International tourists come to Hue by sea

Bright colors

In just 4 days of the 2024 "Countryside Market Festival" at Thanh Toan Tile Bridge (June 27-30), Thuy Thanh commune attracted more than 200,000 visitors to visit and experience. Visitors to the festival are not only locals, but also domestic and foreign tourists. Ms. Phan Thi Van Anh, from Binh Duong shared: "I am really impressed with the festival here. The idyllic scenery of the countryside, the festival activities bring visitors interesting emotions. Perhaps that is what makes visitors want to come here even though this place is outside the city."

In the first 6 months of 2024, Thua Thien Hue has many festival activities, especially the Hue International Arts Festival Week. The beauty of the landscape, the people of the ancient capital and the colorful festival events have created more attraction for Hue tourism. In the first 6 months of the year, the number of visitors to Hue is estimated at more than 1.95 million, an increase of 24.6% over the same period last year; of which, international visitors are estimated at more than 821,200, an increase of more than 42.6% over the same period last year.

The number of visitors staying in the first 6 months of the year marked a new growth rate, with 20.1% compared to the same period last year (estimated at 983,589 arrivals), of which international visitors staying were estimated at nearly 362,000 arrivals, an increase of 36% compared to the same period last year. The positive results brought tourism revenue up 10.9% compared to the same period last year, estimated at more than 4,000 billion VND.

"Ao Dai and cycling for the environment" activity organized by the Department of Tourism

In fact, tourism in Huong Ngu region has not only grown in terms of the number of visitors. The good news is that accommodation facilities in Hue have once again been honored by prestigious international organizations. In addition to Silk Path Hue Hotel winning the title of ASEAN Green Hotel 2024 in the MICE venue category and Vedana Lagoon Resort Hotel (Phu Loc district) being honored in the category of Best Hotel Architecture at the "Asia Pacific Property Awards 2023 - 2024" award announcement ceremony, recently, the world's leading travel website Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau version announced the list of candidates winning the prestigious Luxury Awards Asia Pacific 2024, in which Azerai La Residence Hue was named. This hotel was ranked No. 1 in the category of Best Upcountry Hotels in Vietnam (the best suburban hotel in Vietnam). In addition to Azerai La Residence Hue, Banyan Tree Lang Co and Alba Wellness Valley By Fusion were also honored with high rankings in this category and the Hotel Spas category.

Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Director of the Department of Tourism, shared that the notable point is that the honored Hue hotels are all accommodation establishments that focus on resort and health care services - which Hue tourism is focusing on exploiting. It can be seen that the awards tend to see Hue as a destination for health care tourism - a product that actively supports cultural heritage tourism, which is considered the core product of Hue. "The tourism industry has been linking, exploiting and developing health care tourism. Recently, Hue tourism organized a famtrip program through many tourist destinations in line with the regional linkage trend. Notably, the health care services for body and mind in Hue that travel businesses experience have been sold to customers, starting from March 9, 2024," Mr. Phuc shared.

Another good news is that Hue's tourism infrastructure has just received another plus point when the La Vela Hue Hotel was recognized as a 5-star hotel by the Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, increasing the number of 5-star hotels in Hue to 9. In addition, there are 2 luxury beach resorts in Vinh Thanh and Lang Co with a scale of over 100 rooms preparing to come into operation. Having more luxury hotels will help Hue better meet the needs of tourists.

Bringing Hue tourism far and wide

Hue tourism has entered the first half of 2024 and is approaching the goal of attracting 3,500 - 4,000 visitors. Looking at the tourism picture in recent times and the assessments of the international community, the press and tourists from all over the world, the milestone set for Hue tourism in early 2024 can be achieved.

Hue tourism is expanding and strongly developing domestic and foreign tourist markets. Mr. Truong Thanh Minh, Director of the Tourism Promotion Information Center, said that the opening of the international tourist market is being effectively implemented by the provincial tourism industry. A positive sign is that Thua Thien Hue is connecting to develop a regular charter flight route with Taiwan (China) to Phu Bai International Airport, expected in early September 2024. On the sea route, the Department of Tourism and related units have had a working program with Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) to strengthen cooperation, improve the infrastructure of Chan May - Lang Co port, optimize immigration and customs procedures as well as add activities to bring visitors unique experiences about the beauty and culture of Vietnam in general and Thua Thien Hue in particular.

The Central Heritage Connection Tourist Train (Hue - Da Nang) is the result of cooperation between Thua Thien Hue province, Da Nang city and Vietnam Railways Corporation, operating from the end of March 2024, diversifying the forms of transportation to Hue, and is a "hot" experience product in this year's summer tourist season.

In addition to the construction, renovation and improvement of tourism products, the provincial tourism industry also carries out tourism promotion and advertising activities through many channels. In particular, the provincial tourism industry continues to have a program to attract Bloggers, KOLs, Vlogs, and inspirational figures to Hue to bring the image of Hue tourism further through social platforms. This solution will be implemented more strongly in the coming time, to quickly spread the image of Hue as a safe, friendly and attractive tourist destination in the community.

Mr. Phuc shared that Hue, as the leader of the tourism development linkage group of 5 localities: Thua Thien Hue - Da Nang - Quang Nam - Quang Binh - Quang Tri, the provincial Department of Tourism is focusing on doing a good job of linking with a number of key provinces/cities and regions across the country and participating in regional tourism promotion activities in 2024. Many promotional linkage programs at a number of annual domestic tourism fairs or promotional programs abroad have increasingly brought the tourism image of the region in general, Thua Thien Hue in particular, to the tourism business community and tourists around the world.

The remaining time of the year is not too much, but enough for the smokeless industry in Hue to continue writing happy stories. In addition to implementing solutions to upgrade tourism products, services and promotion, Hue tourism will organize well activities, festival events, creating highlights to attract visitors to the Ancient Capital.

In addition, Thua Thien Hue is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be the host locality for the National Tourism Year 2025. This will be a great opportunity for the province and the tourism industry to review and have orientations to prepare forces, activities and products to launch next year, focusing on strong communication on information channels about this major event.

Article and photos: HUU PHUC