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The Northwest region of Vietnam is blessed with majestic natural landscapes and the diverse and rich cultural identities of over 32 ethnic groups living in the area. However, tourism has not yet developed to its full potential. Attracting more tourists to the Northwest is a pressing issue facing the entire tourism industry.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2015 the Northwest region welcomed 8.9 million tourists, including 1.6 million international visitors. Including inter-regional travel, the total number of visitors reached 13 million. Short stays (under 1.5 days) accounted for only 5-7% of the total number of visitor days nationwide. In terms of characteristics, visitors to the Northwest are mainly domestic tourists with low spending.
The reason for the low number of tourists visiting the Northwest region is that the tourism product system in the Northwest is still monotonous and fragmented, not truly attractive to investors. Currently, the entire region has 307 classified accommodation establishments with nearly 9,000 rooms, including 3 four-star establishments, 13 three-star establishments, 94 two-star establishments, and 197 one-star establishments (none are five-star); the average occupancy rate is approximately 60%. With only 34 international travel agencies, the tourism service system is still very rudimentary. The system of accommodation, resorts, food, and entertainment facilities is still lacking and of low quality, mostly failing to meet service standards.
Overview of the workshop
Speaking at the workshop, Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Nguyen Van Tuan, proposed five solutions to help attract tourists to the Northwest region: Selecting and exploiting unique advantages to create distinctive tourism products, thereby forming attractive and highly competitive intra-regional and inter-regional tourism routes; Investing in infrastructure, focusing on key, large-scale projects; Strengthening promotion and marketing efforts, creating tourism products suitable for various tourism market segments, and developing e-marketing; Focusing on training tourism human resources, with an emphasis on vocational skills training and homestay practice; Coordinating tourism activities among provinces in the Northwest region and between the Northwest and other localities to make tourism a truly seamless and highly competitive activity.
Mr. Tuan also affirmed that, in addition to focusing on improving the quality of tourism infrastructure, products, services, and human resources, tourism development must always adhere to the principle of preserving local culture and natural landscapes at tourist destinations.
At the workshop, many delegates, especially representatives of tourism businesses, offered insights into the current state of tourism development in Northwest Vietnam, and subsequently proposed practical solutions to promote tourism in the region. These included: selective participation in domestic and international tourism activities and events; establishing a national tourism promotion fund to further enhance the promotion of the image of Vietnam and its people in general, and Northwest Vietnam in particular, to international friends; implementing an open and flexible visa policy for key tourism markets; proposing the development of new tourism products and strengthening inter-regional tours and routes to diversify tourism offerings; and rationally integrating transportation systems.
Representatives of tourism businesses believe that localities should base their investment attraction efforts on planning and provide incentives. Provinces should invest in developing high-quality infrastructure that matches the distinctive products of the Northwest region and upgrade their capacity to provide diverse products and services.
Mr. Nguyen Hong Dai, General Director of APT Travel Company, stated: “Local authorities have not been truly proactive in cooperating with travel companies to bring tourists in. Besides, tourism promotion activities are limited and not targeted effectively. Local authorities need to organize conferences to meet with tourism businesses, listen to their difficulties and obstacles, and promptly address them, especially regarding administrative procedures.”
Ms. Tran Thi Viet Huong, Director of Marketing at Vietravel, expressed concern about the current situation where hotel room prices are being pushed up excessively during peak season in some destinations. Therefore, destinations with established tourism development plans and consistently increasing visitor numbers need increased infrastructure investment, especially in 2-3 star hotels. In addition, tourism businesses believe that localities need to strengthen thematic communication focusing on cuisine and people, such as the buckwheat flower festival in Ha Giang and the Bauhinia flower festival in Dien Bien, which are truly creating momentum to attract tourists.
Also within the framework of the workshop, the Northwest Steering Committee, the Vietnam Tourism Association, and Vietnam Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation to attract tourists to the Northwest region, aiming to contribute to making the Northwest a prominent tourist destination in Vietnam, as well as in the region and internationally.
PV
