The Da Nang Department of Tourism-launched ‘Da Nang Smile’ campaign is now progressing well in an effort to make Da Nang a civilised, friendly and hospitable city.

Smiling participants in the recent Vikolor - Colour Me Run 2017

The campaign is part of a series of activities in preparation for the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Week (AELW) which will take place in the city from 6-11 November.

The campaign is running until late December with a focus on local government employees who are involved in tourism, customs, police, aviation sectors, plus staff at local restaurants and hotels, drivers, tour guides, and local residents.

Mr Dang Xuan Binh, the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Tourism, remarked that through this meaningful campaign, local residents are considered to be enthusiastic and friendly tourism ambassadors for their city.  The campaign aims to appeal for all local residents to show their smiley faces, and their friendly and hospitable attitude and behaviour, towards visitors.  Their smile will help the city extend a warm welcome to visitors, and make a successful AELW.

Deputy Director Binh

Special attention is paid to widely publicising the campaign amongst the general public through the mass media and visual advertising across the city, and promoting the publicity of the already-released code of conduct applicable to those who work in tourism and tourism-related sectors. 

Importance is attached to releasing handbooks about some common communication sentences in Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Spanish.  In addition, training courses on communication and behaviour skills will be organised for local hospitality staff. 

In particular, the official introduction clip of the campaign, posted on DA NANG Today at http://baodanang.vn/english/video/201709/da-nang-smile-campaign-2571319/ will be shown on electronic screens at information desks at the Da Nang International Airport, main intersections, other public areas, restaurants and hotels.

In addition to the clip, trailers and short videos for this campaign aim to introduce visitors from both home and abroad to the beauty of culture, land and people of Da Nang.  In particular, through these media products, viewers will have an insight into the city’s tourism development potential and strengths.  Included are the good infrastructure system, a modern international airport, well-renown attractions, a boom in luxury resorts and hotels, and especially the city’s rich experience in organising international large-scale events. 

Such advertising activities are expected to help Da Nang attract more domestic and foreign investors, and to demonstrate the city’s growing competitiveness and deeper international integration, as well as to secure its position as a hub of economy, finance, trade and logistics in Central Viet Nam.

Deputy Director Binh noted that the ‘Da Nang Smile’ campaign would help the city affirm its ‘Da Nang FantastiCity’ brand name.  Hopefully, this would lay a firm foundation for the local tourism sector to continue enhancing the professional communication style of those involved in tourism and related sectors, as well as widely promote the deployment of the code of conduct.  Also, a closer link between the city authorities and local residents will be created to effectively implement local policies for ensuring the sustainability – an important factor for the development of local tourism.

Recently, the Da Nang Taxi Association held a meeting to introduce the significance of the ‘Da Nang Smile’ campaign to a total of 500 drivers from 8 local taxi companies. 

The Association appealed for local taxi drivers to show their smiley faces, and their friendly and hospitable attitude and behaviour, towards visitors.

Also at the event, representatives from the 8 taxi companies together undertook to effectively implement the campaign.