Toward Sustainable, High Quality Tourism Growth

Lam Dong has focused on developing tourism in the direction of high professionalism with a synchronous and modern infrastructure system, and diverse tourism products bearing unique cultural identity. Vietnam Business Forum reporter had an interview with Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyen, Director of Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

How do you assess the tourism economic potential of Lam Dong?

Lam Dong is a province in the South Central Highlands with favorable conditions of topography, climate, natural landscape, unique flora and fauna system, unique architecture and indigenous culture that have created a unique and diversified tourism product, with many advantages to develop high quality tourism.

In addition to exploiting traditional local tourism products, including eco-tourism, leisure travel, organizing cultural, sports and tourism events (Da Lat Flower Festival, Bao Loc tea and silk culture week, Pink grass festival); Lam Dong has focused on developing new tourism products such as agritourism (with hi-tech agricultural tourism products, tea, vegetables, flowers); adventure sports tourism (mountain climbing, going through waterfall, mountain biking, trekking) to serve tourists coming to Da Lat - Lam Dong, especially international visitors.

With the attention and guidance of all levels and sectors from the central to local authorities, the investment and business efforts of tourism enterprises and the whole society, Lam Dong tourism has experienced rapid growth in both quantity and quality, gradually becoming a key economic sector, making a positive contribution to the socio-economic development of the province. Tourism development has been identified by Lam Dong province as the responsibility of the entire political system, levels, sectors and the whole society. Tourism activities in the period 2016-2019 in Lam Dong province had impressive development. The number of tourist arrivals to Da Lat - Lam Dong increased steadily every year with an average growth rate of 8.9%; the number of overnight visitors increased by 11.9% on average; international visitors accounting for 10.1% of the total number of guests staying. In 2019, Lam Dong welcomed over 7 million tourist arrivals (Da Lat welcomed nearly 6 million tourist arrivals).

How has tourism development led to the growth of many other sectors, madam?

Tourism development has created revenue sources for the province from the budget contribution of its directly managed tourism facilities and from the tax payment by tourism businesses operating in the area. Besides, in Lam Dong, there are many agricultural products, traditional villages with high-tech agricultural tourism products like tea, vegetables, flowers and silk, they have taken advantage of their strengths to develop economy through the introduction of products for tourists, this is the form of export on the spot. As tourism develops, many other sectors also benefit through products and services that support tourism businesses such as construction, printing and publishing, manufacturing, insurance, transportation, and accommodation, retail, catering services and financial services.

Tourism development in Lam Dong is also an effective means of propagandizing and promoting the potential, strength and image of Lam Dong’s land and people to domestic and international friends, thereby attracting many domestic and foreign enterprises to invest in Lam Dong.

Following the achieved results, in the period 2020-2025, what will Lam Dong do to develop high quality and sustainable tourism, madam?

The province will continue to effectively implement tourism development strategies, schemes and plans in line with national and Lam Dong growth plans. Tourism development will be associated with conservation, promoting the unique cultural values of the nation, protecting natural resources and the environment. It will increase State support for tourism development through programs, schemes and preferential policies to attract investment; and concretize specific preferential mechanisms and policies in the field of tourism for national tourist resorts and key tourist areas in Da Lat - Lam Dong.

It is necessary to enhance the role and responsibilities of local governments at all levels in coordinating the implementation of policies on developing tourism and services. It will continue to consolidate the state management system on tourism to ensure synchronization, effectiveness and efficiency, meeting the requirements of developing tourism into a motivational economic sector.

It is important to prioritize the development of smart tourism, in which, building Da Lat into a smart city through the application of information technology - telecommunications and other means to improve the quality of life and enhance the operational efficiency of the government, promote comprehensive and sustainable socio-economic development, and raise competitiveness.

The province will concentrate investment on developing modern and synchronous infrastructure in service of tourism, especially road traffic, completing and putting into operation the Dau Giay - Lien Khuong highway project.

It will complete the investment and put into operation two national tourist resorts of Tuyen Lam lake and Dan Kia - Suoi Vang, two key tourist areas of Prenn and Dai Ninh lakes. It will attempt to strongly develop traditional and typical tourist products of the province such as leisure tourism, farming tourism and adventure tourism. At the same time, it will focus on developing new and highly competitive tourism products such as community tourism; sports tourism; tourism combined with healing and health care.

It will focus on exploiting the domestic tourist market, especially the traditional domestic tourist markets of the province such as Ho Chi Minh City, the Southeast provinces, the Central coastal provinces; and expand its domestic market to northern provinces such as Hanoi and Hai Phong. It will continue to focus on attracting international tourists from traditional markets such as ASEAN countries, Northeast Asia, and East Asia; expanding potential markets, quickly increasing the number of tourists coming to Lam Dong every year; opening more international routes to potential markets of the province.

It will continue to develop tourism brand of the province; diversifying the methods of cooperation with local and foreign localities, giving priority to regional cooperation to develop products, promoting common destinations; applying information technology to tourism promotion activities.

It is essential to develop human resources of tourism to ensure a reasonable structure in terms of quantity and quality, balance in sector and career structure and training levels, meeting the requirements of competition and integration.

The province will build a synchronous coordination mechanism between the tourism industry and the functional branches in the field of tourism management and services in order to create a favorable business environment, ensuring order and security, food safety and hygiene, landscape environment, social environment at tourism service establishments.

It will continue to effectively implement the Tourism Code of Conduct, making Da Lat - Lam Dong an area with beautiful natural environment, safe, friendly and attractive social environment, making a good impression on tourists.

Source: Vietnam Bunnies Forum