Linking tourism development to tap into tourist markets.

The highways passing through the province (the Dau Giay - Phan Thiet and Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao sections), officially opened in 2023, have created an additional advantage in attracting tourists to Binh Thuan , especially from nearby provinces and cities in the South. Following the approval of the Binh Thuan Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, by the Prime Minister, the local tourism industry is continuing to consider exploiting more distant tourist markets…

Top destination expectations

It can be said that the province's achievement of welcoming 8.35 million tourists last year (an increase of approximately 46% compared to the previous year) is due to the locality taking advantage of many favorable factors, such as: hosting the National Tourism Year 2023 - Binh Thuan - Green Convergence, and the opening of several sections of expressways. Especially during the peak summer tourism season of 2023, the province welcomed an average of over 800,000 tourists per month thanks to the significantly shortened travel time from Ho Chi Minh City to the "resort capital," which was only about two hours. In the first two months of this year, Binh Thuan recorded nearly 1.45 million tourists (a 7.3% increase compared to the same period) visiting the province for vacation, with 205,000 tourists visiting and staying during the Lunar New Year holiday (a 28% increase compared to last year's Tet holiday). In fact, the majority of tourists choosing to visit the southernmost coastal region of Central Vietnam recently come from the country's most promising market: Ho Chi Minh City and some southern provinces.

luot-van-dieu-o-mui-ne-anh-n.-lan-.jpg — Binh Thuan is a popular destination for tourists who enjoy water sports and recreation. Photo: N. Lan

Following approval by the Prime Minister, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province recently held a ceremony to officially announce the Binh Thuan Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050. With numerous potentials and advantages, the new planning period aims to create a breakthrough in all aspects, making tourism a key economic sector of the province. The goal is that by 2030, Binh Thuan, with the Mui Ne National Tourist Area as its core, will become one of the leading destinations in the Asia-Pacific region and internationally. Furthermore, Binh Thuan tourism will play a crucial role in the tourism system of the South Central Coast region and the entire country…

With the aspiration to become a leading destination in the region, Binh Thuan aims to welcome 16 million tourists by 2030 (of which international tourists account for 15-20%) with tourism revenue reaching approximately 63,000 billion VND. In the short term, in 2024, the locality strives to achieve the target of welcoming 9.5 million tourists (including approximately 320,000 international tourists) with total revenue exceeding 25,000 billion VND, thereby maintaining its position as one of the 9 provinces and cities with the highest tourism revenue in the country…

With a coastline stretching over 190 km, Binh Thuan possesses many potentials and advantages for tourism development (Illustrative image).

Links to attract customers

According to Binh Thuan's tourism development plan, to achieve targets for increased visitor numbers and revenue each year, in addition to enhancing competitiveness in attracting tourists from southern provinces and cities, Binh Thuan must also exploit more distant tourist markets. This includes considering the formation of vertical development linkages (North-South direction) associated with the North-South national railway and road networks to maximize the strengths of coastal and island tourism, water sports, coastal scenery, and cuisine… Especially linking with Da Nang, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau to form a chain of coastal tourism products including resorts, sightseeing, and beach entertainment…

Horizontally (East-West direction), priority will be given to developing tourism associated with promoting the cultural values of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands and exploiting natural landscapes and the tourism potential of mountainous forests in conjunction with Mui Ne beach tourism. This linkage will focus on attracting tourists from the Central Highlands provinces while also accessing the markets of Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia through international border gates in these provinces… Meanwhile, the "tourism triangle" linkage of Binh Thuan - Lam Dong - Ho Chi Minh City will continue to be implemented in the direction of linking tours and routes to connect the typical product "Saigon Market - Da Lat Flowers - Phan Thiet Beach" to promote attracting tourists to visit and experience the unique characteristics of the three localities.

It is expected that, via air transport, once Phan Thiet airport becomes operational, it will connect Binh Thuan with Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, etc., to focus on exploiting potential domestic tourist markets.

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