Need to improve tourism development index of Khanh Hoa

In the report "Vietnam Provincial Tourism Development Index 2024" (VTDI 2024), Khanh Hoa has many highly appreciated pillars, clearly demonstrating outstanding strengths. However, the position of 12/30 provinces and cities considered for evaluation does not seem to be commensurate with the tourism development position of the land of Agarwood. In the coming time, the province and the tourism industry need to promote strengths and overcome limitations to improve the province's tourism development index.

Strong in infrastructure, weak in cultural resources

Recently, the Private Economic Development Research Board (under the Prime Minister's Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform) announced the VTDI 2024 report. In which, Khanh Hoa ranked 12th out of 30 provinces and cities. According to the report, Khanh Hoa has a good result in the Infrastructure and Services index group with 4.64 points, much higher than the average score of 3.97. The Tourism Sustainability index group also has high results, reaching 4.67 points (average score of 4.09). The Facilitating Environment index group reached 4.91 points (average score of 4.87). However, the Tourism Policies and Conditions index group reached 4.09 points, lower than the average score of 4.54. In particular, the Tourism Resources index group has low results, with 2.8 points (average score of 3.18).

Khanh Hoa is highly appreciated for its tourism infrastructure.

The evaluation results in the form of ranking through reviewing 17 pillars, Khanh Hoa also has many pillars that are highly appreciated among the 30 provinces and cities considered for evaluation. Specifically, the pillar of Tourism Infrastructure and Services has outstanding results, reaching 4.1 points, much higher than the average score of 2.75 (rank 2). Other pillars include: Socio-economic impact of tourism (rank 2); Sustainability of tourism demand (rank 5); Price competitiveness (rank 6); Level of readiness in information and communication technology (rank 8); Sustainability of environment and energy in tourism (rank 9); Ground infrastructure and ports (rank 10). These pillars demonstrate outstanding strengths and very favorable conditions for the province to develop tourism.

The pillars rated at a moderate level include: Business environment; Aviation infrastructure; Human resources and labor market; Non-recreational resources; Safety and security; Health and hygiene; Natural resources and Priority for tourism. Notably, there are 2 pillars ranked very low: Data collection and sharing (scored 3.12 points, much lower than the average score of 4.65, ranked 27/30) and Cultural resources (ranked 30). Experts from the Private Economic Development Research Board recommend that, in order to improve the overall results, efforts should be focused on improving the rankings and solving potential problems of these pillars.

The report "Vietnam Provincial Tourism Development Index 2024" aims to research and refer to the process of building local tourism development strategies, serving the task of comprehensive, rapid and sustainable tourism development. There are 30 localities nationwide selected for evaluation. The evaluation table includes 17 pillars and 111 indicators collected from tourism business surveys and other quantitative data sources. All indicators are standardized on a scale of 1 to 7. Da Nang City (4.89 points) tops the "Vietnam Provincial Tourism Development Index 2024" ranking. Followed by: Hanoi City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau, Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, Hue City and Hai Phong City. Khanh Hoa ranked 12th with 4.22 points. The lowest is Dak Lak with 3.66 points.

Identify low performance indicators to propose solutions

Vietnam's provincial tourism development index rankings are only of relative value, with some rigid assessments, but that is something that tourism professionals need to think about. Regarding the VTDI 2024 rankings and improving the province's tourism development index, Mr. Cung Quynh Anh - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the department is studying the VTDI 2024 report, identifying low-rated indicators, thereby proposing solutions to overcome the limitations mentioned in the report such as: Cultural resources, tourism safety and security, tourism human resources, etc. to improve Khanh Hoa's ranking position in the next assessments. In the long term, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has advised the Provincial People's Committee to develop the Khanh Hoa Tourism Development Strategy for the period 2025 - 2030, with a vision to 2045. In particular, Khanh Hoa will implement 6 groups of tasks and strategic solutions: Diversifying the tourist market; developing diverse tourism products and services to serve different tourist segments; promoting the Khanh Hoa tourism brand to new heights; investing in human resource development; promoting the development of green and sustainable tourism; accelerating digital transformation in tourism activities. The Department will also promote the conservation and promotion of cultural values ​​to improve the Cultural Resources index... In addition, the province currently has plans to build Truong Sa Museum, A.Yersin Museum, promote the development of the night economy... to contribute to promoting the cultural values ​​of the land of Agarwood, creating attractive tourist attractions for tourists.

Khanh Hoa is highly appreciated for sustainable tourism development.

Many tourism experts believe that the 12th position out of 30 provinces and cities is not commensurate with the potential, strengths and tourism development of Khanh Hoa. To improve Khanh Hoa's position on the rankings, it is necessary to maintain the indicators and pillars that have achieved high results; at the same time, focus on improving the limited aspects, especially the index of Tourism Resources. “Tourism resources are assessed based on natural resources (nature reserves, natural heritage sites, forest cover, etc.), cultural resources (number of cultural heritages, attractiveness of cultural resources, level of protection for tangible and intangible cultural heritages) and non-cultural resources (shopping centers, nighttime entertainment, number of trade fairs, etc.). We can improve tourism resources through investing in developing nighttime entertainment venues, developing shopping centers, iconic architectural works, important cultural institutions such as museums, theaters, exhibition centers, etc. In addition, it is also necessary to soon have solutions to improve the index of collecting and sharing tourism information data, tourism security, and human resource quality,” said Mr. Pham Minh Nhut - Chairman of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association.

THANH NGUYEN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/du-lich/202505/can-nang-cao-chi-so-phat-trien-du-lich-cua-khanh-hoa-e4865c2/