Linking tourism development between Luangprabang, Laos and Hanoi, Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

1. Reason for choosing the topic

In recent years, the tourism industry in the Lao PDR has gradually developed. In 2000, the number of international tourists to Laos was only 737,208 and the revenue was only about 113.9 million USD, but by 2018, this number had reached nearly 5 million with a revenue of about 900 million USD.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in 2017, the number of tourists traveling between the two countries reached 1.13 million; of which, more than 137,000 were Lao tourists to Vietnam and about 1 million were Vietnamese tourists to Laos. In addition, the number of tourists from third countries, especially European countries, the US, Australia and Japan, traveling to both Laos and Vietnam on routes connecting the centers and heritages of Laos and Vietnam also increased significantly. This is a good opportunity for the tourism industry of Vietnam and Laos in general, and the localities of the two countries in particular, to strengthen cooperation in tourism development.

In view of that fact, linking tourist destinations between the two countries is one of the cooperation directions that the Party, State and Government of Laos and Vietnam are very interested in. Linking allows exploiting the advantages of tourism resources, technical infrastructure and other resources for tourism development of both sides. Linking also creates highly competitive tourism products in the regional and international tourism markets. When joining ASEAN and the World Trade Organization (WTO), besides the advantages, tourism in Laos and Vietnam will also have to compete with many countries in the region and in the world. Therefore, linking will create highly competitive products. At the same time, saving costs, doing business more effectively and limiting border barriers between countries for tourists. Linking not only attracts more tourists but also attracts investors in tourism development. In addition, tourism development linkage has the ability to overcome the limitations and weaknesses of each locality, contributing to the rapid and sustainable development of tourism on both sides. Tourism development linkage also contributes to protecting the environment and common resources.

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Luangprabang City, Lao PDR has great potential for development.

tourism with many cultural heritages, especially the thousand-year-old temples. Besides, Luang Prabang also preserves many beautiful and attractive customs, unique folk cultural treasures and traditional craft villages. Despite going through two wars against Siam and France, along with the impacts of nature and time, Luang Prabang still preserves many valuable cultural heritages with deep historical and cultural values. Cultural heritages are all associated with legends, historical figures or related to the typical architectural styles of the proud historical periods of Lao tribes.

In recent times, Luang Prabang and Hanoi, the key economic cities of the two countries, where there are world cultural heritages, convenient transportation by both road and air, have had socio-economic connections, including tourism development connections.

Linking tourism development in particular and economic development in general will contribute to promoting the development of friendly relations between the two cities as well as between the two countries, which is also one of the strategic orientations of the Party and Government of the Lao PDR and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In fact, in recent times, the two cities of Luangprabang and Hanoi have held many seminars on tourism development cooperation and have initially achieved some positive results. On November 21, 2019, in Luangprabang, the Vietnamese Consulate in the Northern Lao provinces coordinated with the Department of Information, Culture and Tourism of Luangprabang province to organize a Conference on Promoting Tourism Cooperation between Vietnamese provinces, including Hanoi city and the Northern Lao region with the theme "Journey to the World Heritage". This is one of the practical activities to promote cooperation and exchange, promote tourism, connect tourism partners between Vietnamese provinces and Northern Lao provinces in general, Luangprabang in particular and vice versa. At the conference, representatives of the provinces introduced the geographical location, potential, strengths, outstanding tourist destinations of each locality and the need for cooperation, connecting tours, tourist routes, promoting tourism on both sides and targeting common tourism markets such as the Thai, Chinese and other international tourist markets. Also at the conference, representatives

Representatives of associations and tourism companies from Laos and Vietnam presented papers and had direct discussions to seek opportunities for cooperation and tourism development.

Although there are many conferences and scientific seminars on tourism between Laos and Vietnam in general and the two cities of Luang Prabang and Hanoi in particular, there has not been any general research or in-depth analysis on the field of tourism development linkage between these two cities. Therefore, the study of "Tourism development linkage between Luang Prabang (Laos) and Hanoi (Vietnam)" has great theoretical and practical significance.

2. Research purpose and tasks

2.1. Research purpose

The purpose of the project is to contribute to strengthening connections, improving the efficiency of local tourism business activities, and promoting tourism activities of the two countries in general and the two cities in particular.

2.2 . Research tasks

From the above purpose, the thesis has the following basic research tasks:

• Systematize theoretical issues related to tourism development linkage

• Combined with field surveys, analyze the current status of tourism development cooperation activities between the two localities to point out the advantages, disadvantages and causes.

• Propose solutions from the perspective of general research on tourism development linkage activities in the two localities, as a premise to promote tourism development in Laos and Vietnam.

3. Research object and scope

3.1. Research subjects:

- The research object is some issues related to the tourism development linkage between Luangprabang city and Hanoi city.

3.2. Scope of research

The issue of tourism development linkage is very broad and complex, related to many industries and localities, so it requires a lot of time. Therefore, within the time frame of the thesis, the author only mentions a few issues:

- Regarding content: The topic studies some contents related to tourism development linkage activities such as: linkage of tourism product and service chains, linkage of human resource training and development, linkage of transportation serving tourism, linkage of tourism promotion and advertising.

- About time: Data and information for research on the topic are limited from 2015 to 2019.

- About space: Research topic on tourism development linkage activities of two cities Luangprabang and Hanoi.

4. Research methods

4.1. Secondary information collection methods

To complete the thesis, the author collected practical information related to tourism development cooperation activities of the two countries Laos and Vietnam in general and the two cities of Luangprabang and Hanoi in particular through tourism promotion centers and tourism departments of the two cities.

4.2. Field survey method

The author conducted a survey in the two cities of Luaphabang and Hanoi to have the opportunity to approach reality and collect information related to the topic. The survey was conducted at different times to have objective and complete results with many types of tourists, many types of tourism with many different services and types of business.

4.3. Interview method

The author conducted interviews with a number of lecturers at a number of schools and projects in the two localities about tourism human resource training cooperation activities; a number of tour operators about cooperation activities related to travel, the advantages and difficulties of companies in the two localities; a number of tourism department officials about policies, plans, programs... on tourism development cooperation; a number of promotion center staff of the two localities about tourism promotion and advertising cooperation activities; a number of domestic and international tourists about the services of the two localities. During the interview, observe their attitudes and responses to have a more objective view of the research problem. From there, make accurate assessments and solve the problem.

Research is relevant to practice.

4.4. Questionnaire survey method

- The subjects are international tourists and domestic tourists - those who directly use tourism services, including tourism linkage services; travel companies are units that have activities of linking tourism products and services,...

- The purpose is to collect opinions from tourists and travel companies about the current status of tourism cooperation activities between the two localities. At the same time, collect their feedback and contributions as a basis for developing solutions for effective cooperation activities.

4.5. Methods of analysis, evaluation and synthesis

After studying the theory and practice of tourism development cooperation activities of the two cities of Luang Prabang and Hanoi. At the same time, collecting all necessary data and information, then conducting the process of filtering and processing data. The method of analysis and synthesis assessment is used to analyze the relevance and influence of factors related to tourism development cooperation activities of the two cities. From there, there is a basis to propose a number of solutions and recommendations for cooperation activities to develop stably, sustainably, and be competitive in the region and area.

5. Thesis layout

In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references and appendix, the thesis is divided into 3 chapters:

Chapter 1. Overview of documents and theoretical basis on tourism development linkage

Chapter 2. Current status of tourism development linkage activities in Luang Prabang city and Hanoi city.

Chapter 3. Some solutions for tourism development linkage in Luangprabang city and Hanoi city.

Chapter 1

OVERVIEW OF DOCUMENTS AND THEORETICAL BASIS ON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT LINKAGES

1.1. Overview of research on tourism development linkage

In the eyes of Sara Nordin (2003), linkages are expressed in networks and clusters. According to the author, if networks allow businesses to access services, especially at low costs, clusters attract the necessary services to a location. He emphasizes that network members share common business goals, while clusters provide members with a collective and long-term vision. The author's idea of these two types of linkages can be understood more broadly as functional linkages and spatial linkages .

Nguyen Van Huan (2012) believes that regional linkages should be implemented based on the following basic principles: The distribution of industries and regions must be based on comparative advantages that can minimize the total cost of production and distribution of products to the market; the simultaneous mobilization and use of raw materials in many places will reduce the efficiency of resource use and eliminate regional linkages; based on scale efficiency.

Tran Huu Son (2016) pointed out that the principle of regional and sub-regional tourism linkage is to respect the principle of integrity; regional tourism linkage is a dynamic process with the characteristics of movement, coordination, integration and periodicity. Therefore, it is necessary to comply with the principles of sequential and orderly development; the principle of benefits, combining economic and social benefits, ecological benefits.

With the research approach on input - output Hirschman (1958) when referring to regional economic linkages, he used the concepts of backward linkages, upstream linkages and forward linkages, downstream linkages to study industry and inter-industry relationships. He argued that backward linkage effects arise from the input supply demand of a newly established industry; while forward linkage effects arise from the use of the output of that industry as input to other industries that follow. Linkage effects are seen as impulses to create new investments through

through the movement of input-output relationships. This is the key point in Hirschaman's economic development theory, when he recommends focusing on investing in industries with strong linkages and strong spillovers, in order to promote economic growth (unbalanced growth) through their spillovers.

Porter, ME (1998) believes that linkage is one of the elements of competitive strategy. Linkage creates new product value that no member has before, so it creates competitive advantage for the linked group, that is, the parties participating in the linkage. Later, Greek scholars Sgouro Melisidou and colleagues (2010) specified the objectives of linkage: creating common products or services; jointly purchasing equipment, services or technology; jointly sharing service results, creating popular brands and promoting the region; enhancing tourism products and local destinations. The great goal of linkage must be "local linkage, global competition", that is, linkage must be enhanced to compete beyond national borders. If the network allows businesses to access special services at low cost, the cluster attracts the necessary services to a location. Network members share a common business purpose, while clusters provide members with a long-term collective vision.

Regarding the association trend, the trend of expanding the area and establishing multilateral and multinational association mechanisms is also noted. Studies show that there is development in both scale and diversity, complexity in the composition, mechanisms and characteristics of the associations.

First of all, we must mention the specific expansion of the area in the tourism space connection, expressed in the intra-regional and extra-regional connection between sea and mountain tourist destinations inside and outside the territory, which was formed and developed from the second half of the last century as in the works of Babbier (1967, 1989), Balseinte R. (1977), Knafou R. (1978, 1987) in Europe. These are simple "horizontal" connections through tours and tourist routes.

Most theoretical studies rarely mention policy development, propose solutions, and do not provide general linkage models. However,

These studies provide basic theories, which serve as a basis for the development of policies, solutions, models, etc. In particular, they emphasize the role of management agencies in the components participating in the association. Through the research works, it can be seen that, regardless of the association method, the government's opinion always plays a decisive role.

From a practical perspective, after joining the WTO, Vietnamese tourism is facing a more open market with many opportunities but also many challenges. The Party, State and Government have seen the great role of linkage in tourism development. In response to the need for tourism development in recent years, many localities have paid attention to and implemented tourism linkages between domestic provinces and with other provinces abroad. Many seminars discussing linkages in tourism development at home and abroad have been held, such as the international seminar "Linking tourism development between Binh Dinh and the northeastern provinces of Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos", the seminar "Linking tourism development in the central coastal region with the Southeast, Central Highlands, Southern Laos and Northeastern Cambodia", the scientific conference

After joining the WTO, Lao tourism is facing a more open market with many opportunities but also many challenges. The Lao Party, State and Government have seen the great role of cooperation in tourism development. Domestic and international conferences have been organized with the participation of the Lao Ministry of Tourism such as: On January 4 , 2016, the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) was held in the Philippines, ASEAN Tourism Ministers announced the ASEAN Tourism Development Strategy to 2025. This is an important orientation for the development of ASEAN tourism in general and Lao tourism in particular in the context of the ASEAN Economic Community being officially established, the connection between ASEAN countries in general and tourism in particular is increasingly tight. This conference introduced and analyzed some outstanding features for tourism development in ASEAN countries, and proposed some contents that need to be focused on to integrate regional tourism effectively and sustainably.

On July 19, 2017, at the Lao National Cultural Palace, Vientiane Capital, the Lao National Administration of Tourism in conjunction with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism held a conference to promote

Linking tourism development between Luangprabang, Laos and Hanoi, Vietnam - 2

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