights and 45 arrival ones, equivalent to about 6,000 departures and 6,000 arrivals per day. In July, the number of departures and arrivals is expected to increase to 8,000 passengers per turn.

Change approaches to potential customers

General Director of Furama Resort Da Nang Nguyen Duc Quynh stressed a need for travel firms to have a deeper approach to customers.

As for international tourist markets, he underlined the necessity for the city to work with airlines to promote Da Nang’s popular tourist attractions in their magazines, and on OTA channels; or to apply technology through chat box applications, GPT chat in providing the earliest information to customers.

Mr. Cao Tri Dung, Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association, assessed that Da Nang is one of the best tourist destinations in the country. With Da Nang, the Northeast Asian market, such as South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan (China) and Hong Kong (China), along with Southeast Asian market such as Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, are still the target market for tourism promotion activities.

When it is announced that new routes will be opened, the local tourism industry and businesses need to quickly plan to promote and organize Famtrip trips for travel agencies to connect partners, and open sales channels.

According to Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Truong Thi Hong Hanh, in the coming time, the city's tourism industry will continue to implement solutions to restore and develop the international tourist market through overseas promotion activities.

Specifically, workshops on promoting Da Nang tourism will be held in Indonesia and the Philippines in late August, in South Korea in the third quarter of the year, in Japan in late September, and in 3 localities in Malaysia in October.

Representatives of the city’s tourism industry will attend the ITB International Travel Fair in Singapore scheduled for late October.

Besides, the tourism industry will have on-site promotion programmes such as creating videos to promote tourist market; as well as welcoming domestic famtrip delegations, Southeast Asia MICE famtrip, and Indian wedding famtrip.

Heed will be paid to developing new tourism products such as community tourism in Hoa Bac Commune, and a new model of agricultural tourism in Hoa Vang District.

Attention will be paid creating check-in points at Vo Nguyen Giap tourist route; and exploiting the pilot model of My An night beach, and An Thuong tourist area.

Reporting by THU HA - Translating by M.DUNG