star (currently the city still has no 5-star hotel) with 4,500 rooms and many mini hotels that basically meet the needs of tourists 30. The growth in the number of hotels and motels in Ha Long is considered the fastest in Vietnam in recent years. In addition, the quality of hotels and motels is also being strengthened, meeting the requirements of modern facilities, equipment, and service processes. Some reputable hotels in the area include: Ha Long Dream Hotel, Heritage Hotel, Trade Union Hotel, etc.
In addition, overnight accommodation services on the bay have also developed quite rapidly. In 2002, there were 16 ships with 134 rooms, and by early 2007, there were 90 ships with 680 rooms, equivalent to 3 to 4 stars. Most of the newly invested accommodation facilities in recent years are larger in scale, with higher service quality and room occupancy rates. This trend contributes to improving service quality and growth quality.
* Tourist transportation services
In 2001, the whole province had 251 ships transporting tourists to Ha Long Bay with 8,084 seats, by 2007 there were 370 ships with 14,352 seats. Currently, there are 334 ranked ships including: 61 3-star ships, 62 2-star ships, 102 1-star ships and 109 standard ships. The investment rate of ships transporting tourists to Ha Long Bay increased by an average of 9%/year, the investment capital in the past 7 years reached about 900 billion VND. The quality of ships has improved significantly, this type of service has achieved high business efficiency and has a good development trend to become one of the typical tourism products of the bay.
30 http:// Vietnamt tourimsm.gov.vn
Road transport has also developed quite rapidly and is of good quality. Currently, in Quang Ninh, there are over 200 luxury tourist transport vehicles operating on the Hanoi-Ha Long and Ha Long-Mong Cai routes. Other types of transport such as tourist cyclos, horse-drawn carriages, etc. have also begun to appear in Bai Chay tourist area, creating a variety of choices for tourists.
* Other services
Along with the development of the tourism industry and meeting the needs of tourism services, the system of other social services such as: postal information, banking, insurance, freight transport, commercial services, ship supply and other services also develop at a rapid pace, creating a synchronous infrastructure to serve tourism development.
3.2. Revenue from tourism activities
Revenue from Ha Long Bay tourism accounts for nearly 65% of the tourism revenue of the entire Quang Ninh province. The total tourism revenue of the province in 2001 reached 468 billion VND, of which revenue from Ha Long Bay tourism was 304.5 billion VND. In 2006, revenue from Ha Long Bay tourism reached 822,250 billion VND, the average growth rate in 6 years (2001-2006) was 27%. In 2007 alone, revenue reached 1,485,695 billion VND, an increase of nearly 55% compared to 2006 31 .
Table 2.3. Revenue from tourism activities in Ha Long Bay (2001-2007)
Unit: thousand dong
Year
Revenue
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
Total revenue | 304,500 | 485,020 | 568,278 | 689,000 | 672,000 | 822,250 | 1,485,695 |
Tourism revenue calendar | 259,717 | 425,063 | 504,563 | 654,120 | 540,560 | 608840 | 1,167,475 |
Ticket visit the bay | 22,697 | 29,670 | 28,106 | 34,800 | 41,700 | 42,070 | 62,100 |
Transport visitors to the bay | 21,586 | 30,287 | 35,609 | 79,978 | 90,040 | 171,340 | 256,120 |
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Source: Ha Long Bay Management Board 32
The above indicators show that the rapid growth rate of revenue from bay tourism proves the growth and change in quality. In particular, tourism products such as: Entertainment services at Tuan Chau, Hoang Gia, Loi Lai tourist areas; high-quality accommodation facilities, boats serving overnight guests on the bay... are increasingly attracting many tourists with high spending ability, creating a large source of revenue. Along with the increase in revenue, budget revenues from tourism activities such as taxes, fees for visiting Ha Long Bay... have grown quite well every year, initially making an important contribution to the province's budget revenue structure. Tourism activities have impacted
strongly to other economic sectors, becoming the driving force for the development of satellite economic sectors.
3.3. Capital and investment projects
Since Ha Long Bay was recognized as a World Heritage Site, although it is located in a socio-economic area that is developing strongly, the management of Ha Long Bay Heritage Site still faces many difficulties and challenges, especially the issue of environmental protection. However, with the viewpoint and goal of both managing and preserving the intact value of Ha Long Bay Heritage for future generations, and exploiting and promoting the potential value of the Heritage, Ha Long Bay Management Board has made great efforts to organize and implement management and promotion activities of the Heritage, achieving very important initial results. That is, the management and exploitation of the Bay has gradually become stable; the coordination of management between Ha Long Bay Management Board and related sectors and localities in Quang Ninh province has had positive changes; facilities serving tourists on the Bay have received investment attention. According to statistics, Ha Long Bay tourism activities have attracted large investment sources, reaching and exceeding targets. Since 2001, the bay has attracted over 30 tourism and service development projects, with a total registered capital of VND5,500 billion. Of these, 14 projects have invested in infrastructure for tourist areas with a total approved investment of about VND443 billion from the state budget, of which VND230 billion has been implemented by 2007; 16 foreign investment projects with a total registered capital of about VND1,904 billion; businesses and establishments providing accommodation services and entertainment projects.
play about 2,568 billion VND 33. List of completed projects:
33 Standing Committee of Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee (2001), Ha Long Bay Tourism Development Strategy 2001 - 2010
Table 2.4: List of projects implemented in the period 2001-2007
1
Soi Sim Island Amusement Park Renovation Project Phase I | Build a wharf for ships to land on the island. Build sand embankment on beach. Some service and sanitation facilities. | Year 2001 | 4,038,000,000 | |
2 | High speed working boat | Pick up and drop off employees to work on the Bay. | 2003 | 3,500,000,000 |
3 | Rescue ship | Serving search and rescue operations in the Bay. | 2005- 2007 | 1,147,000.0 |
Source: Quang Ninh Provincial Statistics Office 34
In addition, there are projects that are being and will continue to be implemented, including: Thien Cung Cave Project (Phase II), Soi Sim Island Infrastructure Project (Phase II), Sung Sot Cave Project (Phase II), Project to equip 2 waste collection ships, Dau Go Wharf Upgrade Project, Project to build overnight anchorage points on the Bay, Project to build a working wharf at Ben Doan.
Projects calling for investment: Me Cung cave eco-tourism and cultural area project on Lom Bo island, Ha Long Ecological Museum project, Ha Long Bay environmental quality conservation and improvement project, Ha Long Bay biodiversity value research and investigation project.
The above results show that new investment and continued preservation and promotion of cultural heritage values, as well as investment in infrastructure in Ha Long Bay
34 Quang Ninh Provincial Statistics Office (2005), List of investment projects in Ha Long Bay 2001-2005
has been given due attention, contributing to improving the landscape environment on the bay, further diversifying tourism products in Ha Long Bay. This is a positive signal for the development of tourism in the bay in the following years.
II. Current status of marketing activities of Ha Long Bay tourism services in the period 2000-2007
1. Analysis of the tourism service marketing environment
* Macro environment
During the period 2001-2007, the impacts of the macro environment on Ha Long Bay included both positive and negative trends.
Natural environment: Recently, to ensure sustainable development of tourism, the province has regularly directed sectors and localities to strengthen environmental protection, pay attention to education to raise public awareness of environmental protection and tourism resources in the bay. Programs such as waste treatment in the bay, creating a clean environment in residential areas on the bay... have been implemented and have had initial results. However, environmental protection in the bay still reveals many shortcomings. In fact, in 2007, Ha Long Bay easily achieved the target number of visitors, but the environmental quality has declined at an alarming rate, coal mining, sea encroachment, and aquaculture activities are threatening the environment of the bay. The environmental protection awareness of some businesses and households living near the bay is not high, the phenomenon of littering and dead seafood continues. Community awareness of responsibility for environmental protection in general and tourism environment in particular is not high.
Economic environment: During the period 2001-2007, Vietnam's economy had strong development steps, people's lives improved, and tourism demand increased. In the province itself, strong economic development led to
Individuals with capital have opened their own tourism service businesses, contributing to meeting the needs of visitors. In addition, the inflation in the past 5 years has led to an increase in consumer prices as well as prices of tourism services in the bay, affecting business activities in the bay. Some tourism service businesses have taken advantage of this price increase to raise service prices too high, creating a mentality of distrust in the prices of tourism services in the area for the majority of customers.
Technological environment: Grasping the development trend of world tourism, as well as the needs of customers for high-tech entertainment, most motels and hotels in Ha Long are equipped with modern equipment, have Cable TV, internet connection... Internet services, wifi cafes are also opened to meet the needs of tourists.
Social and cultural environment: The bay management board has coordinated with the tourism department and related sectors to strengthen inspection, examination and handling of violations such as: begging, touting, soliciting, stalking, street vending, checking price posting and selling at listed prices at transaction centers. However, in reality, this situation has not been thoroughly resolved, causing inconvenience to tourists. Promote education and raise public awareness of tourism civilization. Ensuring political security and social order and safety is regularly paid attention to, creating favorable conditions for tourism development. Over the years, Ha Long Bay has always been considered a safe destination for tourists.
Political environment: During the period 2001-2007, the political environment had many fluctuations that affected the tourism business activities of the bay. For example, China's change in policy on issuing passports for citizens to travel to Vietnam... significantly reduced the number of tourists to the bay. Along with
This is also the period when Vietnam joined the WTO, the content agreements related to tourism services, as well as information about the opening of 12 tourism sectors and the commitment roadmap also have an impact on business activities in Ha Long Bay.
In addition, thanks to state investment sources, along with the application of investment policies of the province, from 2001 to present, the infrastructure for tourism development has been significantly improved: Completing the upgrade of the route from Noi Bai airport to Ha Long, Highway 18A from Ha Long to Cua Ong, renovating and upgrading the cruise ship port... creating favorable conditions and opening up prospects for tourism development.
Legal environment: The State and the locality itself have had many more open policies and mechanisms in granting visas to tourists, as well as creating favorable conditions for tourism service businesses to develop. However, the system of legal documents for tourism activities in general and tourism in the bay in particular is still lacking and has many shortcomings compared to reality.
In general, currently, businesses in Ha Long city, as well as the bay management board, have gradually conducted research on the natural environment, cultural environment, political environment, etc. to develop suitable tourism products. However, the situation of environmental research for tourism service marketing has not received due attention, lacking the synchronous coordination of the industry and businesses from awareness to the development of specific research strategies.
2. Current status of market research, identifying target markets, and positioning tourism services
2.1. Current status of market research activities