Hoi An's tourism sector needs closer ties

Developing Hoi An into a friendly and safe destination has been the most greatest achievement of the tourism sector in recent 10 years.
However, to ensure the sustainable development of Hoi An's tourism sector, it requires the town's businesses to work together. Director of the Hoi An Tourist Service JSC and Chairman of the Quang Nam Tourism Association Le Tien Dung talked about the issues involved in an interview with Vietnam Economic News' reporter Hanh Hoa.
Which outstanding results have the Quang Nam Tourism Association achieved?
After four years of establishment, the Quang Nam Tourism Association has organized many programs and activities for businesses. The association has speeded up the tourism propaganda, advertisement and promotion in various forms to home and international markets; focused on enhancing capacity for human resources through workshops; and trained management skills for staff.
In addition to encouraging business members, the association has also organized training courses to support on tourism skills; established skill assessment center and improved skills for room and reception services; and cooperated with the German Technique Cooperation (GZE) to organize skill training courses to serve for visitors and many other programs. Business members can also participate in home and international tourism events through the association, such as participating in the 12th International Tourism Fair in the far eastern region held in Vladivostok in Russia and the ATF 2009 in Hanoi. In addition, the association has cooperated with Vietnam Airlines to support tickets for businesses participating in the festival in Paris and other festivals.
Which challenges do Hoi An's tourism sector face?
Developing Hoi An into a friendly and safe destination has been the most greatest achievement of the tourism sector in recent 10 years. Hoi An welcomes more than one million visitors each year with over 3,000 rooms to serve for over 5,000 visitors per day. However, Hoi An's tourism sector has not closely associated with tourist centers and not be dynamic to create new products. Local tourism businesses have not associated to advertise their images and the situation of unfair competition has always been happened.
Hoi An's tourism sector also faces the lack of human resources and entertainment areas and the non-synchronism of tourism development infrastructure. Moreover, the scale of specialized business activities is small, the tourism sector lacks strategic planning, business civilization is not focused on and environmental pollution is always happened. The association and cooperation among businesses are not strengthened enough.
What should the Quang Nam Tourism Association as well as businesses and local authorities do?
To build a sustainable tourism development environment in Hoi An, it is necessary to improve capacity of the Quang Nam Tourism Association. The association needs to focus on benefits for each business, propose difficulties of businesses to leaders and cooperate with businesses to advertise and improve service quality. In addition, Hoi An should build policies and planning as well as prevent adverse impacts on the natural and social environment. Local government and businesses need to take specific actions to ensure a healthy business environment and find out appropriate orientation to develop tourism.
The Quang Nam Tourism Association commits to strengthen cooperation with businesses, support business members, promote the propaganda and advertisement and improve their role in protecting benefits for members. In addition, the association also closely cooperates with other associations in the region and other provinces.