Cycling is a way of keeping fit in a leisure trip

Health and safety tourism

There were 9,000-10,000 tourist arrivals to Hue during weekends in July 2020. Half of these visitors chose to stay at resorts for leisure and entertainment by the springs.

According to the Provincial Department of Tourism, most of the resorts in the province were filled to capacity during the weekends in June and July 2020. This is consonant with the estimation of the number of visitors after the pandemic was controlled.

Visitors’ favorite activities include leisure travel, cuisine exploration, entertainment, sports, shopping and spiritual tourism. The coastal resorts were chosen by 67.2% of the visitors, followed by well-known mountainous resorts, eco-resorts, the near-by tourist sites and community sites.

“The pandemic has boosted the demand for leisure travel. The days of leisure travel after the tense struggle against the pandemic helps visitors regain the energy and protect the health. In addition, we prioritize the safety and security for visitors because the resorts are often in the middle of nature and isolated from the surrounding residential areas,” said Mr. Le Huu Minh, Acting Director of the Department of Tourism.

The Google Vietnam statistics suggests that the demands for leisure travel increase considerably; especially, the number of searches for seaside tourism and resorts on Google in the period between May and July has doubled. The searches for parks and national parks has increased by 25% and Hue has become one of the most searched for leisure activities.

The high cost of holidays in a resort is suitable for wealthy guests. According to Ms. Le Thi Da Lam, General Manager of the Pilgrims Village and Vedana Lagoon, the average time of a stay is 2.7 days. The demand for leisure used to come from middle-aged international visitors, but it is now shifted to young domestic visitors. In particular, the rooms in use in the period of June and early half of July took 80% of the capacity, going beyond the expectation.

Leisure travel will be a future product of every destination

The representative of Laguna Lang Co also said that the number of visitors between the two waves of the pandemic reached the number of 2019 although there were no international visitors. Laguna Lang Co has tried to maintain and protect the landscapes of the resort for months of the pandemic.

Taking advantage of the strengths

One of the strengths of Hue is that it provides tourism combined with health care services, which is confirmed after the pandemic. During the long holiday, visitors often choose to have treatments of osteoarthritis, cardiovascular diseases or high blood pressure at a resort by the hot springs, or to take courses of zen or yoga at the coastal resorts.

According to UNWTO, the health tourism sector has the annual revenue of up to 100 billion dollars. The health tourism has become increasingly popular as everyone wants to be healthier, younger and prettier, as well as to lead a pleasant life. The growth rate of the leisure travel and health tourism in the industry has been higher, accordingly.

According to tourist experts, this travel trend certainly spreads and attracts visitors home and abroad in the post-COVID-19 time. It is necessary, in this context, that Hue should proactively have measures for a growing competition of leisure destinations.

Mr. Le Huu Minh emphasized that besides well-established resorts and the Alba Thanh Tan hot spring resort, My An hot spring resort will soon be in operation; and many other leisure destinations under construction in Thuan An, such as Vinh Thanh, Chan May-Lang Co Economic Zone will provide the best of leisure services complementary to the cultural heritage tourism products.

It is good news that the investors still upgraded the facilities and improved the service quality, despite the financial difficulties caused by the pandemic.

“Taking the view that there is a chance in the risk, we decided to rename ‘Ana Mandara Hue’ ‘Lapochine Beach Resort’. This is necessarily a timely decision to elevate the resort brand name to stimulate tourism after the pandemic. Many new services and products have been offered with the hope to make the resort a fresh safe destination and a variety of choices for visitors. Our resort will also offer them an experience of the vast ocean in a combination with the Indochina classical style of architecture,” said Ms. Pham Thi Van Ha, Deputy General Manager of TNG Holdings Vietnam and the resort Chief Investor.

Speaking at the launch of the brand name Lapochine Beach Resort, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, Vice-Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, said that although Ana Mandara made an impressive leisure destination in Thuan An for over a decade, the TNG Holdings Vietnam’s decision to change the brand name into Lapochine Beach Resort revitalized the area of Thuan An and the province of Thua Thien Hue. This well-planned investment has certainly contributed to the development of tourism as a key industry in Hue.

Story and photos: DUC QUANG