Tourists to Hoi An Ancient Town (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The central province of Quang Nam – home to two UNESCO-recognised heritage sites of Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary, is pinning high hope on the “Visit Vietnam Year - Quang Nam 2022”, with a desire to make a strong impression and deliver a message of the provincial tourism sector’s new image – green tourism.
This year, the province wishes to serve more than 4 million tourists, nearly 50 percent of whom are international visitors. It is also exerting efforts to boost post-COVID-19 tourism recovery so as to welcome 12 million international and domestic arrivals by 2025.
During this year, the Visit Vietnam Year programme will feature 192 events, including 10 national-level ones, 62 organised by Quang Nam, and 120 others by 40 centrally run cities and provinces. All of these events must meet green tourism criteria, which means Quang Nam has to become a safe and environmentally-friendly destination with priority given to products that can protect the environment and be recycled.
The opening ceremony of the national tourism programme, themed “Quang Nam – A green destination,” will take place on Ky Uc island in Hoi An Ancient Town on March 25. It will be broadcast live on television and radio channels. The closing ceremony, meanwhile, is slated for late December at the VinWonders Nam Hoi An amusement park in Thang Binh district.
Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thanh Hong said that the programe will be a “golden opportunity” for the tourism sector to recover and regain the growth pace like that in 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic was yet to break out, and at the same time continue promoting the image of Vietnam in general and Quang Nam in particular to both domestic and international visitors.
This is also a chance for the sector to assert to foreign friends and tourists that Vietnam is ready to welcome them back.
Part of My Son Sanctuary (Photo: VNA)
To impress holiday-makers, Quang Nam has focused on investing in infrastructure and increasing the quality of tourism products in the world cultural heritage sites of Hoi An and My Son, and Cu Lao Cham World Biosphere Reserve.
At present, the whole province has 843 accommodations with nearly 17,000 rooms, and 80 travel agents.
With these two heritage sites and the biosphere reserve recognised by UNESCO, Quang Nam boasts great potential to develop tourism.
According to Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Tri Thanh, Hoi An and My Son have been selected as favourite destinations for foreign tourists by many prestigious international magazines and websites.
Last year, Hoi An was named Asia’s leading cultural city destination at the World Travel Awards. The city also won this title in 2019.
It also entered the Top 15 cities in Asia selected by Travel Leisure’s World's Best Awards 2021, and has earned many other prestigious titles.
The province is building “satellite” tourism products near world cultural heritage sites to reduce pressure on these sites in the peak season, including the development of trade villages such as Cam Thanh coconut forest, Tra Que vegetable growing village, Kim Bong carpentry village, Thanh Ha pottery village (Hoi An); and experiencing community-based tourism in Triem Tay farmhouse (Dien Ban town), Tra Nhieu village (Duy Son), and My Son community tourism village (Duy Xuyen). Tours to the western mountainous region to learn about the cultural identity of ethnic minorities has also become attractive.
In December 2021, Quang Nam issued a set of green tourism criteria with the support of the Swiss Sustainable Tourism Programme (SSTP) on the basis of reference to 25 sets of international sustainable tourism criteria.
The province is pinning high hope on the Visit Vietnam Year 2022 with a desire to make a strong impression and deliver a message of the new image of Quang Nam tourism - Green tourism./.
