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Assessing the Potential and Advantages of Tourism Resources


Table 2.1. Assessment of potential and advantages of tourism resources


Resources

Outstanding advantages

Nature

Terrain

The midland and highland terrain combined with the plain and coastal terrain creates beautiful landscapes.

Majestic nature, beaches, islands near the shore… along the journey, are great attractions for tourists.

Climate

Visitors to this area at any time of the year can find beautiful weather or experience many types of weather and climate.

suitable for tourist needs

Hydrology

Rich hydrology including rivers, streams, lakes, waterfalls, lagoons, hot springs..., many very unique spots

and famous for creating a very unique advantage for the region.

Eastern flora

The flora and fauna in the National Park are very unique, including high mountain ecosystems, river and lake ecosystems, wetland ecosystems and marine ecosystems. Tourists are very interested in ecological areas and national parks.

family, primeval forest, rare animals.

Humanities

Cultural and historical relics

The big difference is that on the route there is a combination of 3 cultural heritages, many archaeological sites, the preservation of dinosaur fossils, the dense appearance of historical relics, war relics and spiritual values.

very special

Festival, craft village

Festivals and craft villages are one of the characteristics and advantages of tourism products on the HLKTĐT route. Visitors to this area have the opportunity to participate in festivals almost all year round, and all of them are very unique festivals and craft villages with long-lasting vitality.

long.

Food, art

Local cuisine and art are among the top concerns of tourists when exploring a destination. This is the strength of the localities on the route with dozens of unique and diverse dishes.

performing arts

Nation

There are dozens of ethnic groups living together on the Mekong Delta. This is an attraction for tourists as the need to learn about customs, traditional culture, costumes, cuisine, etc. of the ethnic groups is increasing.

Community-based tourism is growing.

Neighborhood

Combining tourism resources is a great advantage of the HLKTĐT when visitors to this area can easily access many cultural and natural heritages, many famous landscapes, historical and cultural relics, ecological values, and very unique communities in the regions.

vicinity.

Maybe you are interested!

Source: Author's synthesis, 2017


ii. Evaluation from tourist survey

The results from the author's survey (Table 2.2) show that when evaluating the tourism resources of this destination, tourists believe that convenient geographical location plays the most important role. In addition, criteria such as landscape, climate, cleanliness, freshness of the environment and safety, political stability of the destination are also rated at a fairly good level or higher. This partly shows that tourism resources on the HLKTĐT are completely capable of attracting tourists. However, attention should be paid to the issue of preserving world cultural heritage, folk festivals during the exploitation process as well as factors affected by climate change.

Table 2.2. Tourists' evaluation of tourism resources on the HLKTĐT



Criteria

Rating level

average 1

Standard deviation

Scenery, attractions on the route

3.92

,904

Favorable climate and weather

3.71

,997

Convenient geographical location

4.00

,795

Cleanliness and freshness of the environment

3.92

,926

Safety and political stability of the destination

3.87

,933

Source: Author's survey, 2017

2.1.3. Priority areas for tourism development

For many reasons analyzed above, tourism has become a priority economic sector for development along the route, helping to create jobs, reduce poverty, and create spillovers for the overall growth of the economy. Researching tourist destinations of the four countries along the corridor will create opportunities for tourism projects in localities to be implemented.

On January 30, 2010, the International Conference on Tourism Development Cooperation between the North Central provinces of Vietnam with Laos and Thailand took place in Hue City. At the conference, the three countries signed a memorandum of understanding with many important contents. With the goal of


1 On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being Very Poor and 5 being Very Good


To turn the East-West Economic Corridor into a branded land tourism route in Southeast Asia by 2015, the three countries will create the most favorable conditions for the flow of tourists.

Specifically, tourism products and services, tours and routes will be improved and renewed; a common strategy for sharing the tourist market and promoting tourism will be developed; joint venture contracts will be signed between travel agencies, transportation companies and service providers. In addition, the three countries will proactively cooperate bilaterally or multilaterally in exchanging information and experience, supporting the development and improvement of skilled human resources; and prioritizing the training of professional tour guides who are proficient in at least two languages: Vietnamese and Thai.

However, the major challenge that the countries participating in the East-West Economic Corridor face in developing road tourism along the entire route is the synchronous cooperation mechanism. In more than ten years of operation, the East-West Economic Corridor has not been overseen by an independent agency responsible for monitoring its development. This has led to challenges in the coordination of activities between different government agencies as well as with development partners, implementing projects on the corridor. Thus, during the formation and development of the East-West Economic Corridor, many conferences have been held but no specific cooperation mechanism has been proposed. It was not until May 2012 in Quang Tri that the first Vietnam - Laos - Thailand Deputy Foreign Ministers' Conference agreed to establish an annual, rotating dialogue mechanism among the three countries and hoped that Myanmar would participate in this mechanism in the future. If successfully implemented, this mechanism will open a new page for the Mekong Delta Economic Cooperation within the framework of cooperation between the four countries of Vietnam - Laos - Thailand - Myanmar to promote integration and economic, trade, investment, tourism and poverty reduction for countries in the Mekong River basin.

2.2. Current status of road tourism exploitation on the national highway

2.2.1. Road tourism infrastructure

The road traffic system is considered the backbone of the urban economic corridor, which will be formed first, followed by economic, trade, and tourism corridors.


1,450km on the HLKTĐT has formed a road traffic route (Figure 2.3):

The road traffic system on the HLKTĐT is conveniently connected with the following routes (Figure 2.3):

- Trans-Asian route from Europe through the Middle East, India to Burma.

- North-South Corridor China - Laos - Thailand.

- Route Vientiane – Bangkok, Bangkok – Chiang Mai.

- Route Hanoi – Da Nang – Ho Chi Minh City – Phnom Penh.


Figure 2.3. Road traffic system on the urban railway

Source: Montague Lord, 2009[63]

Tourists access the East-West Economic Corridor by road, air and water. Currently, this area has 2 international airports (Da Nang, Yangon airport at the beginning of Myanmar can be added), 4 domestic airports (Sukhonthai, Phitsanulok, Savanakhet, Hue), 6 main stations (Mawlamyine, Phitsanulok, Khon kaen, Dong Ha, Hue, Da Nang) and secondary stations. The survey results (Table 2.3) show that most tourists want to go to the East-West Economic Corridor by motorbike (25.1%). The next most popular means of transport are personal cars and self-driving cars (Caravan). Meanwhile, only 15.9% of tourists want to travel to the East-West Economic Corridor through tours.


Table 2.3. Means of transport that tourists want to use to get to HLKTĐT


Vehicle

Percentage of visitors who agree

Tour

15.9%

Caravan

14.6%

Private car

18.3%

Motorbike

25.1%

Source: Author's survey, 2017

Among the countries in the HLKTDT region, Thailand is the country with the most developed infrastructure, vehicles and road network. The road system passing through Thailand is invested synchronously, of good quality, and the average speed can reach 90-100 km/h. For Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, the infrastructure is gradually being improved to suit the usage requirements (Table 2.4).

Table 2.4. Road traffic density of countries on the HLKTĐT route


In Burma

200 km

From Mawlamyine to Myawaddy via Eindu, 40

km of road and two large suspension bridges need to be upgraded.


In Thailand


780 km

From Tak to Mukdahan via Phitsanulok, Khonkaen 45% is a 4 lane national highway

Road, 70km of road needs to be upgraded

In Laos

210 km

From Savanakhet to Dansavanh, 2 lane highway

Newly completed and in very good condition

In Vietnam

260 km

From Lao Bao to Da Nang passing through Hue, 1/2 is the road

highway in good condition

Source: Author's survey, 2015

With financial and technical support from ADB and Japan, major projects on the corridor, including the Hai Van Pass tunnel and Friendship Bridge 2 connecting Savanakhet of Laos with Mukdahan of Thailand, have been completed, contributing to many socio-economic changes in the region.

Thanks to the HLKTĐT, the bus travel time from the Vietnam - Laos border to Savanakhet province of Laos was reduced from 12 hours in 2001 to 4 hours in 2010. From Dong Ha to Lao Bao was reduced from 4 hours in 2001 to 2 hours in 2010. Time


Travel time from Tien Sa port (Da Nang) to the Vietnam - Laos border decreased from 6 hours in 2001 to 4 hours in 2010.

According to the results of the author's survey (Table 2.5), tourists and tourism businesses operating on the East-West Economic Corridor all have a fairly good assessment of the infrastructure of this destination. In particular, according to businesses, the means of transport at destinations on the route are rated the best (3.89 points), while road infrastructure is rated the worst (3.25 points), but is still above average. For tourists, the quality of internet service provision and the quality of electricity and water supply are rated good, while road infrastructure is still the worst rated criterion (3.64 points). Thereby, it can be seen that, to develop road tourism on the East-West Economic Corridor, road infrastructure is the criterion that needs to be prioritized for improvement in the coming time.

Table 2.5. Tourist and business assessments of infrastructure on the East-West Economic Corridor


Criteria

Tourist

Travel business

Rating level

medium

Deviation

standard

Rating level

medium

Deviation

standard

Transport infrastructure

road

3.64

,927

3.25

,645

Infrastructure and

airport services

3.83

,836

3.64

,678

Infrastructure and

Port services

3.96

,868

3.75

,585

Means of transport

transfer at destination

3.88

,866

3.89

,567

Supply quality

Internet service application

3.99

,918

3.71

,535

Supply quality

electricity and water supply

4.05

,776

3.71

,713

Source: Author's survey, 2017


2.2.2. Road tourism products and services

2.2.2.1. Travel

International and domestic travel companies tend to increase quite rapidly and play an increasingly important role in organizing international Inbound programs. Since 2004, the Thai Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Krit Kraichitti, has personally realized the possibility of tourism cooperation between the four countries by attracting many travel companies to quickly have a strong voice from the business side to submit to the Government such as abolishing entry visas between Laos and Vietnam, between Laos and Thailand. Thai travel companies have outlined the vision for their customers: Morning drinking Mukdahan coffee (Thailand), lunch eating Savannakhet (Laos) and evening swimming at Non Nuoc beach (Da Nang). Both China and Japan have also begun to exploit the HLKTĐT.

Up to now, there have been many travel companies exploiting and benefiting from the source of visitors to the E-tourism route, mainly companies in the Isan region, Bangkok, Chiang Mai (Thailand), Savanakhet, Champasak (Laos), Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang (Vietnam). Many groups of companies have been formed to exploit the source of visitors by road, the source of caravan visitors, the Vietnamese side even established a Club of businesses welcoming Thai visitors by road under the Vietnam Tourism Association, clearly stipulating that only companies participating in this Club are qualified to welcome Thai visitors at the land border gates. Travel companies have played a very important role in orienting, promoting the source of visitors, creating products, standardizing the service supply system... on the E-tourism route.

2.2.2.2. Products

Due to the characteristics of the transport infrastructure, road tourism is the most popular on the route. Railways and waterways are almost non-existent or not yet exploited, only railways can be used to connect tourist centers such as: Yangon, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City... to localities such as: Mawlamyine, Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Khon Kaen, Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang. Air routes mainly rely on central airports such as Rang Gun, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Vientiane, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang... The products


Road tourism products are still quite monotonous, mainly focusing on accommodation in some centers such as Mukdahan, Savanakhet, Hue, Da Nang..., other localities only pass by, the average stay on the route is very short; the main tourism products are: Cultural history, ecology and beach vacation, in 3 forms: Caravan (self-driving), cars of travel companies and public cars.

The products that travel companies sell as a package on HLKTĐT, HLKTĐT + some nearby destinations for both company cars and self-driving cars include:

Mukdahan - Savanakhet - Dong Ha - Hue - Da Nang - Hoi An Mukdahan - Savanakhet - Quang Binh - Hue - Da Nang Hoi An

Mukdahan – Savanakhet - Dong Ha – Thanh Hoa – Hanoi – Ha Long – Vinh Da Nang – Hue - Dong Ha – Savanakhet – Nakhon Phanom – Vientiane Da Nang – Hue - Dong Ha – Savanakhet – Mukdahan – Bangkok – Pattaya Da Nang – Hue - Dong Ha – Savanakhet – Mukdahan – Chiang Mai

Myanmar has not yet connected the products of travel companies.

The route has not yet formed tourism products with a common theme for the entire route. Vietnam already has a very attractive Central Heritage Road, but it has not yet expanded to Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.

Products for self-driving families, individual travelers traveling by motorbike, bus, high-quality car... are mainly formed at the destination including: Hotels/motels, restaurants, sightseeing spots, entertainment spots, shopping... These products on the route are mainly at the basic level, except for established tourist centers such as Sukhothai, Khon Kaen, Hue, Da Nang.

The entertainment and shopping products on the route are still very sketchy, only stopping at the dinosaur park (Mukdahan, Savanakhet), national park (Mawlamyine, Phitsanulok, Phechabun, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang), casino (Savanakhet, Da Nang), beer pubs, bars, karaoke, dance clubs, massage parlors, local markets, supermarkets..., there are no in-depth entertainment and shopping services that really attract and retain tourists such as: Water parks, night markets, walking streets, art performances, street shows, shopping areas.

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