Da Nang celebrates New Year 2021 with arts programme

Indian dance performance at the programme (Photo: VNA)

Da Nang (VNA) - Domestic and foreign artists performed at a programme held in the central city of Da Nang on the night of December 23 to welcome in the New Year 2021.

Organised by the municipal Department of Culture and Sports, the programme also aimed at reviving cultural and tourism activities in the city.

Joseph Mercado, a member of the Philippine band D Jammers, said the event was significant as it created an opportunity for Vietnamese and foreigners to meet and exchange.

Within the framework of the programme, festival-goers had the chance to take part in other activities like face and body painting.

The central city has focused on recovering its pandemic-hit tourism sector and continuing to boost the sector’s sustainable development, focusing on high-end services in association with resort real estate.

According to the municipal People’s Committee, the city has drawn out two scenarios for tourism development in the 2021-2025 period.

In the first, with an optimistic vision, COVID-19 will be controlled in the city and Vietnam by late 2020, with a vaccine to be provided to the market in the third quarter of 2021. The city will launch a domestic tourism stimulus programme in connection with other localities from 2021. In this scenario, the city expects visitor numbers to be equivalent to 60-70 percent of the figure in 2019, with domestic tourism recovering by 90 percent and foreign visitors by 30 percent.

In 2022, after the re-opening of international air routes, the total number of visitors is to reach about 8.7 million, equal to the figure in 2019.

In 2025, the city aims to welcome 12.3 million visitors, up 1.4-fold over 2019, including 4.2 million foreigners. The average growth of the sector in the 2020-2025 period is projected to reach 5-6 percent each year.

In the year, Da Nang hopes to earn 61 trillion VND (2.63 billion USD) from tourism, double that in 2019, with growth of 12-12.5 percent per year. The sector is expected to make up 27 percent of the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2025. In the year, the city hopes to extend the stay to 2.75 days for domestic visitors and three days for foreigners.

In the second scenario, COVID-19 is controlled in Da Nang and Vietnam at the end of the first quarter of 2021 and a vaccine is provided in late 2021. Tourists still lack confidence about control over the pandemic. Under this, the city only expects a recovery of about 55-65 percent in the number of domestic tourists compared to 2019, with the number of foreign arrivals recovering by only 5 percent.

International air routes are forecast to re-open for diplomats, experts, and workers in the second quarter of 2022 and for all passengers in 2023. The total number of visitors is expected to recover 65-70 percent compared to 2019 in 2022 and equivalent to that in 2019 in 2023.

In 2025, the number of visitors to the city is hoped to reach 11.6 million, including 3.9 million foreigners. Total earnings from the sector are estimated at 54 trillion VND (2.33 billion VND), making up 23.8 percent of the city’s GRDP.

Along with these two scenarios, Da Nang will concentrate on designing planning for the sector’s development, focusing on the area along the Son Tra - Ngu Hanh Son coast and the west of Son Tra Peninsula, while investing more in sea-based, cultural, historical, and spiritual tourism./.