Application of Science and Technology in the Development of Tourism Economy in the Northern Key Economic Zone

The development of tourism human resources needs to ensure consistency and balance between training levels and professions, and must be consistent with the tourism development strategy of the region and the country.

4.2.3.2. Application of science and technology in tourism economic development in the Northern key economic region

The strong development of the Internet has an increasingly important influence on tourists in most markets. In particular, with the popularity of smartphones, tourists do not need to go to travel agencies to book travel schedules, they can use their phones and computers to connect, contact, view outstanding images of the tourist areas they want to visit and book their trips. Therefore, the application of science, technology, especially information technology in tourism development is an urgent requirement today.

The application of science and technology to develop tourism in the region requires strengthening the coordination between research institutes and universities to build programs for application and development of technology in the tourism sector. The application of science and technology to tourism activities in the Northern Key Economic Zone can focus on the following directions:

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- Applying e-government model in tourism industry management.

- Applying information and communication technology (internet, building separate TV channels for tourism, advertising on famous TV channels...) in tourism promotion activities of the Northern Key Economic Zone and the tourism industry.

- Apply online tourism business models (buying and selling hotel rooms, booking tours online...) to gradually shift to e-commerce in tourism (e-tourism) when the conditions of technology infrastructure and legal corridor are adequate.

- Applying the network connection of the entire hotel system in the region and international border gates to effectively count tourists.

- Applying green technology and clean technology in hotels and tourist areas to contribute to environmental protection and sustainable tourism development.

4.2.4. Group of solutions on organization and management of tourism planning in the Northern key economic region

Tourism is a comprehensive economic sector with many participants, and is related to, affects and is affected by many different fields. Therefore, organizing and managing tourism planning is an extremely necessary task. In the coming years, in order for tourism to truly become a key economic sector, the organization and management of tourism planning in the Northern Key Economic Zone must be taken seriously and implemented in the following directions:

4.2.4.1. Synchronously develop tourism planning projects

- The Northern Key Economic Zone needs to review the master plans for tourism development of the provinces/cities in the region until 2020, with a vision to 2030, in accordance with the general planning content of the whole country, aiming at inter-regionality, in order to create unique features and diversity in regional tourism products. Provinces that do not have plans need to urgently develop plans.

- The tourism industry needs to coordinate with other related industries such as agriculture, transportation, trade, telecommunications, etc. to develop plans to ensure inter-sectoral and create spillover effects of tourism with these industries, avoiding overlap in resource and territory exploitation between industries. Detailed planning projects, investment projects, or investment calls of industries and localities also need to be reviewed in terms of content and priority to ensure consistency with the general orientation of the whole region.

- Provinces/cities in the Northern Key Economic Zone need to coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop plans for national tourist areas (for areas without plans) that have been identified in the overall tourism development plan of the whole country. At the same time, for tourist areas that have plans, it is necessary to clearly indicate the programs and projects that are prioritized for implementation.

Declared and implemented according to the roadmap, ensuring sufficient resources for implementation, avoiding planning on paper, suspended planning, especially 7 zones, 5 national tourist spots and 2 tourist cities of the region.

- Provinces/cities in the region direct and allocate funds to develop plans for tourist areas and spots in each locality as a basis for calling for investment, reserving land for tourism development, and conserving resources.

4.2.4.2. Strengthening management and supervision of tourism planning implementation

- Strengthening state management linkages on tourism among provinces/cities in the region on the basis of promoting the role of the State Steering Committee on tourism in localities.

- Organize conferences, or through mass media and other forms to propagate and widely disseminate approved tourism plans to all classes of people so that people know, implement and monitor.

- After the planning is approved, localities in the region need to assign specific tasks to functional sectors to implement the planning; deploy investment and exploit tourism according to the planning and in accordance with legal regulations; determine specific boundaries for investment projects to manage and protect land and resources; at the same time, organize periodic assessments of the implementation of the planning, clarify the responsibilities of relevant levels and sectors.

- Local departments and branches need to coordinate to comprehensively manage investment and exploitation projects in tourism development planning as well as planning of other sectors, promptly resolving any overlap between projects.

- Build an organizational structure for planning management, resource management and tourism environment to advise leaders in organizing the implementation of approved planning contents; through direct management of resources and tourism development according to industry planning, it helps improve the capacity of the planning management structure.

- Raising awareness of the role and importance of tourism planning and management activities for managers and policy makers at all levels, as well as businesses and communities.

4.2.5. Group of solutions on investment in construction of tourism technical facilities in the Northern key economic region

Tourism infrastructure is one of the important conditions for tourism development. However, the system of infrastructure and additional tourism services in the Northern Key Economic Zone in recent years has been assessed as being unsynchronized and outdated, failing to meet the needs of tourists. Therefore, in the coming time, provinces/cities in the region need to focus on investing, building and synchronously developing the system of tourism infrastructure.

4.2.5.1. Linking the construction of technical infrastructure for tourism in the region

One is to build a system of accommodation facilities and tourism service facilities.

In the trend of international tourism, one of the important conditions for tourism to exist and develop is to ensure the resting conditions for tourists when they leave their daily residence. Therefore, the standards of hotels as well as tourism services must be consistent with international standards. From this requirement, provinces/cities in the region need to focus on investing in upgrading and building new hotel systems and service facilities (sports complexes, fairs, conferences, seminars, large-scale restaurants, etc.) in a synchronous manner, to ensure that tourists coming to any province in the region can rest and enjoy perfect tourism services.

In the coming time, the Northern Key Economic Zone needs to invest in developing the hotel system space, prioritizing projects to build high-end resort hotels in national tourist areas (Ha Long, Cat Ba, Ba Vi - Suoi Hai, Dong Mo, Tam Dao); build high-end commercial hotels in large urban areas and tourist centers of the region (Hanoi, Do Son, Ha Long ...). In the spaces

Other tourism sectors (ecotourism, sea tourism...) should only invest in building hotels with average standards but large scale from 100 to 200 rooms with synchronous services to ensure business efficiency and meet development needs in the integration trend.

Second, synchronously develop and upgrade the transportation system and means of transporting tourists.

Provinces/cities in the region need to focus on upgrading air, road, waterway and railway transport systems; building new transport routes connecting tourist destinations within the region and between regions; renovating electricity and water supply systems, drainage systems and environmental treatment.

To have a synchronous transportation system, localities in the region can coordinate to build or hire consultants to build a master plan for tourism development and tourism infrastructure in the Northern Key Economic Zone until 2020, with a vision to 2030, in accordance with the planning of each locality in the region as well as the general planning of the whole country.

For tourist transport vehicles, it is necessary to focus on investing in specialized vehicles, ensuring quality with full amenities, fire and explosion prevention equipment, medical equipment... to meet the necessary needs of tourists on long trips.

Third, develop a system of entertainment, recreation and sports facilities.

These are the supplementary activities of tourists when coming to the region. These supplementary activities can contribute to extending the length of stay as well as increasing the spending of tourists, increasing the efficiency of tourism business. Therefore, in the following years, the provinces/cities in the region need to focus on upgrading and building more new entertainment, recreation and sports areas. In particular, there needs to be a clear segmentation to be able to meet the needs of all tourists.

4.2.5.2. Sources of capital mobilization for the development of technical tourism facilities in the region

Investment capital for developing tourism technical infrastructure for the Northern Key Economic Zone can be mobilized from the following basic sources:

One is investment capital from the state budget.

Investment capital from the State budget (both central and local) is often prioritized for the protection and restoration of resources, tourism promotion, and development of internal infrastructure systems in tourist areas and destinations. For national tourist areas in the region, priority should be given to investment in infrastructure development using central budget capital, while for local tourist areas, infrastructure investment should be using local budget capital.

This is not a large source of capital, but it is very important in stimulating and attracting other capital sources to invest in tourism development in provinces/cities in the region.

Second, investment capital from credit institutions.

In the actual conditions, investment capital sources for regional tourism (budget capital, accumulated capital from tourism businesses, capital from other investors, etc.) are still low, only meeting a part of the development needs of tourism, mobilizing credit capital is extremely necessary. However, in the long term, credit capital mainly only finances working capital, only plays the role of initial capital with leading role to attract other capital sources to invest in tourism development.

Third, capital is mobilized through the issuance of local bonds.

Raising capital through the issuance of local bonds brings many benefits such as: being able to gather large amounts of capital thanks to the ability to mobilize widely in the community, having a relatively long loan term and cheaper costs compared to other sources of capital. However, capital from issuing local bonds should only be applied to infrastructure investment projects, requiring these projects to be clear and approved by the Ministry of Finance.

Fourth, official development assistance (ODA) capital.

Official development assistance capital is an important additional source of capital for investment in tourism development. This capital source is highly preferential, with long loan, repayment and grace periods, and usually has a non-refundable component. However, in the current context, attracting this capital source is facing many difficulties, so tourism needs to combine many channels to mobilize different capital for development.

4.2.6. Promote regional and international cooperation to develop tourism economy in the Northern key economic region.

Currently, the issue of association, cooperation and international integration is an inevitable trend for the general development as well as the development of tourism in every region and every country. Tourism in the Northern Key Economic Zone is no exception to that trend, and needs to be placed in the general international association and cooperation strategy of tourism in the whole country.

The Northern Key Economic Zone is a territory located in the Greater Mekong Subregion, so first of all, the linkage and cooperation activities in developing the region's tourism economy must be carried out within the framework of the Greater Mekong Subregion Project (including Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and two Chinese provinces, Yunnan and Guangxi).

In addition, the region also needs to establish links and cooperation in developing tourism according to the Two Corridors, One Belt economic development program with China (including the economic corridor: Kunming - Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong and the economic corridor: Nanning - Lang Son - Hanoi - Hai Phong; and the Gulf of Tonkin economic belt including 4 cities of China and 10 provinces/cities of Vietnam). This program is not only significant in terms of economy but also has significance for tourism development between the Northern tourism region and the southern provinces of China, especially along the Mong Cai - Ha Long - Hai Phong - Hanoi - Lao Cai - China route.

With the above international cooperation and linkage programs, linkage activities in tourism development in the Northern Key Economic Zone need to focus on the following contents:

+ Cooperate in tourism promotion activities in the Northern Key Economic Zone as well as investment opportunities for tourism development in the region.

+ Develop road tourism routes from Mong Cai - Ha Long - Hanoi - Lao Cai - China and the entire region.

+ Develop air tourism routes from Noi Bai to cities in the region (Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Bangkok, Nanning...).

To promote international cooperation in tourism development, the Northern Key Economic Zone needs to implement a number of solutions:

+ Organize programs and events abroad and participate in events organized by foreign partners, attend fairs to contribute to promoting tourism products, destinations and images of the Northern Key Economic Zone.

+ Proactively invite foreign experts to advise on tourism planning and project development for sea and island tourism, eco-tourism, cultural and spiritual tourism in the region.

+ Implement policies to encourage tourism, provide incentives for foreign investment, create favorable conditions and environments for foreign enterprises to participate in investment, develop tourism technical facilities and tourism products in the region.

+ Promote international cooperation and linkages in the fields of training, tourism human resource development and scientific research.

+ Actively cooperate with Vietnamese community organizations residing abroad to research, understand the needs and exploit foreign tourist markets to the Northern Key Economic Zone. In which, tourism associations in provinces/cities in the region will act as focal points for cooperation, play a leading role, and tourism businesses in the region will organize and implement.

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