The silence of Quang Nam tourism

International visitors visit Hoi An Ancient Town during the recent April 30 - May 1 holiday. Photo: QUOC TUAN

No surprise

According to statistics from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism as well as reports from localities, the top 10 provinces and cities that welcomed the most tourists during the April 30 - May 1 holiday were: Ho Chi Minh City, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Hanoi, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Ninh Binh, Hai Phong, Da Nang. Ranked lowest in the above list is Da Nang City, which also welcomed 610 thousand visitors, more than double that of Quang Nam (about 282 thousand).

Similarly, 9/10 localities that welcomed the largest number of visitors achieved the largest tourism revenue during the recent holiday, except Hai Phong, which was replaced by Kien Giang. Quang Nam does not have statistics on this indicator, in fact, if there is no breakthrough, being out of this list is inevitable as in the past many years.

According to the leader of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam , tourism statistics are only relative. In addition, these statistics also have different calculation methods between localities, so it is difficult to accurately reflect reality, thereby correctly analyzing the market and tourism sales...

It is worth pondering that in recent years, in some important indicators, Quang Nam tourism industry has always had a quite high position. For example, in welcoming international visitors, for many consecutive years Quang Nam has been in the top 5 localities nationwide.

Or as with the tourism development index ranking, Quang Nam also ranked 7th. In addition, many units and destinations in Quang Nam are familiar names of international tourism awards.

This reflects the fact that Quang Nam tourism brand is very famous, the resources and related factors of local tourism are also full of potential but have not been exploited in depth, leading to disproportionate benefits.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism acknowledged that Quang Nam tourism has many similar products while facing fierce competition between destinations in the region and the whole country.

What is the solution to improve?

Revenue from entrance tickets is significant for world heritage sites in the province today, but there are currently many problems, especially with Hoi An Ancient Town.

Quang Nam sea tourism finds it difficult to generate large revenues in the absence of unique sea entertainment products and services. Photo: QUOC TUAN

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Son - Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee, the entrance fee to Hoi An ancient town is currently the lowest among world heritage sites nationwide (80,000 VND/Vietnamese visitor and 120,000 VND/international visitor) while this is a "living heritage" so ticket management is difficult, leading to great losses.

The My Son Temple Complex relies almost solely on revenue from entrance tickets (nearly 65 billion VND in 2024) while failing to take advantage of attracting visitors to lead the creation of other sources of revenue. It is known that the total revenue from other sources in 2024 is only over 7 billion VND, very modest compared to the status of a world cultural heritage.

Recently, some ideas proposed by tourism businesses on developing water sports, sea accommodation, night economy, etc. in the province have encountered difficulties and cannot be implemented for various reasons.

Reality from localities shows that to increase revenue from tourism, it is necessary to provide tourists with high-class entertainment services in addition to branded destinations.

“Your localities are currently promoting tourism very strongly, while Hoi An’s professional agencies have recently been hesitant about proposals for developing new products and pilot projects from businesses. If we do not boldly research and implement them, we will fall behind other destinations,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Son.

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the department has sent a written recommendation to the competent authority requesting the Government and central ministries and branches to pay attention and promote the policy for Chu Lai airport to meet standards, open international flights to Quang Nam; Quang Nam seaport to meet type I standards to receive ships up to 50,000 tons, serving domestic and international tourists.

At the same time, develop about 10 golf courses that meet standards for domestic and international sports and tourism in Tam Ky, Dien Ban, Nui Thanh, Thang Binh, Duy Xuyen, Dai Loc, and Nong Son.

When these plans come true, Quang Nam's infrastructure capacity to welcome visitors and tourism services will be greatly improved, creating the premise for Quang Nam to attract high-quality visitors and increase revenue for local tourism.