Da Nang promotes local cuisine through KOL

 Mi Quang, Quang Nam-style flat rice noodle with pork, shrimps and fresh herbs. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Hanoi (VNA) – Da Nang City Tourism Promotion Centre, in collaboration with Helen Le, the host of Helen’s Recipes YouTube channel on Vietnamese cuisine, have launched a livestream programme entitled “Mam Mam Da Nang” to provide viewers with cooking instructions for typical Da Nang dishes, according to Huynh Thi Huong Lan, deputy director of the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre.

The complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam and around the world have made it impossible for tourists to travel and explore the cuisine, she said.

The programme, which aims to introduce to tourists destinations in Da Nang and its cuisine, will be broadcast live at 4-5pm on Saturday (July 10, 17 and 26) on Facebook and TikTok channel Danang Fantasticity and on Fanpage of Helen’s Recipes.

Dishes introduced in the programme are easy to cook and healthy meals.

Each livestream event will provide viewers with interesting information about the typical dishes of the city such as banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake filled with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts), fish noodle, mi Quang (Quang Nam-style flat rice noodle with pork, shrimp, and fresh herbs), and other local seafood dishes. Thus, she said, it is easy for them to select food when they arrive in Da Nang.

Many attractive gifts will also be offered to viewers who take part in quizzes during the programme.

 A corner of Da Nang city. (Photo: baodannang.vn)

“The 'Mam mam Da Nang'  livestreams want to remind the audience that cooking is not just about ingredients, recipes  but it's also about the love, passion and traditional values of the family to eat delicious meals together and implement the 5K message to prevent and fight against COVID-19,” Lan said.

Helen Le, whose real name is Le Ha Huyen, was born in 1984 in Da Nang. She founded Helen’s Recipes YouTube channel in 2011 to introduce Vietnamese food to the world. Her channel has attracted millions of domestic and foreign viewers. She also writes several books on Vietnamese cuisine including “Vietnamese Food with Helen’s recipes” and “Simply Pho”.

Da Nang is a well-known tourist site of Vietnam. 

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 optimistic vision, COVID-19 will be controlled in the city and Vietnam in late 2020 and the vaccine against COVID-19 is provided to the market in the third quarter of 2021, the city will launch a domestic tourism stimulation programme with the connection with other localities from 2021. In this scenario, the city expects a total number of visitors equivalent to 60-70 percent of that in 2019, with the domestic tourists recovering by 90 percent and foreign visitors 30 percent.

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

In 2025, the city aims to receive 12.3 million visitors, up 1.4 times 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, doubling that in 2019, with growth rate 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 pandemic is controlled in Da Nang and Vietnam in the end of the first quarter of 2021 and a vaccine is provided in late 2021, tourists remain unconfident to the controlling of the pandemic. Under this, the city only expects the recovery of about 55-65 percent compared to 2019 in the number of domestic tourists, and 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 is estimated at 54 trillion VND (2.33 billion VND), making up 23.8 percent of the city’s GRDP.

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

Vice Chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Trung Chinh said that in order to effectively implement the scenarios, the city will conduct twin targets of controlling COVID-19 and recovering tourism activities at the same time.

Meanwhile, the city will complete infrastructure system for tourism development, improving the human resources for the sector, and enhancing State management over the sector, he added./.