Published:  14:36 Friday - July 06, 2012

Despite a lot of money spent to organize big events to popularize Vietnam to the world, but Vietnam still has not succeeded in persuading travelers to spend more money when they come to Vietnam.

Huynh Minh Nhon, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, streess at the press conference introducing the tourism program “Da Nang – the reservoir in summer 2012” held some days ago that travelers stay in Da Nang City for less time than in neighboring localities such as Hoi An ancient town or Hue City.

On average, tourists in Vietnam travel stay in Da Nang for 1.8-2 days. Meanwhile, if not counting on the no-cost arising time, (on the way, sleeping time…), the durations when travelers spend money on shopping and using services in Da Nang would be even lower.

Russians are considered the potential travelers for Da Nang’s tourism. However, in fact, Russian travelers on chartered aircrafts from Russia to Da Nang do not stay for a long time in the city. In general, they only spend four days in their 15 day tours in Da Nang, while the other days are spent in Hoi An (4 days), Hue (2 days) and Nha Trang sea city (4 days).

Reports show that 664 Russian travelers have arrived in Da Nang since the first flight on May 12. However, only 200 stay in Da Nang, while the others go to Hoi An and other destinations. 

“Why do travelers favor Hoi An and Hue to Da Nang, even though Da Nang has an international airport, the most beautiful beaches in the planet and the reasonable service fees?” Nhon questioned. 

“The problem is that travelers cannot see good conditions for them to integrate into the community,” he said.

According to Nhon, the coastal resorts are located separately from residential quarters and shopping malls, while souvenir shops are located in different places, which take travelers much time to go there. 

Meanwhile, travelers have complained that the accommodation fees in Da Nang are higher than that in Hue and Hoi An, therefore, Da Nang is not the choice for the travelers who take short term (several days) tours.

As a result, only 1/3 of Russian travelers choose to stay in Da Nang during their tours.

Nguyen Xuan Binh, Director of the Tourism Promotion Center has cited the survey conducted by the Da Nang Socio-Economic Research and Development Institute as saying that 92.3 percent of foreign travelers to Da Nang spent less than 2000 dollars, 70.8 percent of travelers spent less than 500 dollars, 15 percent spent 500-1000 dollars. Only 6.5 percent of travelers spent 1000-2000 dollars, and only 7.6 percent spent more than 2000 dollars when they were in Da Nang.

“The figures are at the low-average level,” Binh said. The tourism promotion center is carrying out more surveys to update the information, because the current situation is quite different from that of some years ago. 

“The result of the survey would be released in one or two months. However, one should not expect to see the travelers’ spending in Da Nang exceeding the average level,” Binh warned.

High accommodation service fees and inconvenient traffic both are the reasons making travelers refuse to stay in Da Nang province. The city’s authorities planned to build up the shopping center for travelers, but the project remains unimplemented.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Source: Infonet