Tourists visit Hue Ecolodge

Infrastructure synchronization

The project to upgrade Bui Thi Xuan Street was approved for investment in Package 27 of the Project for the Development of Type 2 Urban Areas, invested by the Department of Planning and Investment. The route is nearly 3km long, connecting Long Tho Bridge to Luong Quan area, which is considered the main route bringing tourists to Thuy Bieu garden house tourist areas. After the construction period, the traffic infrastructure of the entire route is basically completed, the investor is constructing sidewalks and some related items. Although the route has not been open for long, the appearance and convenience that the project brings to tourists to Thuy Bieu garden house tourist areas are clearly visible when the number of visitors increases dramatically.

Manager of Hue Ecolodge resort (No. 2 Luong Quan, Thuy Bieu), Ms. Tran Thi Kim Lai said that in the past, every time tourists came to visit or stay at Hue Ecolodge by 45-seat tourist car, they had to stop at Long Tho bridge to transfer because the bridge was weak. Meanwhile, most of Hue Ecolodge's guests were foreign tourists and they often chose 45-seat cars to travel, so not only were tourists dissatisfied with the tourism infrastructure, but travel agencies also complained and "cut down" on tours, so the number of visitors decreased significantly.

“After the completion of Bui Thi Xuan Street, the number of tourists booking tours and staying at Hue Ecolodge increased dramatically, with many travel agencies responding positively. The company also reduced costs compared to before, so it continued to invest in improving infrastructure to meet the increasing needs of tourists. Accordingly, Hue Ecolodge currently has more than 50 rooms along with restaurants and additional services with a room occupancy rate of 65-80%,” Ms. Lai happily said.

Tourists cycle to visit Thuy Bieu garden house at the beginning of Luong Quan street.

Mr. Antoine Mercier, a French tourist, shared: “I have been to Vietnam, to Hue and stayed at Hue Ecolodge many times. But this time it feels great when the traffic infrastructure is complete so I can cycle around the garden houses, visit the craft villages on the spacious roads.”

Recently, dozens of households in the area of ​​the Nhu Y riverside walking street have also benefited from the project to build embankments and walking streets along the Nhu Y river. With a length of nearly 1.6km from Dap Da (Phu Hoi ward) to Van Duong bridge (Xuan Phu ward), the route not only contributes to creating a new look for Hue city but also helps households develop the economy . In particular, many tourism and beverage service businesses have taken advantage of the frontage of the walking street to invest in building homestays and cafes to serve tourists, creating a lively space for the entire riverside area.

According to Ms. Ngoc Minh, the owner of a coffee shop on the walking street along the Nhu Y River, her coffee shop used to be located on a small alley on Nguyen Cong Tru Street, mainly serving ordinary customers with a moderate number of customers. After the project on the walking street along the Nhu Y River was implemented, she invested in rebuilding the shop and changed the frontage of the shop from the Nguyen Cong Tru alley to the riverside, so now it has quite a lot of customers, including tourists.

Connecting urban infrastructure

In the first 9 months of 2024, the number of tourists to Hue reached 2.58 million, the number of overnight visitors was estimated at 1.4 million, an increase of 27.2% over the same period; tourism revenue in the first 9 months reached 4,958 billion VND, an increase of 38.3%. In particular, many festival, cultural, artistic, sports activities and programs within the framework of Hue Festival 2024 were organized with quality, attracting a large number of tourists to Hue.

Along with the completed and ongoing projects, the People's Committee of Hue City recently decided to invest in the project to improve the banks of the Huong River combined with the boat dock along Bui Thi Xuan Park, with a total investment of more than 14 billion VND. The investment goal of the project is to contribute to urban improvement, greening, and reinforcement of the banks of the Huong River, creating a tourist highlight on both sides of the Huong River combined with the boat dock along Bui Thi Xuan Park to serve tourism and socio-economic development.

To stimulate demand and attract visitors, along with investing in completing infrastructure, in the coming time, Hue City will continue to focus on urban connection projects, traffic, sidewalks, lighting, while enhancing urban utilities, such as: walking paths, parking lots, surveillance cameras, public toilets; investing in inner-city roads, roads of wards and communes in the suburbs, contributing to making the city's appearance increasingly clean and beautiful, gradually creating breakthroughs in infrastructure, space, tourist landscape, and services in the area.

According to Secretary of Hue City Party Committee Phan Thien Dinh, the city has identified tourism and services as the key economic sectors, the focus of the city's economy. In the coming time, we will continue to invest in completing urban infrastructure in general, infrastructure to tourist attractions in the area in particular, to stimulate demand and attract visitors. Along with that, we will invest in completing night streets, walking streets, tourism and service infrastructure to develop the night economy; in which, we will pay attention to improving the quality of tourism products, night services, Hue cuisine, developing in conjunction with the reasonable, effective, and sustainable exploitation of cultural products, arts, cultural heritages, natural resources, and environmental landscapes; contributing to building, preserving, promoting, and popularizing the traditional cultural values ​​and Hue urban civilization, promoting socio-economic development in the city.

Article and photos: Thanh Huong