Experience sightseeing in Hue from a cyclo.

Infrastructure and services are not yet synchronized.

Hue is lacking internationally renowned branded hotels. Most of the city's existing hotels are domestic and local brands, little known to international tourists. The progress of some tourism projects in the beautiful Lang Co Bay and Elephant Stream is slow, with some projects stalled for years without a definitive solution...

Hue's tourism sector also faces a limited number of rooms/beds, with few high-end accommodations available. During peak season, most hotels in Hue are almost fully booked, unable to meet the demand of tourists. Existing hotels in the area also lack facilities capable of accommodating large groups (e.g., restaurants serving 1,000 guests). To date, the entire city only has 893 tourist accommodation establishments with 14,229 rooms and 22,918 beds, including 205 hotels with 8,672 rooms and 14,350 beds. Only 22 hotels are rated 3-5 stars, with 3,115 rooms and 4,974 beds. Compared to Da Nang , by the end of 2024, this city had 1,290 tourist accommodation establishments with 46,527 rooms, 3.27 times the number of rooms in Hue, including 110 4-5 star establishments with 21,293 rooms (70 establishments have already been rated 4-5 stars). The number of 4-5 star rooms alone is 1.5 times the total number of accommodation rooms in Hue.

Roads leading to historical sites such as the tombs of Emperors Gia Long, Minh Mang, and Khai Dinh are still narrow. Roads connecting the city center to the sea and coastal roads are slow to be completed, while beach tourism is currently a popular trend among many tourists. Many localities, even without advantages in historical sites and heritage, have developed tourism strongly thanks to their early investment and exploitation of the strengths of beach and island tourism. Hue's lagoon tourism infrastructure is also incomplete.

Hue currently lacks public parking spaces, especially in the city center, making it difficult to organize large events, welcome large groups of tourists, or during peak tourist seasons. Furthermore, the failure to successfully connect international flights to bring foreign tourists directly to Hue has diminished the advantages of local tourism, despite the complete investment in Phu Bai International Airport infrastructure.

Foreign tourists visiting Hue.

Tourism products are not yet diverse.

Currently, visitors to Hue mainly focus on visiting historical sites and heritage, lacking new, high-quality tourism products such as night tourism, experiential tourism, and high-quality beach and lagoon tourism. Nighttime cultural activities and services remain monotonous, primarily consisting of Hue folk singing tours on the Perfume River. There is a lack of attractive, high-quality tourism products capable of attracting and retaining visitors.

The slow development of coastal and lagoon tourism has reduced competitive advantages, while supplementary tourism products to cultural and historical offerings have yet to be developed. Heritage economics, cultural industries, and lagoon tourism are still in the initial stages of exploration and experimentation, thus failing to create a breakthrough in tourism. Hue also currently lacks comprehensive entertainment complexes and high-quality, renowned shows to attract and meet the diverse needs of tourists, as many other places have already done. Those who have visited Ba Na Hills, Vinpearl Nam Hoi An, the Vinpearl Nha Trang complex, or seen the "Memories of Hoi An" live performance will understand their importance in attracting and retaining tourists.

Hue still lacks distinctive shopping areas. Photo: Bao Phuoc

Shopping and consumption remain weak.

Hue still lacks distinctive, highly attractive shopping areas and unique souvenir products. Although Hue is being developed to become the "Ao Dai Capital" and the "Culinary Capital," the organization of these initiatives is still not systematic, professional, or truly appealing to tourists.

Due to limited supporting services, the average length of stay for tourists in Hue has not increased for many years (approximately 1.7 days/tourist), resulting in generally low average spending per tourist. The total number of visitors to Hue in 2025 is projected to be around 6.3 million, but only 1.982 million will stay overnight, accounting for only 31.4%. The number of visitors who do not stay overnight reaches 78.6%, demonstrating that Hue is still not attractive enough to encourage tourists to stay longer.

Tourist appeal is not yet high.

Hue is expected to experience a relatively high growth rate in tourist arrivals in 2025, but its scale and market share compared to neighboring localities and the country as a whole remain limited. In 2025, the country is projected to welcome approximately 21 million tourists, with Hue estimated to receive around 1.9 million international visitors, accounting for approximately 9.04%. Domestic tourists to Hue in 2025 are expected to reach around 4.4 million, representing about 2% of the total domestic tourist arrivals. Hue's tourism revenue this year is projected at 13,000 billion VND, representing less than 1% of the national tourism revenue.

Also this year, according to the Director of the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Truong Thi Hong Hanh, with the theme "New Da Nang - New Experiences," the city aims to attract more than 17.3 million overnight visitors, including 7.6 million international visitors, through a series of new tourism products, attractive incentives, and modern digital solutions in tourism with five main activity groups: discounted entrance fees, "3 experience passports" (Food Tour, Heritage Tour, Green Tour), a series of festival events, the "I love Da Nang" campaign, and the application of the "Da Nang SMILE" tourism culture criteria; the projected revenue is 30,000 billion VND. Thus, Hue's tourism is significantly lower than its neighboring city in terms of total visitor numbers, international visitors, and tourism revenue. This shows that Hue's tourism appeal still has certain limitations.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Hue has almost lost its South Korean tourist market. The number of South Korean visitors to Hue has decreased significantly, while destinations like Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, and Phu Quoc have seen a surge in visitors from this market. Discussing this issue, Mr. Vo Quang Lien Kha, a member of the Board of Directors and Deputy General Director of Vietravel Tourism Company, stated that Hue lost this market due to the lack of direct connecting flights, insufficient supporting services, and underdeveloped beach tourism. This is a market with a relatively large number of visitors to Vietnam currently.

It has not yet attracted major projects.

In recent times, various levels of government and city leaders have made great efforts to attract businesses to invest in tourism service projects, but the results have not been as desired. Currently, investment projects in this sector in Hue mainly focus on hotel construction, with few businesses investing in large-scale integrated service complexes like Ba Na Hills, Sun World Fansipan Legend, Vinpearl Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, and Nam Hoi An... Besides its traditional strengths in heritage, culture, and festivals, Hue has attracted investment in some golf course projects, but it still lags behind other places in developing new types of tourism and services that young tourists want to experience, such as modern cuisine, nightlife, entertainment, shopping, beach tourism, and lagoon tourism… Some large, highly anticipated projects registered for investment in the Canh Duong - Lang Co tourist area have either been slow to implement or have been delayed midway, failing to yield the desired results.

In reality, attracting investors to Hue's tourism sector remains challenging. Currently, the city has many prime land plots in the city center or along the coast, including the beautiful Lang Co Bay, yet after many years, they have failed to attract large-scale projects like Laguna. Why does a region with so much potential and strength in tourism fail to attract large-scale projects capable of leading the investment market in this sector? This is a question worth pondering and seeking answers to. The lack of supporting, high-quality tourism service projects capable of attracting tourists is precisely what has prevented Hue's tourism from experiencing explosive and breakthrough growth.

Tourism is a comprehensive economic sector. To achieve rapid and sustainable development, in addition to leveraging existing strengths, Hue needs solutions to address its current challenges.

Text: Tuan Ha - Photos: Huu Phuc

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/du-lich/du-lich-hue-khac-phuc-not-tram-de-phat-trien-ben-vung-160847.html