The tourism industry of Binh Dinh province has strongly developed its business system, accommodation facilities and tourism infrastructure. Tourist arrivals, total revenue and contributions to GDP have kept rising. The province has built tourism development projects, with focus placed on improving comprehensive quality to meet increasing requirements of domestic and foreign tourists. Mr. Tran Van Thanh, Director of Binh Dinh Department of Tourism, gives an exclusive interview to Vietnam Business Forum on this issue.
Quy Nhon beach, Binh Dinh province
Tourism has very much room for development and plays an important role in the socioeconomic development strategy. In the coming time, how will Binh Dinh continue to carry out the tourism development project, with emphasis on comprehensive quality improvement?
Over the years, Binh Dinh has become an attractive destination and drawn more domestic and foreign tourists. "Quy Nhon - Binh Dinh" tourism has become a very popular brand. Quy Nhon City was honored to be named "ASEAN Clean Tourism City 2020" at the Southeast Asia Tourism Forum and gradually asserted itself as a leading destination in Asia. Australia's Traveler Magazine also described Quy Nhon as a small city that gives a true vibe with a beautiful beach. These are opportunities to turn Binh Dinh into one of important tourist destinations in the marine tourism chain in the Central Coast, the whole country and in the region.
In the coming time, the province will continue to carry out tourism development projects and plans, focusing on green and sustainable tourism products like golfing tourism, scientific discovery tourism and community tourism (Nhon Hai commune, Quy Nhon City; Thuan Nghia vegetable village, Tay Son district; K3 village, Vinh Son commune, Vinh Thanh district).
In addition, the province will concentrate on improving service quality to meet increasing demands of tourists as follows:
In 2023, the province's tourism industry will carry out key activities: (1) Developing and diversifying tourist markets, focusing on developing high-paying tourist markets; (2) Developing tourism products, facilities and services; (3) Improving service quality through assessing and undertaking to implement service quality criteria regarding accommodation facilities, tourist destinations, tourist transport, catering, shopping and travel services; (4) Innovating communication and tourism promotion; (5) Enhancing the quality of human resources; (6) and Asserting State administration of tourism activities and tourism environment.
In 2024-2025 and beyond, the tourism sector will seriously implement the following key tasks:
Encouraging investors to upgrade and form shops selling souvenirs, indigenous specialties and traditional handicrafts; developing souvenirs based on OCOP products.
Attracting the investment fund into resorts and amusement parks; building high-class commercial and shopping centers to serve tourists.
Establishing cooperation to open flights and drawing tourists to the province.
Maintaining and organizing cultural, sports and major festivals to create Binh Dinh tourism brand: Binh Dinh Tourism Festival - "Quy Nhon - Sea Paradise", Binh Dinh International Festival of Traditional Vietnamese Martial Arts, and Golden Plum Festival.
Developing meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) tourism
Attracting tourists from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces that have direct flights to Binh Dinh; gradually expanding neighboring markets; wooing more international tourists in neighboring and fast-growing markets like Northeast Asia (South Korea, Japan and China) and Southeast Asia (Laos, Thailand and Cambodia).
Strengthening intensive training and retraining in tourism management, information technology application for State officials, senior company managers and operators of destinations.
To stimulate tourism after the COVID-19 epidemic, how has the tourism sector created new unique tourism products in 2023?
In the past two years, the tourism sector has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the sector gradually overcame hardships, promptly launched many programs and solutions to speed up development, strengthened State management of tourism and gradually adapted to the new situation.
To promote its achievements in tourism stimulus, the sector will implement following key activities in the coming time:
Organizing the important Binh Dinh Tourism Festival 2023 themed "Quy Nhon - Sea Paradise - Brilliant Colors";
Coordinating with tourism associations to further speed up tourism stimulus programs in the low season with a variety of products and improving service quality;
Conducting surveys and cooperation, building products and introducing Quy Nhon - Binh Dinh tourist destination to key tourism markets (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai, Ninh Binh and other provinces and cities);
Expanding new markets, effectively operating direct flights from Hai Phong to Quy Nhon; resuming direct flights from Da Lat to Quy Nhon, focusing on attracting domestic tourists;
Introducing Binh Dinh tourism destinations and images in domestic and foreign markets, focusing large-scale national and international events like the National Tourism Year, the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM), the International Travel Expo (ITE); Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival, Da Nang International Tourism Fair and tourism development cooperation programs between provinces in the region and in the country.
To draw more investment funds into tourism, what incentives and support policies will Binh Dinh have for businesses?
To attract more investment capital into tourism, the province is investing and upgrading socioeconomic infrastructure for investors, especially infrastructure in economic zones and industrial zones. Currently, many big investors from Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United States, Thailand and Singapore have explored, trusted and chosen Binh Dinh for their business projects.
In the coming time, beside speeding up the progress of investment projects, the province will also work out plans to deal with existing difficulties in investment attraction, especially fund from foreign hotel investors such as Hilton, Accor (Sofitel), Intercontinental, Sol Melia, Hyatt, Sheraton, SunGroup, VinaCapital and CT Group. At the same time, it has called for investors into tourism projects.
By constantly improving the quality of the investment and business environment to become an "ideal destination" for investors, beside urgently completing the infrastructure system, Binh Dinh province has also paid great attention to administrative reform. In particular, reforming administrative procedures on investment, construction, tax and customs and enhancing the relationship between investors and businesses with the government towards the goal of building a professional, modern, effective, efficient administration to better serve people and businesses.
Thank you very much!
By Duy Binh, Vietnam Business Forum
Vietnamese
October 2024
Hanoi