Opportunities for Tourism Development in Hai Phong

Increasing the attractiveness of the investment environment, including the tourism sector. Calling for and attracting investment projects in tourism will have many new points.

In the period 2001-2011, the city's tourism has made significant progress, with many large tourism projects being invested in, put into operation and bringing about effectiveness in the near future, which will make important contributions to the development of the tourism industry.

3.1.1.2. Opportunities for tourism development in Hai Phong

According to Resolution 32/NQ-BCT of the Politburo, Decision 145/2004/QD

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- The Prime Minister's Directive on the main directions for socio-economic development of the Northern key economic region with a vision to 2020, the master plan for Vietnam's tourism development identifies Hai Phong, together with Hanoi and Quang Ninh, as the most important tourism growth triangle of the Northern region and the whole country.

Vietnam is urgently implementing activities to quickly integrate with the world after becoming a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The increasingly large market allows Hai Phong city to expand its production scale, develop many new products, increase exports... In particular, Hai Phong's forest and sea ecotourism products have great potential to compete regionally and internationally.

* The demand for tourism (international and domestic) is increasing along with political security stability.

Vietnam tourism in particular and Hai Phong tourism in particular are facing great opportunities when the demand for tourism in the world in general and the region in particular is increasing. The key markets of Vietnam tourism and Hai Phong tourism are all experiencing an increase in visitors.

For the domestic tourist market, tourism demand is also increasing rapidly along with the increase in the demand for pilgrimages and festivals; increased vacation time for workers; improvement in living standards and activities of people, especially in large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Reality shows that not only in

tourist season, even on weekends, the number of domestic tourists from Hanoi to Hai Phong and then connecting tours to Do Son, Cat Bi is very large. If Hai Phong knows how to organize well and build suitable tourism products, it will be a great opportunity for Hai Phong to become an ideal tourist destination for tourists from Hanoi.

Thus, it can be seen that Hai Phong tourism is facing development opportunities from the perspective of increasing market demand, especially from key international markets in the region such as Japan, China, Korea... and Hanoi - the largest customer distribution market in the Northern region.

* The development of the two economic-tourism corridors Hai Phong - Hanoi - Lao Cai - Kunming and Hai Phong - Hanoi - Nanning is receiving investment and development encouragement from the governments of Vietnam and China.

These two economic corridors are important economic “axes” not only for Vietnam and China, but also part of the “development axis” between the ASEAN region and China - a strategic partner of the region. One of the important contents in the development of these two economic corridors is cooperation in tourism development.

In recent times, economic activities in general and tourism in particular on this economic corridor have become vibrant, contributing significantly to the development of Vietnam's tourism. Accordingly, the number of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam via these two routes not only always accounts for the largest proportion of the total number of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam but also accounts for the largest proportion of the total number of tourists coming to Vietnam. In 2001, the number of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam was 672 thousand (equal to 28.8% of the total number of international tourists coming to Vietnam), in 2004 this number was 778 thousand (equal to 26.6%); in 2005 it was 280 thousand (equal to 22.5%). By the end of November 2011, Vietnam welcomed 5.4 million international visitors, of which China continued to be the leading country in terms of the number of tourists coming to Vietnam with over 1.2 million (accounting for about 1.2 million).

22.3%). So it can be said that Hai Phong is facing great opportunities to welcome Chinese tourists, a large tourist market with increasing tourism "demand".

This opportunity for Hai Phong tourism is a reality as the governments of Vietnam and China have committed to giving priority to promoting the development of two important economic corridors.

* Receive direct traffic from the South via Highway 10

National Highway 10 is an important strategic traffic route to create a "connection" position to effectively exploit the marine economic potential, including tourism, of coastal localities from Thanh Hoa to Quang Ninh.

Before National Highway 10 came into operation, the flow of tourists from the South to Hai Phong by road often had to go through Hanoi, so they had to incur additional costs. Therefore, the operation of National Highway 10 has opened up the opportunity for Hai Phong tourism to directly welcome this flow of tourists, contributing significantly to the growth of the number of tourists to Hai Phong in particular and the development of Hai Phong tourism in general.

Hai Phong is still the main gateway to the sea of Hanoi, the Northern provinces, Hai Phong has an airport, seaport, railway, river route as a traffic hub. The need for development must inevitably expand air traffic to Hai Phong. The near future is the exchange of Hai Phong with neighboring Northeast Asia. Therefore, it is inevitable that air passenger transport to Hai Phong will develop.

3.1.1.3. Challenges for tourism development in Hai Phong

Although tourism is identified as a key economic sector, an important economic sector, the attention and direction are not close and practical, and capital incentives for investment development, promotion, and market expansion are still very limited. Policy mechanisms and administrative procedures are not open, unattractive, and it is difficult to attract investment capital for tourism development.

* Innovation, improvement of professional skills and service style of the workforce (management and operations) is still very slow.

“Subsidy period” tourism has been relatively developed in Hai Phong for a long time and in addition to that, the “explosion” of the resort system of the management ministries as well as the professional aspects have not met the requirements of tourism activities according to the market mechanism. This is clearly shown in the service quality in many accommodation establishments and tourist attractions in Hai Phong in the past, which was very limited. This team is not much left now, but the remnants of the old way of doing business still have a great impact. Although the young labor force of Hai Phong tourism has replaced almost all of the labor force in the subsidy period, the working methods and service methods have changed slowly, not meeting the requirements in the new conditions.

* Limited technical tourism facilities, especially hotel systems with standards of 3 stars or higher, banking and entertainment services.

According to statistics up to 2010, the city has 890 accommodation establishments with 6592 rooms, of which 3842 rooms meet international standards from 1 to 4 stars, there is no hotel meeting 5 star standards. Comparing the entertainment services of Hai Phong tourism with Hanoi and Quang Ninh, we can clearly see the "backwardness" of Hai Phong, although the growth of the above indicators is better.

* Limitations on tourism products, especially specific tourism products, and limitations on tourism promotion and marketing activities compared to development requirements.

Operating in a market mechanism, the development of tourism products, especially specific tourism products, and marketing activities to promote tourism to key tourism markets are among the very important factors determining the success of tourism business.

Although aware of the importance of the above issue, due to many reasons, investment in the development of tourism products, especially specific tourism products and tourism promotion and marketing activities are still very limited.

Of the total investment projects approved by competent authorities, only a few are investment projects for tourism product development (eco-tourism areas, Cat Ba Water Park, golf courses, etc.). The remaining projects mainly invest in building accommodation areas (hotels, tourist villages) and food service establishments. The typical tourism products of Hai Phong are identified in the planning such as rural tourism, marine parks with the exploitation of the values of the pine-ang ecosystem, eco-tourism with the observation of white-headed langurs, "home-stay" tourism in Viet Hai village, adventure tourism in Cat Ba, etc. have not yet received adequate investment. Cultural tourism products have not yet been invested in and exploited, so historical and cultural relics, architectural works, traditional festivals, folk games, and customs are mostly exploited for what is available, lacking in uniformity and appeal to customers.

Marketing activities to promote tourism in Hai Phong have not yet had a specific strategy, so the activities in the past have only been "circumstantial" and relied on the very limited budget from the City as well as the support of the National Action Program on Tourism.

* The impact of seasonality in tourism activities

As a locality located in the Northern region, Hai Phong tourism activities are very “seasonal”. Due to the profound influence of the Northern climate, in addition to other social influences such as festival “season”, summer vacation “season” of students, tourist “season” of international tourists, especially from European countries, America, Oceania.

According to statistics, if during the peak tourist season (from May to September), the average room occupancy rate of Hai Phong is about 57.4%, then during the low season this figure is only 38%.

Seasonality in tourism activities is considered one of the important reasons affecting the average number of days of stay and the very low level of spending of tourists when coming to Hai Phong.

If we consider “seasonality” from the perspective of tourism products when the main tourism products of Hai Phong are currently sea tourism products, the impact of “seasonality” on the development of Hai Phong tourism is increasingly large. This is an issue that needs to be seriously raised when considering preferential support for investment projects to develop Hai Phong tourism products to limit the low efficiency of investment such as the “Cat Ba Water Park” project.

* The connectivity of Hai Phong with neighboring localities, especially with Hanoi and Quang Ninh in tourism activities has not met development requirements.

Tourism activities are activities without administrative boundaries, so the connection between localities, especially neighboring localities, in tourism development is very important. This connection allows for effective exploitation of tourism potentials in different administrative territories, developing tourism products that can complement each other to create attractive inter-regional tours, creating a common tourism image for an area while reducing advertising and propaganda costs... This connection in tourism development activities becomes more and more important in the integration trend of Vietnam's tourism with the region and the world.

As an important pole in the growth triangle of the Northern tourism region and of the Hai Phong - Quang Ninh tourism center with the focus on Ha Long - Cat Ba - Do Son, the connection between Hai Phong tourism and tourism in localities in the region, especially with Hanoi tourism and Quang Ninh tourism, is very important. This connection not only contributes to promoting the development of Hai Phong tourism but also has significance for localities in the region. However, in the past, Hai Phong tourism has made many efforts but has not proactively created this connection due to the separatism of each locality. This is one of the reasons limiting the flow of visitors to Hai Phong, especially from Hanoi as well as tours in the Hai Phong - Quang Ninh tourism space have not been formed.

clearly established as well as lacking a general image of the region, in which Hai Phong is an important destination.

* Hai Phong tourism develops in a very competitive environment, first of all with Hanoi and Quang Ninh, in the condition that Hai Phong's tourism image and products are still vague and developing at a low level.

Along with the advantages and opportunities when Hai Phong is located in the Northern tourist destination, there are huge challenges when the development of Hai Phong tourism has to face competition from Hanoi tourism and Quang Ninh tourism. This competition is inevitable for all development activities in the market mechanism. However, this challenge for Hai Phong tourism becomes even greater when the image of Hai Phong tourism is still vague, Hai Phong tourism products are still monotonous and developed at a low level and have not fully exploited the specific potential of the locality. The "weaknesses" analyzed above also contribute to limiting the competitiveness of Hai Phong tourism. If Hai Phong does not have drastic "breakthroughs" in the coming years, the situation of "going ahead and falling behind" and "being at a disadvantage" in development compared to Hanoi and Quang Ninh will continue, affecting the position of Hai Phong tourism in the local socio-economic development strategy as well as in the tourism development strategy of the Northern tourism region in particular and of Vietnam tourism in general.

* Impact of urban and industrial development activities

One of the main functions of Hai Phong is that of an industrial city and an important maritime traffic hub, one of the most important in the Northern region. To fulfill that function, urban, industrial and seaport development activities are increasingly vibrant, contributing to the implementation of strategic goals not only of the city but also of the entire Northern key economic region.

Along with the development of increasingly expanding activities, there are significant impacts on the environment and landscape - a very sensitive factor for

Tourism development, especially eco-tourism and nature-based tourism - one of the specific strengths of Hai Phong tourism. Therefore, this is a big challenge for Hai Phong's tourism development in the short and long term.

The urban development on Cat Ba Island can be seen as a typical example of this challenge. In order to limit the impact of this challenge, it is necessary to have a suitable master plan, especially in terms of functional space organization, based on objective scientific analysis.

* The degradation of tourism resources and environment, including the "overlapping" situation in management, is a major problem.

This is not only a challenge for Hai Phong tourism but also a common challenge for Vietnam tourism. This can be easily seen in many valuable tourist resource points of the city, even in Cat Ba National Park - a world biosphere reserve. The degradation of many historical and cultural relics, the decline in biodiversity in natural areas due to unmanaged exploitation activities, the destruction of landscapes due to stone mining...

There are many causes for this situation, but one of the main causes is the "overlapping" situation in resource management. According to the research results on this issue by the Institute for Tourism Development Research, although the Law on Tourism has identified basic types of tourism resources that need to be managed and exploited for the purpose of tourism development. However, in reality, the tourism industry has not managed any type of resource. This is a big challenge for the development of Vietnam's tourism in general, Hai Phong tourism in particular, because tourism itself is an industry with a clear resource orientation, in other words, tourism resources are the foundation for tourism development.

* Hai Phong tourism develops in the context of pressure on the responsibility of preserving the values of "biosphere reserves" and "world natural heritage sites"

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