South Central Coast: Beach tourism lacks appeal

The South Central provinces have great potential for marine tourism thanks to their many beautiful beaches, along with famous islands, archipelagos, and coastal bays. However, tourism activities in many places are still fragmented and small-scale, with unsynchronized infrastructure investment, leading to overload and environmental consequences.

Fragmented, spontaneous

After nearly 4 years of returning to Ham Tien - Mui Ne (Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province), Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuyen (living in Ho Chi Minh City) shared: "Coming to Mui Ne, I haven't seen many services, tourists have few options, other than... swimming in the sea. At night, there aren't many night economic activities here, so it feels boring quickly. The beaches are too full of trash."

Mr. Tran Anh Thi ( tourism expert) commented that Mui Ne - Ham Tien in particular, Binh Thuan in general, has a long coastline, rarely has storms, so it is ideal for tourism development. "However, Mui Ne tourism is like a goose that lays golden eggs... and is forgotten. For more than 20 years, foreign visitors to Mui Ne only eat and sleep. If the quality of products is not improved, and accompanying services are not increased, tourists will gradually leave Mui Ne," Mr. Thi commented.

For Phu Quy island district, if in 2019 it only welcomed about 42,000 tourists, by 2024 this number had increased to nearly 155,000 visitors. According to the Binh Thuan Province Tourism Association, Phu Quy island currently has over 100 hotels and homestays with nearly 2,800 beds. However, Phu Quy island mainly welcomes seasonal visitors, leading to businesses being unable to cover operating costs.

In addition, with a population of over 32,000 people, along with an increasing number of tourists, the environment on the island district is being threatened. “Waste is everywhere, there is a lack of clean water, tourism services are mostly spontaneous, fragmented, small-scale, ... causing Phu Quy island to be overloaded, especially during the peak tourist season of summer, holidays, and Tet,” Mr. Tran Sung (owner of a tourism establishment on Phu Quy island) worried.

Tourists visit Ham Tien - Mui Ne (Binh Thuan province), Photo: NGUYEN TIEN

Khanh Hoa province has a coastline of over 380km, owning Van Phong, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh bays, all 3 of which are considered beautiful bays in the world. However, Ms. Akniyet (a tourist from Kazakhstan) shared after the tour of Nha Trang bay (Khanh Hoa province) that she was disappointed that she had not been able to immerse herself in the traditional cultural values ​​of the local sea; after 10pm, there were not many places for entertainment, recreation and shopping open like in some tourist cities in other Asian countries.

Mr. Cung Quynh Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa province, also frankly acknowledged that the province's sea and island tourism is facing many problems, such as: some areas are developing fragmentedly and on a small scale, without many unique and novel products to attract visitors. In particular, the overexploitation of resources affects sustainable development. Typically, coral reefs and marine life in some places in Nha Trang Bay are seriously degraded due to tourism activities.

Towards “green”, sustainable tourism

Tourism expert Tran Anh Thi said that in order for Ham Tien - Mui Ne tourism in particular and Binh Thuan tourism in general to develop to its full potential, first of all, people with a mindset and passion for tourism are needed; tourism products, especially resort tourism, health tourism, etc., need to be constantly renewed, creating many new and unique products to attract tourists to stay for a long time; the problems of waste and environmental pollution need to be thoroughly resolved.

Mr. Tran Van Binh, Vice Chairman of the Binh Thuan Tourism Association, noted the need to develop the night-time economy, exploit indigenous culture, and traditional craft village culture to diversify tourism products in Binh Thuan. In particular, resort tourism and MICE tourism (conference, seminar, and event tourism) need to be promoted to attract high-end, high-spending tourists. For tourism in Phu Quy island district, in order to avoid “overloading the environment”, it is necessary to change and calculate appropriate customer segments.

Mr. Cung Quynh Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa province, shared that after 10 times of organization, the Sea Festival has become a unique cultural event honoring the beauty of the sea and islands of Vietnam in general and Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa in particular; or the Nha Trang City People's Committee implementing the Project to develop green and sustainable community tourism in Bich Dam Residential Group (on Hon Tre Island), has created new tourism products, created sustainable livelihoods for local people, contributing to the conservation and development of marine biodiversity.

“The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa province has advised the Provincial People's Committee to approve the Green Tourism Standards, helping businesses grasp and adjust their business activities in the direction of minimizing negative impacts on the environment, contributing to the green and sustainable development of Khanh Hoa tourism industry,” said Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Khanh Hoa province Cung Quynh Anh.

According to NGUYEN TIEN - HIEU GIANG (SGGPO)

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/nam-trung-bo-du-lich-bien-thieu-suc-hut-post322917.html