Extending the tourism route to the highlands.

The project to upgrade and expand National Highway 609, the section passing through Dai Loc - Dong Giang, will shorten travel time from Hoi An - My Son to Dong Giang Heaven's Gate when completed. Photo: QT

Extending the journey from east to west.

The ancient town of Hoi An and the My Son Sanctuary are two UNESCO World Heritage sites recognized in 1999. After 25 years, these two destinations still maintain their role as the "nucleus" of Quang Nam's tourism ecosystem.

The Hoi An - My Son connecting tour is particularly popular with international tourists and has been included in the list of must-experience destinations in Vietnam.

According to tourism businesses, in addition to brand appeal, Hoi An and My Son have a natural and cultural connection, and furthermore, the short travel distance (less than 40km), coupled with increasingly convenient transportation since the completion of Giao Thuy Bridge, inevitably contributes to the development of this tour route.

Further west, the official opening of the Dong Giang Heaven's Gate Tourist Area (nearly 90km from My Son Sanctuary) after two years of operation, with its gradually improving range of distinctive products, is expected to extend the Hoi An - My Son - Dong Giang Heaven's Gate tour route.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FVG Group, the investor of the Dong Giang Heaven's Gate Eco-tourism Area, said that when investing in the northwestern mountainous region of Quang Nam, they recognized that regional tourism linkages would face many difficulties. Therefore, from the beginning, they determined to invest comprehensively in four criteria: exploratory tourism, spiritual tourism, resort tourism, and promoting the cultural identity of the local people. In particular, maintaining and developing the cultural identity of the Co Tu people is considered the core and guiding principle throughout the development process.

"We expect that with Hoi An's historical and cultural tourism brand, the unique architecture of the My Son temple complex, and the addition of the distinctive products from the Dong Giang Heaven's Gate eco-tourism area, a high-class tourism triangle will be formed in Quang Nam in the near future," said Mr. Nguyen Anh Tan.

The Dong Giang Heaven's Gate Eco-tourism Area hopes that the 1.6km cable car line will undergo technical trial operation this June before officially opening, creating a breakthrough in attracting tourists to extend their journey from Hoi An - My Son to the highlands of the province.

Mr. Ho Quang Buu, Acting Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, stated: "It can be said that the Hoi An - My Son - Dong Giang tourist route is an extremely unique and rare tourism axis in the region, with many distinctive values ​​in both nature and culture. The destinations along this axis are actively creating many new products, and we hope they will develop strongly in the future."

Additional power steering needs to be activated.

The Quang Nam Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, identifies Hoi An - Dien Ban - Dai Loc as the province's number one driving force cluster. It can be seen that the "triangle" of Hoi An - My Son - Dong Giang Heaven's Gate also partly follows this route, and promoting the aforementioned tourism axis in the future is feasible.

However, the most obvious obstacle remains the rather inadequate transportation infrastructure. For example, traveling from Hoi An to My Son can be easily done via provincial roads DT610 or DT609 (the section passing through Dien Ban and then turning onto Giao Thuy bridge) and then joining DT610, taking approximately one hour.

However, the journey from Hoi An to the Dong Giang Heaven's Gate Eco-tourism Area takes nearly 3 hours, even though the distance is only a little over 100km.

The reason is that the project to upgrade and expand Provincial Road 609 from Dai Hung commune (Dai Loc district) to Ma Cooih commune (Dong Giang district), which started in early 2023, is still not completed.

Once the DT609 road from Dai Loc to Dong Giang is upgraded, the number of visitors to Dong Giang Heaven's Gate will increase significantly because this is the shortest route connecting Dong Giang with the heritage sites of Quang Nam, including from Da Nang City.

The idea of ​​expanding the Hoi An - My Son link is not new; previously, some outlying areas of these two destinations were connected to the itinerary, especially destinations in Dien Ban, but they failed to attract tourists. Dong Giang Heaven's Gate will have much work to do if it is to be integrated into this heritage route.

According to Ms. Pham Que Anh, Vice President of the Quang Nam Tourism Association and Director of Hoi An Express Trading, Service and Tourism Company, the cable car is a new highlight to attract tourists, but Dong Giang Heaven's Gate also needs to study the addition of more green spaces, water parks, and increased integration of local ethnic activities to create more appeal for international tourists.

“In the future, if we want to boost this tourism axis, relevant parties need to implement a connection between the Hoi An and Dong Giang routes. At the same time, the Dong Giang Sky Gate should also combine with Hoi An and My Son destinations to develop 2-day, 1-night or longer packages and invite businesses operating in the international market to conduct surveys. We need to strengthen promotional information and stimulus programs to attract visitors to the Dong Giang Sky Gate, especially domestic tourists from the North and South, and international tourists,” said Ms. Que Anh.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/noi-dai-truc-du-lich-len-vung-cao-3136897.html