Characteristics of Tourism Economy in Key Economic Zones in International Integration

other societies. Economic regions are characterized by specialization and regional integrated development.

The key economic zone (or dynamic economic zone) is one of the types of socio-economic zones that have been formed and developed in our country since the early 90s of the 20th century until now. In principle, the key economic zone must be the zone that most fully converges resources for socio-economic development and plays a decisive role in the national economy.

The territory called the KTTĐ region must ensure the following main requirements:

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+ Converging all the strengths in terms of geographical location, nature, socio-economics, concentrating strong economic potential and having the ability to attract investors.

+ Makes a major contribution to the country's GDP structure and creates rapid growth for the whole country as well as supports other regions if properly invested.

+ Can have accumulated investment for expanded reproduction, creating large budget revenue for the State.

+ Ability to attract new industries and services to expand to other regions and the whole country.

The key economic zone covers many provinces and cities. Its boundaries are not immutable, but change over time. The number and scope of the zone change according to the requirements of the country's socio-economic development strategy in each historical period. The key economic zone is a key investment target to create a "push" for the entire economy of the country.

Thus, a key economic zone is a part of the national territory consisting of a number of provinces and cities that have favorable conditions and development factors, have great economic potential, and play the role of a driving force and locomotive to attract the overall development of the whole country.

The development of key economic zones for many countries and territories in the world is no longer a new issue, it has become an objective trend in the process of economic restructuring towards modernization. This is especially necessary for countries and territories with developing economies.

Thus, the region is a concept divided mainly based on territorial space and economic geography; the economic region is considered an objective entity, existing according to the socio-economic development requirements of each country in certain periods; the key economic region is an economic region with superior socio-economic development advantages compared to other regions, while playing a role in promoting the economic development of other regions or sub-regions, contributing to the overall economic development of the country.

+ Concept of tourism economy in key economic zones in the international integration

From the above concepts, the author of the thesis argues that: Tourism economy in the key economic region in the international integration is a complex system of relationships and economic activities of the subjects participating in the process of organizing production, supply and consumption of tourism products and services in a number of provinces/cities with favorable conditions and development potential, with great economic potential to bring economic and social benefits to the participants and create a driving force to promote the development of the region, of the country and connect with the region as well as the world.

2.1.1.2. Characteristics of tourism economy in key economic regions in international integration

* General characteristics of tourism economy in international integration

- Tourism economy is highly synthetic and interconnected.

Developing tourism means developing the economy based on tourism products and services. To have a good tourism product and service, it is necessary to combine many factors from natural conditions, environment, to infrastructure conditions.

quality, culture, service. This is a synthesis of the prerequisite factors to create the quality of products and services in KTDL. The synthesis and connection of tourism products and services are also expressed in that it combines the types of products and services provided by many individuals and organizations in different industries. There are many units and organizations participating in providing different tourism products, even with a tourism product, there are many departments participating in serving and supplying, in order to satisfy the diverse needs of tourists. This feature requires close coordination between departments participating in serving tourists to create a tourism product of good quality, bringing satisfaction to customers.

The synthesis and connection in tourism is also reflected in the multi-sectoral nature of tourism. Tourism development creates jobs and income for many other sectors such as: transportation, environment, handicrafts, culture and arts, insurance, health, electricity, water, food, etc. From this characteristic, it requires close coordination between levels and sectors in managing and developing tourism.

On the other hand, the synthesis and connection in tourism are also clearly shown in the association of economic components in tourism activities. Indeed, tourism in reality not only attracts investment and business interest from state economic components but also more and more other economic components such as private economy, foreign-invested economy participate in tourism activities. State-owned enterprises cooperate with foreign enterprises to exploit and invest in tourism resources. This creates a diverse and rich picture of tourism products and services. It is the multi-component nature of tourism that has promoted the emergence of many different types of tourism and services to meet the diverse needs of tourists, bringing great economic and social benefits. However, this multi-component nature will also create challenges for tourism management and development.

- The tourism economy has clear seasonality.

Tourism activities are always affected by environmental factors, weather, and climate. Many tourist destinations can only be visited in winter or summer, while others can be visited all year round. Tourists are not only concerned about weather factors but are also affected by factors such as work, money, and family. Usually, during holidays, tourists from almost all over the world increase compared to other occasions. These factors have created the seasonality of tourism. Seasonality greatly affects the income of the tourism industry. During the peak tourist season, the demand for jobs in the tourism industry increases and local people also benefit greatly from these seasons. Meanwhile, there are occasions when there are few tourists, causing workers to lose their jobs and reduce their income. Therefore, tourism development must find a way to harmonize between the boom and bust seasons as well as find solutions to exploit tourism products during off-peak times.

- Tourism economy is highly sensitive, especially in the context of international integration.

The tourism economy is not only affected by natural conditions but also by economic, political, cultural, social, security and defense factors. Tourists not only seek out tourist destinations because of the attractiveness of the landscape, nature and cuisine, but are also concerned with the stability of the locality or country. Political instability in a country or local conflicts can make tourists consider when visiting.

In addition, sensitivity is also shown in the fact that tourism includes many components, so in the process of providing services to tourists, suppliers need to arrange the time accurately, have a thoughtful and detailed plan for the content of tourism activities, need to clearly combine and closely connect the stages of passenger transportation, sightseeing, dining, accommodation, entertainment, shopping, etc. If any stage does not comply with the process, it can cause a series of problems.

A series of chain reactions disrupt the smooth coordination in the organizational structure, affecting the provision of tourism services, thereby affecting the effectiveness of tourism.

- Tourism economy is inter-regional and closely linked to the integration process.

Inter-regionalism in tourism development is an inevitable general trend in the present era. Inter-regionalism allows localities in the region to exploit each other's relative advantages in tourism resources, technical infrastructure and other resources to develop tourism, creating products with higher competitiveness for related parties. From there, it is possible to attract investors and tourists to each locality.

Interregionalism also promotes and ensures balanced and sustainable development of the region and localities within the region, reduces differences, and creates favorable conditions for localities to jointly preserve and promote their own characteristics of the natural environment, culture and development potential of the region.

Each region has its own advantages and limitations. Regional linkage will supplement the shortcomings caused by specific natural conditions, while maximizing the potential and advantages of each region and locality. Regional linkage also creates unity in general management and direction, avoiding common shortcomings such as: competition for investors, competition for projects, and duplicate products between regions and localities.

In short, tourism is a multi-sectoral, synthetic, sensitive and interconnected economic sector, linked to the international market. Mastering these basic characteristics plays an important role in setting out appropriate directions, goals, tasks and solutions to effectively develop tourism.

* Special characteristics of tourism economy in key economic regions in international integration.

- Tourism economy in the key economic zone creates a spillover effect, contributing to promoting the development of tourism economy in other regions.

The key economic zone has relatively diverse socio-economic potential, allowing for multi-sector economic development. The zone has a very important position and role in the socio-economic development of the whole country; it is a zone with sufficient conditions and advantages to develop industry, science and technology, especially tourism.

The key economic zone is a place where all the outstanding favorable factors for developing tourism such as: natural conditions (scenic landscapes, historical and cultural relics, craft villages, festivals, etc.); traffic conditions, economic and social development level. The key economic zone is also home to many high-quality professional training facilities in the field of tourism and services, attracting many workers, students from all over the country, especially from neighboring regions to study and work. At the same time, this place also concentrates many tourism businesses such as restaurant systems, tourist areas, resorts, luxury hotels, attracting workers from neighboring localities. Thereby, reducing the unemployment burden for workers in other regions while creating high-quality human resources in the service and tourism sectors for the whole country.

The key economic zones have long been identified by the Party and the State as the driving force, promoting the development of other regions across the country. Developing tourism in key economic zones is also developing locomotives, creating a spillover effect, attracting tourism development in particular and economic development in general in localities and neighboring regions.

- The tourism economy in the key economic zone has unique products compared to other regions.

Unlike other economic sectors that can create products through companies, factories, enterprises... and can be exchanged, traded, and transported everywhere, tourism products are "on-site export" products. Tourism products can be natural products such as scenic spots, caves, hills, islands, valleys... created by nature, which can be

are products created by humans such as cultural and historical works, pagodas, communal houses, shrines, temples, folk songs, traditional craft villages or tourism products are tourism services... Although also created by humans, tourism products cannot be held or grasped like other commodities, they are products for customers to admire, enjoy, explore, learn...

In our country today, all the key economic zones are places with famous tourist attractions, services and tourism products at home and abroad. The Northern key economic zone has Ha Long Bay, Thang Long Imperial Citadel; the Central key economic zone has the complex of Hue ancient capital relics, Hoi An ancient town; the Southern key economic zone has Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau beach; the Mekong Delta key economic zone has Can Tho city. All of these places are attractive tourist destinations. These are advantages for developing the tourism economy of the key economic zone compared to other regions in the country. Due to having more favorable conditions for development than other regions, especially the preferential treatment of tourism resources, tourism products in the key economic zone are invested, renovated, built more fully and completely and have specific characteristics compared to other regions.

- Tourism economy in the key economic zone promotes the strengths and potentials of the region in the international integration process.

With its potential advantages and important leading role, the key economic zone has favorable conditions to link and cooperate in development with other regions and localities in the country as well as with the world. Therefore, developing tourism will take advantage of these advantages of the key economic zone.

Firstly, KTDL will promote the advantage of high-quality human resources of the key economic zones. As mentioned above, the key economic zone is where the largest training facilities with the best quality in the country are concentrated. The concentration of high-quality human resources in the key economic zones is a key condition to improve the quality of products and services in KTDL.

Unlike other regions, the key economic zone is also a fertile land for high-quality human resources to demonstrate their abilities and qualifications. Because the favorable natural and social conditions in the key economic zone are important conditions for human resources to fully develop their capacity in all economic activities in general and tourism in particular.

Second , tourism will promote the advantages of attracting investment, developing socio-economic, and technical infrastructure of key economic zones. Tourism is increasingly important, considered one of the key industries of Vietnam. Key economic zones are places that the Party and the State pay attention to, creating special conditions from investment attraction policies, infrastructure construction to human resource development and other conditions. With favorable natural conditions for tourism development combined with preferential policies of the State, tourism in key economic zones is an ideal activity for domestic and foreign investors to aim for, contributing to promoting socio-economic development, building technical infrastructure of the region.

2.1.2. Components of tourism economy

Tourism economy is an economic sector that produces tourism products and services, which are made up of the following elements: subjects participating in tourism (state tourism management agencies, tourists, tourism product suppliers, and local communities at tourist destinations); tourism infrastructure system; tourism resource potential and types of tourism products.

2.1.2.1. Group of entities participating in tourism economic activities

* State management agencies on tourism

State management agencies for tourism in Vietnam are divided into three groups:

Firstly, the state management agencies for tourism include: the Government (at the central level) and the People's Committees at all levels (at the local level). These agencies have the function of comprehensive state management of all aspects of economic and social life in a specific area, including tourism.

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