'There are few localities that have the conditions to develop tourism economy like Da Nang'

- Many surveys show that Da Nang is the most attractive destination in the summer of 2023, especially when the DIFF 2023 International Fireworks Festival takes place. Could you please evaluate the current overview of Da Nang tourism ?

With an area of half that of Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang is a city with rivers, mountains, and seas with beautiful natural landscapes that are attractive to tourists. There are few cities in our country that have a diverse tourism ecosystem like Da Nang. Da Nang is also located between three world cultural heritages: the ancient capital of Hue, the ancient town of Hoi An and the holy land of My Son, with a distance that visitors can travel back and forth in a day. To develop the tourism economy , there are few localities in our country that have favorable conditions like Da Nang.

Dr. Luong Hoai Nam: 'There are few localities that have the conditions to develop tourism economy like Da Nang' - 1

In recent years, Da Nang has paid great attention to developing tourism infrastructure. InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort has been honored four times by the World Travel Association (WTA) as the most luxurious resort in the world . In 2017, it was chosen as the venue for the APEC Summit and is also a familiar destination for the world's super-rich.

Sun World Ba Na Hills tourist area was also honored by WTA as the world's leading iconic tourist area, with the Golden Bridge that has made waves in the international media since its launch and has a very strong tourist attraction. Than Tai Mountain Hot Spring Park and Da Nang International Fireworks Festival DIFF are also impressive highlights for domestic and international tourists.

- With natural conditions and quality infrastructure, which segment should Da Nang's tourism development strategy focus on, sir?

With 3.5 million international visitors to Da Nang in 2019 (the year before the COVID-19 pandemic), Da Nang is the third largest international tourist destination and the largest beach tourism destination in Vietnam.

However, looking at the structure of international tourists to Da Nang, the proportion of rich and super-rich tourists is still very small. International tourists to Da Nang are still mainly from the low-income segment. The two largest source markets are South Korea and China, accounting for 70% of total international tourists, followed by three markets Thailand, Japan and the US (accounting for about 15%).

To exploit the strengths of Da Nang tourism, raise the level of the destination and increase the average revenue of international visitors, Da Nang tourism development strategy needs to target rich and super rich tourists. This is not the goal of Da Nang tourism alone, but of Vietnam tourism in general, but Da Nang has more favorable conditions to realize it than other localities.

Da Nang tourism has many advantages to attract rich and super-rich tourists. (Photo: Sun Group)

- Attracting high-end or even super high-end customers is always a difficult problem for the tourism industry. What are the bottlenecks that are hindering this goal and what solutions do you propose for the future?

To turn Da Nang into a destination for rich and super-rich tourists, Da Nang needs to raise and solve (or promote the solving) some important issues as follows:

Firstly, it is necessary to invest in some high-end tourism infrastructure items such as international-class marinas; expand Da Nang airport with a new modern passenger terminal, VIP terminal and parking lot for private jets and helicopters. There needs to be a solution so that Da Nang in particular and Vietnam in general can soon have high-end tourist helicopters and medical helicopters because these are the services that rich foreigners want to have in their tourist destinations.

Second, develop a number of super-rich real estate projects, with villas built on hectares of land with optional designs and long enough land use terms, to sell to the world's super-rich - those who will bring their yachts and private jets to Da Nang many times a year.

If we can do this with some foreign billionaires, Da Nang's tourism brand will be significantly enhanced. Encouraging the sale of real estate to rich foreigners is the policy of many countries in the world (some rich Vietnamese also buy real estate abroad).

Third, strongly develop the night-time economy, mainly tourism services, develop many tourism spaces that can operate 24/7 such as Ba Na Hills, Asia Park. Develop tourism services along both banks of the Han River in an approach that all waterfront spaces must be public, without barriers. The Han River should have a kilometer-long riverwalk with lots of trees along both banks.

Da Nang needs to add more high-quality urban real estate. (Perspective photo illustrating Sun Group)

Fourth, at the service level, it is necessary to design and market many services to serve the rich and super rich such as VVIP weddings, VVIP birthdays, high-end parties with Michelin star chefs.

And finally, improving the tourist visa policy. Most recently, the National Assembly has made a decision on this, increasing the duration of electronic visas (e-visas) from 30 to 90 days.

- With such strong reforms, can Da Nang refer to any successful lessons to apply in practice, sir?

It is difficult to find a tropical city with similar conditions to Da Nang to learn about tourism development, but in terms of super-rich tourism, we can look at what is available in famous tourist destinations in the Mediterranean (Italy, Spain, Monaco, Greece, Türkiye, etc.) and the Caribbean islands, where the super-rich flock to with super yachts, private jets (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), and where the super-rich spend a lot of money to buy magnificent mansions.

For example, British billionaire Richard Branson bought the 30-hectare Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) as a vacation and remote working place. The rich travel to these high-end tourist destinations on their super yachts, private jets with their families, friends, and partners, and of course, no country requires them to apply for a visa.

The rich do not mind spending tens of dollars on visa fees, but they want destination countries to treat them well, and visa exemption is one way countries show respect for them.

A small “city-state” like Singapore, with an area of 2/3 of Da Nang, with less diverse natural conditions, but has more international visitors than the whole of Vietnam (in 2019, Singapore reached more than 19 million international visitors, compared to 18 million visitors to Vietnam) and has higher international tourism revenue than the whole of Vietnam. That is what we need to consider and act on.

Bao Anh

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