Ninh Binh Tourism Focuses on Central Tasks

Development below true potentialAccording to statistics of the Ninh Binh Tourism Department, the province was forecast to receive over 6 million visitors in the first nine months of 2017, equal to 90.7 per cent of the full-year plan and up 10.1 per cent over 2016. Of the sum, international tourist arrivals approximated 700,000, up 19.6 per cent year on year. Tourism revenue was estimated at over VND2 trillion, 14.2 per cent higher than the yearly plan and 41.9 per cent higher than in the same period of 2016.Tourist arrivals to Ninh Binh province increase year after year. However, Ninh Binh tourism is still seasonal, focused during the festival season at early months of the year, although each season has its own beauty here.

Tran Viet Linh, a tourist from Hanoi, said, "Ninh Binh has many charming tourist attractions. Last year, my company visited here twice. We went to Bai Dinh Pagoda and Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex at the beginning of the year. We organised a picnic at Thung Nham Ecological Tourist Area later. In general, we felt quite comfortable and satisfied with these two trips."

Nguyen Tuan Dat, who lives in Cau Giay district, Hanoi, said, "In August, I brought some foreign friends to Tam Coc - Bich Dong. However, we did not have fine impressions with our trip because of poor service, unprofessional attitude and uncared for landscapes."

Centralised planningAccording to its tourism development plan to 2020, Ninh Binh will receive 7.5 million visitors, including 0.8 million foreigners, have tourism revenue of over VND3,000 billion, and have 20,000 tourism workers. Additionally, according to the plan to 2025, tourism will become a key economic sector of the province and take a big share of gross domestic product (GDP).

To achieve its objectives, local authorities, travel companies, tourism workers and local people need to join forces to bring best tourism products and advertise its famous landscapes.

Especially, Ninh Binh needs to plan focused and centralised tourism development. At the meeting on Ninh Binh Tourism Development Master Plan to 2025, Mr Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), directed that Ninh Binh should centre on Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex to develop tourism.

Tourism development planning is very important to effectively manage and unlock local resources for sustainable tourism development and make tourism a key economic sector.

Main contents of the master plan are identifying the position, role and advantages of Ninh Binh tourism on the regional and national overall tourism development scale; analysing, assessing the potential, resources and current status of Ninh Binh tourism, and determining viewpoints, objectives and development scale.On the other hand, local authorities also need to shape tourism space, invest in tourism facilities, technical infrastructure, human resources, and define priority investment projects.

Moreover, Ninh Binh province should consider favourable infrastructure and connectivity with major centres in the country, take domestic tourism as a main development factor and expand tourism markets in Western Europe, Japan, South Korea and others.

VNAT General Director Tuan also stressed that "Planning must generate different, competitive products and brands that are closely linked with the Ha Long - Ninh Binh - Hanoi Tourism Development Triangle."

Source: Giang Tu/VCCI news