Through the votes, the tourism industry expected to get the rapid recovery of the international tourist market post COVID-19 (photo taken before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic)
Plenty of compliments
The Office of Tourism Department informed that, first of all, it is necessary to mention the American pay Television Business News Chanel – CNBC that has voted 7 world’s safe destinations, including the Central Region of Vietnam.
According to the suggestion of CNBC, tourists coming to the Central Region of Vietnam should not miss Hue Ancient Capital, Hoi An Ancient Town, My Son Sanctuary, Quy Nhon (Binh Dinh), Mui Ne (Phan Thiet), and Son Doong cave system (Quang Binh), etc., for their safety. CNBC also analyzed that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the travel mindset. Therefore, many people will look up and spend their trips on deserted, safe destinations, as well as wherever has huge tourism potential.
Meanwhile, The Culture Trip tourism Magazine of the UK has just announced the list of the 12 Asian cities that people should come at least once in life time. Vietnam has 2 destinations which are Hue Ancient Capital and Hoi An.
According to this magazine, Hue is one of the greatest places to visit with multitudinous pagodas, palaces, temples, as well as the ancient imperial citadel, delicious food, and rich history. This heritage system of UNESCO is located by the poetic Huong River, which is most beautiful especially on sunny days.
Furthermore, Hue has just been listed among the top 10 most ideal culinary destinations in Southeast Asia. As the suggestion of Idealmaganize, among the most famous Hue dishes, Bun Bo Hue is the one that cannot be missed. The food stalls at Dong Ba Market are also rated as excellent, especially with banh xeo (Hue pancake).
Laguna Lang Co has just been listed among the top 25 best hotel in Vietnam in 2021 by TripAdvisor (photo taken before the COVID-19 outbreak)
Recently, The Culture Trip has also selected the 10 Vietnam’s most beautiful national parks to introduce to world readers. Bach Ma National Parks was picked up as one of ten most attractive national parks in Vietnam, with the unique strip of the primeval forest of Vietnam connecting the country from the East Sea to the Vietnam-Laos border; Bach Ma National Park nestles itself by the Truong Son mountain like a white horse stretching its legs toward the immense sea. This area gathers a variety of tropical rare and precious plants and animals in the interminable primeval forest with spectacular streams and waterfalls.
In April 2021, the well-known American tourism magazine Travel+Leisure named 10 world’s most stunning routes, analyzed from the data with “hashtag” on Instagram. Hai Van Pass was ranked 4th in the top 10 world’s most enchanting routes for photography-loving drivers.
With a length of 20km, Hai Van Pass has become one of the most popular destinations for visitors to snap photographs on, with over 52.000 Instagram check-in pictures. Describing Hai Van Pass, Travel+Leisure wrote that this pass is a “pass in the cloud, one of the best coast roads all over the world”.
Not only the destinations, Banyan Tree of Laguna Lang Co has just been named among the 25 best hotels in Vietnam in 2021 by TripAdvisor. This is the biggest annual award of TripAdvisor to honor the excellent hotels through the positive feedbacks made by the customers who have experienced the services.
This award has put Banyan Tree Lang Co in the top 1% world’s best hotels and top 25 best hotels in Vietnam in 2021. At the same time, it also honored the outstanding hotels for the ability to provide wonderful services and receiving positive feedbacks over the past 12 months, the period that has been considered by Laguna Lang Co as a particularly difficult period impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Catching the chance to affirm the brand name
According to the leaders of Tourism Department, each destination has its own strength, impression and experienced products that have brought plentiful emotions for tourists. The votes are cast up and rated on magazines, famous tourism forums, which are the strength of Hue tourism when being named. This is the golden opportunity for Hue to effectively attract tourists’ attention and make promotion for the destinations.
Mr. Tran Huu Thuy Giang, Director of Tourism Department said that voting was only the first step. To attract and satisfy tourists will need a chain of plans following. First of all, it is necessary to build up a promotion strategy, taking the affirmed brand names to as many markets as possible with the continuous frequency.
The tourism sector is carrying out online promotion by digital technology, and has received positive interaction and feedback from tourists. This is also a momentum for Hue to attract international tourists post COVID-19 pandemic.
However, it must be recognized that although being voted and received high assessments, there are still some internal limitations that need to be overcome and focus on for better exploitation. For example, while the cuisine sector at Dong Ba Market is highly appreciated, the promotion ability has not been good yet. Bach Ma, Hai Van Pass are assessed attractive, but the specialized tours and products have not been diverse.
The Tourism Association said that the recent votes and assessments are mainly towards the European and North American tourist markets, which have the high spending levels and high demands on services and products’ quality. Therefore, it is necessary to upgrade service quality and products in the votes; in which, the two brand names which are needed to be promoted in the coming time are safe destination and “Hue – the Capital of Gastronomy”.
Story and photos: Quang Sang