Central Da Nang city taps sea tourism potential

Da Nang (VNA) – Endowed with a coastline spanning more than 92 km, the central city of Da Nang has been striving to make best use of its potential in developing the local sea-based economy.

Da Nang is among 28 coastal cities and provinces nationwide. Six out of eight local districts, where 80 percent of the population reside, have a sea border.

The city is one of Vietnam's popular tourist destinations, thanks to its many beautiful beaches, including Na O, Xuan Thieu, Thanh Binh, Tien Sa, Son Tra, My Khe, Bac My An and Non Nuoc.

Da Nang beach was once voted by US magazine Forbes as one of six best beaches in the world with popular eco-tourism sites and luxurious resorts.

In 2015, the city welcomed 4.68 million tourists, placing it in the fourth place in terms of the number of tourists, behind Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Quang Ninh.   

The city has about 500 accommodation facilities, with approximately 20,000 rooms, and 218 travel companies.

Da Nang has set the goal of welcoming 8 million tourists per year by 2020, with two millions of them being international visitors, thus generating revenue of 27.4 trillion VND (1.2 billion USD) in total.    

In order to achieve the ambitious goal, the municipal authorities will focus on a series of measures to turn the city into an interesting and prestigious tourist destination. Those measures include the creation and promotion of high-class tourism products, ensuring security and order, and keeping the city clean.   

The city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism regularly organises “Green-Clean-Beauty Sunday” campaigns as part of “The 2016 Year of Urban Culture and Civilisation.”   

The department also plans the installation of cameras to ensure tourists are free from being followed by beggars or street vendors at some major tourist sites such as Ngu Hanh Son or the Hai Van Pass.   

Promotional programmes targeting visitors from major markets like China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Southeast Asian countries, Europe and North America will be carried out at travel fairs, said Deputy Director of the department Tran Chi Cuong.

This year, the city has hosted a number of international festivals and competitions, most notably the Clipper Round World Yacht Race and the fifth Asian Beach Games (ABG).

In a move to boost security, the city has already installed five camera systems at more than 4,700 sites where there are traffic lights in order to monitor traffic accidents and violations. They were also installed in popular tourism areas.

The trial installation of security camera systems in the central city of Da Nang has helped the city to discover and prevent hundreds of crimes.   

Not only a coastal city, Da Nang lies in the central key economic zone and at one end of the East-West economic corridor and a gateway to the Pacific ocean of Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. Hence, it has tremendous potential to develop maritime logistics services.

According to a master plan on fisheries development to 2020, Da Nang will be developed as one of the six fishing centres across the country. The move aims to serve the logistical demands of the city as well as the regional provinces, contributing to the marine economic development of the central region.    

Nguyen Do Tam, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the centre will include fishing ports and well-equipped logistics facilities.    

They are expected to create impetuses for the restructure and development of the fishery sector, especially the off-shore fishing operation, in a modern way, thus raising the values of farmed and fished fish in the city as well as nationwide./.