Da Nang (VNA) – The central coastal city of Da Nang is working with other provinces and cities in the central region to build itself into a world-class tourist destination.
Following the Politburo’s Resolution No.43-NQ/TW on developing Da Nang into a sea-based city, the city is focusing on transforming its tourism into a spearhead economic sector.
Tourists experience parasailing at Pham Van Dong beach (Photo: VNA)
Da Nang – a tourist hotspot
Covering 1,255sq.km, the city is cited as an entrance to four UNESCO-recognised World Heritage sites including the former royal capital city of Hue, Hoi An ancient city and My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam province, and Phong Nha-Ke Bang Park in Quang Binh province.
Da Nang has a total of 90 kilometres of coastline and dozens of beaches, including stunning My Khe. Meanwhile, the city’s Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountain) district is renowned as a centre for stone art, with Non Nuoc craft village stands at the foot of the Marble Mountain.
Experts said those natural advantages, combined with Da Nang’s modern infrastructure, good services, safety and hospitality, create unique traits for the central coastal city.
Da Nang has emerged as a destination of leisure, media and spiritual tourism, as well as entertainment and shopping activities, and a venue of conferences.
The city was named in the top 10 holiday places in Asia by the prestigious online tourism magazine Smart Travel Asia and top 10 fresh destinations by the global online accommodation reservation provider Agoda in 2013.
The listing has enabled Da Nang to reach out further to the world, according to Amir Ahmad Mohamad, general manager of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Plaza Hotel Da Nang.
In addition, the Da Nang International Airport was ranked third among the best airports in the world in 2014, according to a survey by Dragon Air.
The InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort won the Asia’s Leading Luxury Resort in 2014 thanks to its traditional beauty and modern, luxurious standards.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Da Nang is the best place to live in Vietnam with many world records. The cable line that takes visitors to the peak of Ba Na Hills at an altitude of 1,487 metres in just 17 minutes and is able to carry 3,000 passengers per hour won four Guinness Records in 2013. Besides, Sun Wheel, which is 115 metres in height and situated in Asian Park, Hai Chau district, was listed among the 10 tallest wheels in the world.
On the list of the world’s top 10 destinations for 2018 compiled by the online marketplace and hospitality service Airbnb, Da Nang was ranked fifth in booking surges of up to 255 percent.
In 2018, the city was ranked the second most popular destination for solo or couple travellers by the Republic of Korea’s Ticket Monster Inc. The website said people who plan to travel abroad with family members often choose Da Nang.
Concerted efforts bear fruit
With a view to boosting tourism growth, Da Nang city has worked to strengthen communications to enhance public awareness of preserving a good tourism environment and boosting the sector’s sustainable growth.
Meanwhile, local authorities have paid due attention to inspecting and handling violations in tourism activities, while ensuring security and safety for tourists and protecting the sea environment from pollution.
In the past year, the city has increased the level of scrutiny applied to budget tours in a bid to further develop sustainable tourism services. Although low-cost tours, or “zero dong” tours have catered to an increasing number of tourists to the city in recent years, they actually leave little to no profit for the city.
Together with encouraging the increase of international flights to Da Nang, the city has focused on expanding meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism by coordinating with ministries, sectors, enterprises, international organisations and diplomatic agencies to hold major events in Da Nang.
At the same time, the city has worked to expand the eco-tourism area in the west and the National Tourism Site of Son Tra Peninsula, along with investing in developing destinations along waterway routes of the city.
The city has coordinated with Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue and Hanoi to promote tourism connectivity. Last year, it proposed preferential policies to the Government for tourism development in the four localities and the establishment of tourism representative offices in major markets like the Republic of Korea, Thailand, China and Russia.
Besides, the city’s favourable investment policies to call for investment to sea-based tourism clusters, new beaches and high-quality resorts and eco-toursim areas have cast a new look to the local tourism while creating jobs and improving living quality of local residents.
Da Nang city has enjoyed robust tourism growth in the past time. The number of visitors to the city surged to 7.66 million in 2018 from only 649,106 recorded in 2004.
The city witnessed an 18.6 percent growth in both domestic and international arrivals during 2010-2019. Revenue from tourism services is estimated to rise 27.4 percent in the period. By the end of September, the city welcomed more than 4.5 million tourists, up 23.9 percent from the same time last year, of which there were some 2.7 million foreigners and 1.85 million domestic vacationers.
Unique tourism products developed
Boasting various advantages for tourism, from beautiful beaches and sea, to forest, river and lake ecosystems, Da Nang finds it essential to develop its own unique tourism products.
Years ago, the lack of entertainment experiences was one of the reasons that Da Nang city was a transfer station for tourists to Hue and Hoi An.
However, things have changed when Sun World Ba Na Hills opened to public in 2009, and over the past 10 years, Ba Na has become a reason for people to go to Da Nang.
A corner of Sun World Ba Na Hills(Photo: VNA)
Spectacular scenery like a paradise, French Village as "a miniature Paris", the Golden Bridge and a variety of festivals have created a miracle in Ba Na Hills, which is to make visitors come back many times, instead of just once.
In 2015, when the number of international visitors to Vietnam declined for 11 months, the number of visitors to Da Nang increased spectacularly by 33.1 per cent. That success was greatly contributed to by Ba Na Hills.
Over the past 10 years, visitors to Ba Na increased 160 times, the number of people coming to Da Nang increased to 463 per cent. According to statistics, for every three foreign visitors who book tours to this beautiful coastal city, there are two who want to check out the Golden Bridge. These numbers are really impressive.
Besides improving service quality at hotspots, the city has organised various international-level events such as fireworks festivals, MICE, Cocofest, Clipper Race, Iron Man 70.3 contest and international marathon to affirm its tourism brand, said Vice Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Nguyen Xuan Binh.
In a bid to further develop local tourism, the city is working out a multitude of measures to diversify tourism products, including high-end resort tourism, shopping tourism, spiritual tourism, and walking tours, among others./.
