Sam Son reaps huge profits, carrying the Thanh Hoa tourism team.

On January 16th, Sam Son City, Thanh Hoa province, held a conference to summarize tourism activities in 2023 and plan tasks for 2024.

Sầm Sơn bội thu, — A view of Sam Son coastal tourist city, Thanh Hoa province.

Sam Son tourism welcomes nearly 8 million visitors.

According to Mr. Le Van Tu, Chairman of the People's Committee of Sam Son City, in 2023, Sam Son welcomed nearly 8 million tourists, reaching 112.8% of the same period and 109.7% of the plan, making it one of the districts, towns, and cities with the highest number of tourists in the country. In 2023, Sam Son served more than 15 million visitor-days, reaching 105.7% of the same period and 101.8% of the plan.

Total revenue from tourism is estimated at nearly 14.3 trillion VND, reaching 102.9% compared to the same period last year and 100.6% compared to the plan.

With such a large number of tourists, it's no exaggeration to say that Sam Son has been "carrying the team" for Thanh Hoa's tourism industry in recent years. According to statistics from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thanh Hoa province, the total number of tourists to Thanh Hoa in 2023 was 12.1 million.

According to Mr. Tu, the increasing number of tourists visiting Sam Son each year reflects the city's efforts to become a city of festivals. Therefore, from the beginning of the year, Sam Son has proactively coordinated with provincial departments, agencies, businesses, and event organizers to develop plans for organizing cultural, tourism, festival, and sports programs and events.

At the same time, Sam Son has introduced many tourism products, such as: the beach square area, the Sam Son city festival landscape axis; a pedestrian street combined with souvenir and beverage shopping, and the display and introduction of OCOP products on Thanh Nien Street…

However, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Sam Son City also acknowledged that the quality of services in Sam Son is still not high, high-end services have not developed, and initially, the focus has only been on exploiting resort tourism products. Beach tourism only caters to the market segment of tourists with average to above-average spending levels, with few high-end customers. Cultural and spiritual tourism products have not yet been effectively developed.

The development and exploitation of new tourism products to overcome the current situation of limited seasonal tourism, where most products are small-scale and mainly cater to weekend visitors and vacationers, is crucial.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thi, Standing Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province, said that in order to realize the development of Sam Son into a national tourist city according to the Thanh Hoa Tourism Development Strategy to 2025, with a vision to 2030; and at the same time contribute significantly to the Thanh Hoa tourism industry achieving the goal of welcoming 13.8 million visitors and total tourism revenue of 32,387 billion VND in 2024, Sam Son needs to continue to do a good job of state management in the field of tourism, especially price management, service business management, and building a more civilized and safer tourism environment.

Mr. Thi also noted that Sam Son needs to proactively coordinate with functional forces to effectively carry out inspection, examination, and supervision of tourism business activities in the area to promptly detect and strictly handle violations, creating an equal, disciplined, and orderly business environment.

Resources should be focused on building and developing tourism in a sustainable direction, aiming for regional and international standards; prioritizing the development of infrastructure and technical facilities serving tourism; strengthening the development of MICE tourism products (a form of tourism combining conferences, seminars, exhibitions, and event organization), golf tourism, etc.; researching and introducing new tourism products and services, including adventure tourism; developing night-time economic services (night markets, pedestrian streets; linking development with localities inside and outside the province to create attractive tours and routes...) to attract high-spending tourists with longer stays.

In 2024, Sam Son aims to welcome 8.5 million visitors; serve 16.5 million visitor-days, and achieve estimated tourism revenue of over 15.7 trillion VND.

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