Identifying "bottlenecks" of Lam Dong tourism

Lavender Resorts with lavender beds covering the mountainside and an outdoor stage with a capacity of up to 4,000 seats in Tuyen Lam Lake National Tourist Area is building a strategy to attract foreign tourists.

• PRODUCTS... SIMILAR TO EACH OTHER

Da Lat - an attractive tourist destination of Lam Dong, is likened to a "tourist paradise", a city of flowers, a festival city, a dreamy city and many other titles... It is also impossible to count how many tourist destinations Da Lat has, with typical and unique types of tourism such as: sightseeing and resort tourism, cultural - community tourism, eco-tourism, agricultural tourism, adventure sports tourism... But it is easy to see that most of the tourism businesses in Lam Dong are medium, small and micro-sized.

Tuyen Lam Lake National Tourist Area (KDLQG) has a larger scale of projects, including 37 projects and a total registered investment capital of about 10 trillion VND; however, after more than 20 years of implementation, up to now, only 15 projects have been put into commercial operation. Excluding Truc Lam Zen Monastery as a destination for spiritual tourism, other projects are mainly about resort tourism, ecology, picnics and entertainment... Tourists know a lot about golf courses (of SAM Tuyen Lam Golf & Resorts), or adventure sports tourism (canyoning, high rope couse, zipline, slides... of KDL Datanla), clay tunnels (Dalattourist)... Because of the similar types of business products, many businesses in the Tuyen Lam Lake National Tourist Area said that they do not have connections with other units in the tourism industry and in the Tuyen Lam Lake National Tourist Area itself; Or another fact is that many tourists and Lam Dong people know very little about Tuyen Lam Lake National Tourist Area...

Da Lat also formed many tourist routes in the direction of Cau Dat, Mimosa Pass, Ta Nung Pass, Suoi Vang ...; but in each route, tourists only stop at 1 - 2 sightseeing spots, because the typical products are the same: sightseeing, picnicking to take pictures; with a few different experiences according to the season, such as: cloud hunting, making wind-dried persimmons, cycling, SUP rowing ... Mr. Tuong Huu Loc - Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Province Tourism Association, said: It is the "hot" development of tourist spots that creates the feeling of "both craving and getting bored quickly". Visitors to tourist spots only have the matter of taking pictures to check in. Lack of cultural depth - is the pain of Da Lat - Lam Dong tourism.

Lam Dong's traditional cultural identity will be even more unique when the province merges.

• NEED TO INVEST IN DEPTH

Sharing the same idea with Mr. Loc, according to Ms. Dung Tran - Manager of Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort: Ana Mandara tourist area brings the heritage story and cultural connotation of ancient villas in the tourist area as a highlight for its activities and to attract visitors... Da Lat currently owns 4 world heritages recognized by UNESCO, namely: Intangible cultural heritage "Cultural space of Gong of the Central Highlands"; Documentary heritage "Nguyen Dynasty Woodblocks", Lang Biang is a "World Biosphere Reserve", Da Lat is a Global Creative City in the field of Music and is building a profile for Da Lat City to become a World Heritage City by 2025.

In addition, in Lam Dong province, there are 37 relics (including 2 special national relics, 18 national relics, 17 provincial relics), 32 craft villages (21 traditional craft villages, 14 craft villages associated with tourism)... However, not many relics and craft villages are known to tourists; and if they do visit, such as Da Lat College, there is a lack of services, Dinh I is closed and there is no replacement unit to exploit; craft villages, such as pottery making or silver ring casting in Don Duong, lack both tourists and raw materials, and are at risk of being lost...

Ms. Doan Ngoc Bich - Executive Director of Tam Trinh Coffee Experiences - Tam Trinh Coffee Experience Tourist Destination, shared: Tam Trinh has 40 years of commercial activities in the coffee industry, but has only entered the tourism industry for about 3 years. Tam Trinh's biggest difficulty is the geographical distance, far from the center. Therefore, Tam Trinh has oriented to create a different segment in tourism products to attract tourists. That is the coffee experience and vegetarian buffet. With a time of 2 hours experiencing the differences at Tam Trinh Coffee Experiences, nearly 1 hour of travel from Da Lat has not disappointed tourists... Because of this difference, Tam Trinh has built connections not only in the tourism industry, but also linked with educational and vocational training institutions...

• OPPORTUNITY TO REDRAW LAM DONG TOURISM MAP

Since the beginning of the year, Da Lat tourism has recorded a decline in the Korean tourist market; while 2 years ago, there was a time when hotels were competing to book rooms for Korean tourists... The lack of Korean tourists is partly due to the saturated market, there is no negotiation between travel agencies to attract Korean tourists; besides, the information that in the near future, Lien Khuong airport will be closed for upgrading, tourists will have to change routes from Cam Ranh airport, which will also greatly affect the plans of travel agencies...

According to Mr. Doan Hai Dang - General Director of Worldtrans: Learning from the experiences of Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Da Nang a few years ago, when they only focused on and were trapped by the series (chain of bookings) of Chinese or Russian guests..., Lam Dong should focus on prioritizing the exploitation of domestic tourists... When it is strong enough, it should orient the flow of foreign tourists based on differences, such as cool Da Lat, European tourists should go to Phan Thiet, and Da Lat should exploit the West Asian tourist market (desert, hot, dry...).

Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Duy - Executive Director of Lavender Resort said that he has traveled to many places and when working in Da Lat, his own feeling and that of tourists is that Da Lat is too sad, lacking many activities to attract tourists, as well as lacking high-class services... Mr. Duy also shared the company's orientation in the coming time, in addition to providing accommodation services, the unit will invest in event organization; focusing on large events and international events to be able to bring international tourists to Vietnam and Da Lat...

Planning is also an issue that affects tourism businesses. Mr. Tuong Huu Loc analyzed: Just comparing with Nha Trang or Phan Thiet, we can see that Da Lat - Lam Dong is very disadvantaged in terms of infrastructure. Da Lat has many small hotels in the central area, lack of parking, many business owners but few employees. The number of rooms per unit area is too low, so the high cost leads to high prices. It can be seen very clearly, with the same area, but Nha Trang can build hotels with hundreds of rooms, while Da Lat can only build a few dozen rooms. MICE tourism is also called a strong point of Da Lat tourism, but the capacity and service prices for conferences and seminars in Da Lat - Lam Dong are also very high, and no conference and seminar room has an area of ​​1,000 seats... Lam Dong will soon be merged with Binh Thuan and Dak Nong with the largest area in the country and including all 54 ethnic groups. Thus, tourism resources, including cultural identity, will certainly be richer; along with diverse terrain connected from mountainous areas to coastal areas, from borders to islands; as well as unique and special destinations, such as: Da Lat, Phu Quy, Mui Ne, Ta Dung, Krong No Volcanic Geopark... will be an advantage if the tourism business community of Lam Dong can link together to create different values...

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/du-lich/202505/nhan-dien-diem-nghen-cua-du-lich-lam-dong-3553ee6/