Tourism sector raises the bar to bring in fresh waves of holidaymakers

Foreign tourists experience the palanquin and dragon procession at the opening ceremony of the Thái Vi Temple Festival in the northern province of Ninh Bình. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI Major tourist destinations across the country experienced a successful summer tourism season with impressive numbers of holidaymakers to Việt Nam.

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first eight months of this year, Việt Nam welcomed nearly 11.4 million foreign visitors, a surge of 45.8 per cent year on year, and an increase of 1 per cent over the same time in 2019 before COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

From October of each year to April of the following year is the peak season for welcoming international visitors to Việt Nam, requiring localities to actively innovate and improve their tourism products and services in a professional and unique direction, thus continuing to affirm the position of their destinations.

Creating uniqueness for destinations

After the summer season, localities have worked hard to further improve their tourism products and services, creating more highlights and uniqueness as well as distinguishing characteristics for their destinations to become ready for the year-end and New Year seasons.

HCM City, a destination with the full display of liveliness, and excitement of a dynamic and modern city, retains its own unique ethnic communities, traditional markets, and centuries-old craft villages, received nearly 26.5 million visitors in the first eight months of 2024, with tourism revenue rising 15 per cent year on year.

Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Tourism Lê Trương Hiền Hòa said that in order to lure more visitors, the city will focus on developing unique tourism products corresponding to the potential of each district and Thủ Đức City.

In the south central coastal region, Bình Thuận stands out with its advantages in resort tourism, cultural tourism, and adventure sports associated with sea and islands. The province has promoted the development of more attractive tourism products to attract visitors. In the first eight months of 2024, Bình Thuận's tourism continued to grow strongly by luring over 6.4 million domestic and foreign visitors. The last months of the year are often the time when many international tourists choose Bình Thuận as a destination to enjoy the warm climate.

The provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the province plans to develop thematic tourism products such as cultural - historical tourism, community tourism, agro-tourism, and tourism based on marine - forest - sand dune ecology for sea and sand sports.

Bình Thuận has improved the quality of many attractive tourism products and types such as healthcare tourism, conference tourism, research tourism, and sightseeing in Phan Thiết City. It has also enhanced the design of tours to optimise the values of historical and cultural relics, craft villages, and the culture of ethnic minorities such as Chăm, Cơ Ho, and Chơ Ro.

Bình Thuận aims to welcome 11.4 million visitors by 2025, of which international visitors account for 10 per cent. VNA/VNS Photo

Meanwhile, located in the centre of the Mekong Delta region, Cần Thơ City aims to welcome 6.1 million visitors in 2024. After the summer tourist season, destinations and localities across the city have continued to improve the quality of products associated with the garden ecosystem and unique culture of the Mekong Delta, thus attracting tourists in the last months of the year and the beginning of the new year 2025.

Lê Đình Minh Thy, Director of Vietravel Branch in Cần Thơ, said that tourists coming to the Mekong Delta in the last months of the year and the beginning of the New Year of 2025, especially on the occasion of New Year and Lunar New Year, are interested in learning about the culture attached to garden farming, the customs of seeing off the old year and welcoming the new year of local people, and enjoying a variety of artistic and culinary specialties. Sightseeing and experience products associated with local culture are a great direction for businesses to take.

Strengthening promotional efforts

To ensure that product improvement is conducted in parallel with tourism promotion, HCM City's Department of Tourism will strengthen cooperation with the media, including CNN TV Channel of the US to spread more videos on the city's tourism.

In the coming time, many more programmes to introduce the culture, people and unique experiences in the city tourism will be developed, thus providing more for domestic and international audiences and attracting more tourists to the city.

Director of the municipal Department of Tourism Nguyễn Thị Ánh Hoa said that along with short film series and electronic publications promoting tourism bringing new perspectives and experiences to tourists that have been published recently, the city will promote tourism products and types through honoured titles and awards, affirming the brand of the city's tourism.

In early September, the city received a variety of awards, including “Asia's Leading MICE Tourism Destination” of the World MICE Tourism Awards, for which the city has been honoured five times. The HCM City Travel Mart was honoured as Asia's best trade show. The World Travel Awards organisation also named the city as “Asia's Leading Business Travel Destination 2024” and “Asia's Leading Festival & Event Destination 2024”.

Currently, the city has nearly 3,230 tourist accommodation establishments, including nearly 200 hotels rated 1-5 stars, enabling it to serve a large number of visitors at the same time.

For Bình Thuận, various tourism promotion activities have been conducted with diverse forms targeting major and new markets.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Bình Thuận has optimised the role of the province's smart tourism portal to providing more support to tourists in accessing information, affirming the image of a friendly and hospitable destination.

The locality has designed photo books, brochures, maps, notebooks, VCDs, souvenirs and gifts such as wooden keychains and sand paintings with QR codes to introduce tourism potential, advantages and products of the locality.

By 2025, Bình Thuận aims to lure 11.4 million visitors, 10% of whom are foreigners, earning over 24.6 trillion VND (US$1 billion ), ensuring that the tourism sector contributes about 10 per cent to the province's GRDP. VNA/VNS