Since the start of the new year 2024, Da Nang has continuously welcomed flights and large ships taking tourists to tourist attractions across Da Nang. This is a positive sign, bringing many expectations for the recovery and development of local tourism, aiming for the city's goal of welcoming about 8.43 million tourists in 2024.

Increasing experiences for tourists is one of the things the city's tourism industry is aiming for. Visitors arrive in Da Nang through the Da Nang International Airport. Photo: THU HA

Happy signs

According to an estimate from the Department of Tourism, the total number of domestic and international flights to Da Nang in the first three days of the recent New Year holiday was a total of 434, up 10% over the same period last year, carrying a sum of more than 65,000 customers, a rise of up 14% over the same period last year. Also in the first days of the new year, more than 2,000 international tourists from England, France, Italy, Denmark, Hungary, Canada, America, South Korea, Japan and Australia came to Da Nang via ship. This number of visitors has contributed to the vibrant atmosphere of the city’s tourism in the first days of the new year.

Meanwhile, over recent years, air travel is still the main source of visitors for the city’s tourism industry. In 2023, Da Nang welcomed about 40,000 flights bringing an estimate of  6.3 million passengers, an increase of 1.42 times compared to 2022 and a recovery of 81.2% compared to 2019. The reopening of direct international flights that have been reopened has contributed to accelerating the recovery of Da Nang tourism. By the end of 2023, the International Airport had operated 7 domestic routes with an average frequency of 51 flights/day and 16 international routes with a frequency of 49 flights/day.

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism Tan Van Vuong, with positive signals from welcoming flights and ships in the first days of the new year, it brings expectations for the city's tourism activities, and air and sea routes in particular. In 2024, the city plans to welcome 45 cruise ship arrivals with a total of more than 40,000 passengers. Cruise tourists are still a high-spending tourist stream and an important source of tourism in the city. Therefore, in a bid to attract tourists, the tourism industry will continue to promote promotional activities, diversify products and services and innovate products to meet the needs of tastes as well as increase tourist experiences whilst visiting places across the city.

Add products, increase experience for visitors

As one of the units that regularly exploit cruise ship passengers, Mr. Lam Ny, in charge of cruise ship operations at the Da Nang Branch of the Saigontourist Travel Services Company Limited, from now until April 2024, the company will welcoming about 15-20 trains, mainly passengers from Europe, the United States and passengers departing from Hong Kong (China).

Da Nang is still a favourite destination for the cruise market because it has a large seaport, located between heritage sites such as the ancient capital of Hue (Thua Thien Hue), the Hoi An ancient town, My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam Province, creating convenience for travellers’ sightseeing trips. However, the most inconvenient thing right now is the parking spot for shuttle buses taking passengers from the port to the city centre.

“Visitors in this market are mostly older people. Such inconvenience in walking from the bus stop to the market or shopping destination will not encourage customers’ spending. In addition, products for City tours are currently not chosen by many customers due to lack of appeal. Therefore, it is necessary to improve quality, renew products and increase new products and experience to attract more visitors.”, Mr. Lam Ny proposed.

Along with building tourism products, many accommodation establishments and service providers have also poured investment in additional amenities to attract visitors. Recently, the Da Nang International Terminal received 5-star rating by international airport rating agency Skytrax.

This is the first and only of its kind in Viet Nam to receive such a prestigious recognition thanks to its great efforts to invest in infrastructure and improve services and amenities such as business class lounges and baby carriages, children's play area, mother and baby rooms, shopping carts, prayer rooms, self-check-in counters, self-baggage counters, automatic immigration and departure gates.

In addition, the Da Nang International Terminal also focuses on promoting local and Vietnamese traditional culture through art performances, decorating miniatures for holidays and Tet with the desire of bringing customers the best services and experiences.

According to Mr. Do Trong Hau, the Deputy General Director of the Da Nang International Terminal Investment and Operation Joint Stock Company (AHT), in 2024, the Da Nang International Terminal will continue to put passengers at the center, therefore, the AHT's plans and investment items are all aimed at providing tourists with increasingly better experiences, meeting global quality criteria and assessments.

The 2024 goal of Da Nang's tourism industry is to welcome 8.42 million visitors served by accommodation establishments, an increase of more than 13.8% compared to 2023, nearly equal to 105% compared to 2019. In detail, there will be 2.5 million international visitors, an increase of 26% compared to 2023, equal to 77% compared to 2019, and 5.92 million domestic visitors, up by 9.3% compared to 2023, equal to 123% compared to 2019.

To achieve the above goal, the city's tourism industry continues to implement key task groups of the industry such as effectively implementing tourism development projects and plans, promoting the development of tourism products, communication and tourism promotion programmes, developing human resources and improving service quality, boosting digital transformation in tourism activities, supporting tourism businesses and mobilising resources for tourism development.

“The tourism industry will coordinate with businesses to promote promotion and advertising activities to attract tourists, while forming products and services as well as renewing existing products to meet the tastes of diverse visitor source markets. Particularly, for the cruise ship passenger segment, we will coordinate with survey units to form more product packages to learn about the historical and cultural values of Da Nang, and build eco-tourism and community-based tourism product packages so that tourists have more choices when coming to Da Nang”, said Mr. Tan Van Vuong.

Reporting by THU HA - Translating by A.THU