International tourists excitedly recorded memorable photos of being welcomed upon landing at Phu Bai International Airport.

Positive signal

Being present in the group welcoming the first international flight in 2024 bringing a group of tourists from Incheon (Korea) to Thua Thien Hue, I had a very strange feeling. Although I had participated in welcoming the first direct flight from Incheon to Hue in August 2023, the beginning of a new year clearly showed signs of improvement.

The 226 passengers who stepped off Phu Bai International Airport at the beginning of the new year were senior managers and officials of KX Group (Korea), including the Group's Chairman and some members of the board of directors. The KX Group of Korea chose Laguna Lang Co Complex and the Cultural Heritage Area in Thua Thien Hue as the venue for the year-end summary and meeting event of the Group's leaders and officials and employees in the form of MICE tourism (conferences/seminars, awards and events combined with experiential tourism). The 4-day, 3-night tour of the ancient capital of Hue also opened up opportunities for promotion and connection, as well as long-term cooperation in tourism development.

Not yet comparable to Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat and Da Nang international airports, but since Terminal T2 of Phu Bai International Airport was put into operation (April 2023), the opportunity to attract international visitors by air has gradually become clearer. Remember in July 2023, the Thua Thien Hue tourism industry just began to receive good news when it welcomed the first international delegation to Terminal T2 - Phu Bai International Airport and a direct flight connecting Hue with Incheon (Korea). By the end of 2023, the ancient capital of Vietnam had operated 70 international flights to and from the cities: Incheon (Korea), Kunming (China) and Taipei (Taiwan - China) with 7,322 passengers.

At the program summarizing the tourism industry's work in 2023, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh shared very frankly that there is still a lot of work to do before the expectation of connecting and developing international flights to develop tourism, but the results achieved in 2023 are a positive signal, creating motivation for the tourism industry and related departments, branches and units to continue to make efforts and reap success.

New year, new opportunities

Closing 2023 is considered a year of economic difficulties, but tourism is still a bright spot. Although the number of visitors to the provincial tourism industry of nearly 3.2 million has not exceeded the pre-pandemic period (2019), it is also on the path of strong growth again (up 54.4% compared to 2022). In particular, the number of international visitors has increased sharply with nearly 1.2 million visitors (up nearly 345% compared to 2022). The top 10 tourist markets to Hue in 2023 have many notable names, including Taiwan (accounting for 11% of international tourist market share), Thailand (accounting for 10.5%), the US (accounting for 8.9%), Malaysia (accounting for 8.8%), France (accounting for 8.1%), the UK (accounting for 5.9%), Australia (accounting for 5.15%), Germany (accounting for 5.1%), Spain (accounting for 4.3%), and South Korea (accounting for 3.8%).

According to Director of the Department of Tourism Nguyen Van Phuc, the Ancient Capital tourism has set a target of welcoming about 3.5 - 4 million visitors by 2024, with total tourism revenue of about 7,500 - 8,000 billion VND. To achieve that goal, attracting international visitors is very important and solutions to promote and exploit international flights are given top priority.

Since 2023, the handshake between aviation and tourism in Hue has gradually become closer. Local authorities and the tourism industry have had many meetings with Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet to agree on and develop strategies and cooperation content. In particular, opening flights to Singapore, Thailand and opening flights to other markets such as Macau, Taiwan, Japan, etc. were also mentioned.

In addition, the provincial departments, branches and units also make efforts to increase the frequency of flights to and from Phu Bai International Airport, bringing tourists, including international visitors to visit Vietnam, to stop in Hue to experience and stay.

Mr. Truong Thanh Minh, Director of the Tourism Promotion Information Center, said that along with solutions to exploit international routes, maintain and develop charter flights, the provincial tourism industry will also coordinate with the "5 localities, one destination" association group (including Quang Binh - Quang Tri - Hue - Da Nang - Quang Nam) to participate in conferences, fairs, and tourism introduction programs in international tourist markets such as Northeast Asia (China, Korea, Japan...), East Asia (Taiwan), ASEAN (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia...), Australia... organized by the Vietnam National Tourism Administration or the Vietnam Tourism Association. At the same time, build, manage, and run a tourism destination communication campaign for 5 localities on platforms such as website, fanpage, tiktok Amazing Central Vietnam Heritage. Invite Travel bloggers, KOLs, Vlogs, and inspirational figures to communicate and promote tourism destinations.

Huynh Phuc