Tourists visiting Hue Ecolodge resort at Thuy Bieu

Exploiting the space of two river banks

Located 7km away from the Hue city center, Hue Ecolodge resort at No. 2 Luong Quan, Thuy Bieu Ward is an ideal destination for tourists, most of them are international visitors. With 30 bedrooms, a 200-guest capacity cafeteria and a garden of nearly 3 hectares surrounded by thousands of fruitful Thanh tra trees, the number of rooms booked is always higher compared to that of the hotels in the city center.

Manager of the resort, Mrs. Tran Thi Kim Lai said that owning a good position with a Thanh tra garden with more than 20 years of age and located in the village of hundreds of garden houses, the number of visitors staying here is quite large, room occupancy is always over 85%.

Taking advantage of the open space of Thuy Bieu village, Hue Ecolodge invests in sustainable tourism, preserving local culture associated with experiencing tours by bicycle, visiting craft villages and enjoying Hue specialties. In order to develop and expand the size, it is expected that in early 2020, they will invest in building 20 more bedrooms with additional services to meet the demands of visitors.

According to Mrs. Lai, Hue has many advantages in developing eco-tourism, community tourism, especially in the area of Thuy Bieu and Kim Long. In order to effectively exploit the resources of the city, it is necessary to invest in the network of transportation to the tourist attractions, urging the implementation of Bui Thi Xuan street project which is from Long Tho bridge to Luong Quan area, building a wharf in the area of Thuy Bieu to support businesses welcoming guests by waterways.

Agreeing with the manager of Hue Ecolodge resort, Director of Huetourist Company Tran Quang Hao said that in recent years, the city has invested billions of VNDs to complete the transportation network, developing new tourism facilities, such as Pham Ngu Lao - Chu Van An - Vo Thi Sau walking streets, adjusting the space on both banks of the Perfume River and calling for potential investors to invest in building shopping centers, hotels and restaurants.

However, to become the city of tourism and festival of Vietnam and exploit its potentials, in addition to infrastructure investment, the city needs to develop new tourism products and to invest in large-scale shopping centers, in which developing “Ao Dai” tailoring service, forming the monthly “Ao Dai” fashion show and especially maximizing the space of the two banks of the Perfume River for more services for tourists.

Improving infrastructure

After putting into use the pedestrian bridge on the Perfume River funded by Koica Organization (Korea) and completing the walking street on the riverbank with a length of 1.4 km, the city has embellished  the system of parks along the banks of the Perfume River of Hue city, continuing to improve Le Quy Don, Nguyen Thai Hoc, Tran Cao Van, Ong Ich Khiem, Dang Thai Than streets and embellished sidewalks in combination with creating parking lots to complete the transportation network in the central area in order to meet the needs of the visitors.

The number of visitors coming to Hue in the first 6 months increased by 13% compared to that of the same period

Vice Director of the Department of Tourism, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, said that with the strength of having the world cultural heritage and the system of garden houses, and hundreds of ancient houses, in order to attract customers, Hue city needed to increase investment in infrastructure, to embellish the banks of the Perfume River, and to organize the traffic flow to make Truong Tien Bridge a walking street in the evening and making the area of Chuong Duong Street beside Dong Ba market a food street.

Currently, the department is cooperating with Hue city to develop the project "Hue city – the capital of culinary" to promote the image of Hue cuisine in the region and to the world, contributing to improving the social and economic efficiency of the local tourism industry.

Vice President of Hue City People's Committee, Mr. Tran Song, informed that in order to develop tourism in a sustainable way and to ensure the capacity of the infrastructure to serve tourists well, the city has continued to repair the parks on both sides of the Perfume River, proposing qualified routes to carry out trial model of City tour car and convertible bus in Hue city. On the other hand, the city would search for appropriate lands to build transportation infrastructure, accelerating transportation projects to reach Thuy Bieu ward and boat wharfs on the banks of the Perfume River.

In the near future, the city is planning to organize bidding for the land at 15 Le Loi street, which focuses on calling for investors in the field of culture, displaying products of craft villages and Hue specialties to create more destinations in Hue city.

Hue city currently has 430 accommodations, with nearly 8,000 rooms, over 13,000 beds and nearly 90 tourism businesses. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 1.7 million visitors coming and staying in the city, increasing by 13% over the same period; and, tourism revenue reached 1,750 billion VND, increasing by 18%.

Story, photos: Thanh Huong