Current status of tourism development in Lao Cai province - 2

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Likert scale 31

Table 3.1: Staff of state management officials on tourism in Lao Cai province as of December 31, 2019 47

Table 3.2: Promotion and tourism promotion activities in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019 52

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Table 3.3: Situation of tourist accommodation establishments in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019

.......................................................................................................... 58

Table 3.4: Situation of travel businesses in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019 60

Table 3.5: Human resources of tourism industry in Lao Cai province as of December 31, 2019

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Table 3.6: Tour guide resources in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019

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Table 3.7: Results of tourism business activities in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019 69

Table 3.8: Assessment results of subject 01 on tourism development activities in Lao Cai province 72

Table 3.9: Assessment results of subject 02 on tourism development activities in Lao Cai province 73

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 3.1: Results of tourism business activities in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019 71

INTRODUCTION

1. Urgency of the topic

Tourism is a comprehensive economic sector, increasingly important for economic, political, social development and environmental resource protection. Tourism development will contribute to economic restructuring, bring in national budget revenue, attract investment capital and export goods on the spot, and have a positive impact on the development of related economic sectors, especially the handicraft industry. Tourism also contributes to the implementation of poverty reduction policies, creating many jobs and regular income for workers in many different regions. Therefore, tourism development is an inevitable trend today.

Lao Cai is a mountainous border province in the Northwest of Vietnam. With great potential in nature and culture, Lao Cai is one of the tourist destinations for relaxation, exploration, attracting domestic and foreign tourists. In recent years, tourism activities in Lao Cai province have had positive changes, the tourism industry continues to receive strong direction from the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee, the drastic and timely participation of the entire political system, sectors, levels, and organizations, thereby achieving important results, contributing fundamentally to the completion of the goals and targets of the province's economic development plan. In 2019, the total number of visitors to Lao Cai reached 5,106,851, an increase of 20.3% compared to 2018. Of which, international visitors reached 806,106, an increase of 12.2%; domestic visitors reached 4,300,745, an increase of 21.9%. Total tourism revenue reached VND 19,203 billion, up 43.2% compared to 2018; of which total international visitor revenue reached VND 5,441.1 billion, up 26.6%; total domestic visitor revenue reached VND 13,761.9 billion, up 51.1%.

Besides the achieved results, tourism development in Lao Cai province is facing some issues that need to be solved, such as: promotion of destinations in international tourist markets is still limited, and many activities have not been organized.

Promotional activities to promote destinations in key tourist markets, the coordination mechanism between the State and enterprises in tourism promotion and advertising is not effective; human resources have not met actual requirements, there is a lack of professional and high-quality labor force; there are not many new and unique tourism products; there are not many entertainment and recreation spots to attract tourists; planning and implementation are still slow; transport infrastructure has not been invested synchronously, the transport system to tourist destinations is seriously degraded; tourism technical facilities have increased in quantity but there are still many small and seasonal establishments, the quality of service is not uniform, lacking professionalism. The above issues pose an urgent requirement for Lao Cai province to have specific solutions to develop tourism in the coming time in the direction of becoming more complete, more modern, more "regular" in order to optimally exploit the tourism potential of the province.

Based on the above issues, I chose the topic: "The current status of tourism development in Lao Cai province" as the research topic of my thesis to contribute to solving the above urgent requirement.

2. Research objectives

2.1. General objectives

Propose some solutions to promote tourism development in Lao Cai province, contributing to socio-economic development in the province in the coming time.

2.2. Specific objectives

- Systematize theoretical and practical basis on tourism development.

- Analyze the current status of tourism development in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019.

- Analyze the achievements, limitations and causes of limitations in tourism development in Lao Cai province in the period 2017-2019.

- Propose some solutions to develop tourism in Lao Cai province in the coming time.

3. Research object and scope

3.1. Research subjects

The research object of the topic is tourism activities in Lao Cai province.

3.2. Scope of research

- Spatial scope: the topic is researched in Laos province.

Quit.

- Time scope: data collected and analyzed in the thesis

The documents were taken over 3 years from 2017 to 2019.

- Scope of content: focus on analyzing and evaluating tourism development activities in Lao Cai province through the main contents: building the apparatus and staff of tourism development; building and implementing tourism development planning; promotion, promotion, linkage, and cooperation in tourism development; human resources for tourism; building infrastructure and technical facilities for tourism; building tourism products; results of tourism business activities.

4. Contribution of the thesis

- In theory

The thesis contributes to synthesizing and systematizing basic theoretical issues on tourism development, explaining factors affecting tourism development activities.

- In practice

The thesis is the first systematic research on tourism development in Lao Cai province. The thesis is a reference document for the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lao Cai province and the People's Committee of Lao Cai province to have solutions to develop tourism in Lao Cai province in the coming time.

5. Structure of the topic

In addition to the introduction, conclusion and list of references, the thesis is structured into 4 chapters:

Chapter 1: Theoretical and practical basis of tourism development. Chapter 2: Research methods.

Chapter 3: Current status of tourism development in Lao Cai province. Chapter 4: Some solutions for tourism development in Lao Cai province.

Chapter 1

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

1.1. Theoretical basis of tourism development

1.1.1. General theory of tourism

1.1.1.1. Concept of tourism

According to the Law on Tourism No. 09/2017/QH14 dated June 19, 2017, tourism is understood as follows: "Tourism is an activity related to a person's trip outside his/her usual place of residence for a period of no more than one consecutive year to meet the needs of sightseeing, relaxation, entertainment, learning, exploring tourism resources or in combination with other legitimate purposes" (Law on Tourism, 2017). Thus, tourism is a synthesis of activities organized to serve the journey and stay of a person outside his/her place of residence to carry out personal development in economic, social, cultural and spiritual aspects, rest, entertainment, and recreation, along with promoting understanding and cooperation among people. Tourism is a specific activity, involving many participants, namely tourists, tourism service providers, local authorities where tourists are welcomed and local residents. Tourism has a relationship of combination and interaction between the above objects:

+ For tourists: is a journey and stay in a place other than the regular residence to satisfy material and spiritual needs.

+ For tourism service providers: it is the process of organizing service production conditions to serve tourists to gain profit.

+ For local authorities: managing and organizing infrastructure, facilities and techniques to serve tourists; organizing service activities to serve tourists' accommodation and travel itineraries; organizing the consumption of local products, improving people's living standards; protecting the natural and social environment.

+ For residents: participating in local tourism activities to increase economic benefits, while participating in monitoring and ensuring to the lowest level

negative impacts and risks of tourism on the environment, cultural traditions and living conditions of local people.

1.1.1.2. Characteristics of tourism

- Tourism is an activity that mainly provides services.

Tourism aims to meet the needs of customers for products and services mainly. Usually, tourism products have a large part of intangible elements in their structure. Therefore, in recent years, the tourism industry in general and tourists in particular have always mentioned "tourism service quality". Tourism services are very broad, including accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment services... and are related to many levels, many industries and participating businesses in both the public and private sectors.

- Highly interactive travel

Tourism is the result of interactions between service providers and customers, through satisfying their needs, customers bring benefits to the service provider. The goods created by tourism services are produced and consumed simultaneously, there is no time between production and consumption to check for damaged products.

- Tourism associated with tourism resources

Tourism resources are the natural, cultural and historical wholes and their components in restoring and developing human physical and mental strength, their working capacity and health, these resources are used for direct and indirect needs for the production of tourism services with current or future needs and under economic and technical conditions. Many tourism activities are associated with tourism resources, especially natural tourism resources, historical and cultural relics... associated with each locality. This characteristic makes many tourism products immovable. Or in other words, we cannot bring tourism products to consumers but can bring customers to places where tourism products are available to help them.

satisfy needs through product consumption.

- Customers have heterogeneous and difficult-to-quantify needs: tourism customers are very diverse and rich. Each customer has different interests, likes different tourism products depending on their interests, age, gender, and psychology. Therefore, in order to attract a large number of visitors, state tourism management agencies in localities with tourist attractions need to diversify tourism products and types of tourism to satisfy different needs of tourists.

1.1.1.3. Tourism classification

- Based on the purpose of the trip

+ Nature tourism: this type of tourism attracts people who like to enjoy the outdoors, enjoy beautiful landscapes and wild plant life. Travelers in this group want to find the beauty and wild life of nature.

+ Cultural tourism: this type attracts people whose main interests are the historical traditions, customs, cultural arts, etc. of the destination. These tourists will visit museums, stay at country inns, attend traditional festivals and local folk cultural and artistic activities.

+ Social tourism: attracts people for whom contact and interaction with other people is most important. For some people, being accompanied by members of a social group on tours is also satisfying. Others seek the opportunity to integrate with the local population at the destination. Family visits can also be included in this category.

+ Activity tourism: this type of tourism attracts visitors with a predetermined and challenging activity to complete during their trip, during their vacation. Some visitors want to practice and perfect their foreign language skills.