Vietnam’s Sea and Island Tourism on Way of Integration

      Vietnam has a long and beautiful beach and numerous large and small islands offshore, which is potential to develop the sea and island tourism sector. During the recent time, many coastal localities have chosen the model as a key economic sector in order to increase the income, settle the employment and make it driving force to boost the development of other sectors like investment, trade, culture and society.
Plentiful Potentials for Development
With a long coastline of over 3,260 kilometers, 125 beautiful coaches and thousands of islands, which is propitious to bathing and relaxing, Vietnam is considered to own many advantages for the development of sea tourism. Vietnam is in no way inferior to other nations in the region. The development of sea and island tourism is a good chance for the country to advertise its image to the world. Vietnam’s sea has been recognized as one of the top ten sea biological diversification centers and is located among 20 sea areas which enrich seafood in the world. Ocean researchers discovered up to 11,000 organisms living in over 20 typical ecological systems under six different sea bio diversification areas in Vietnam waters. The variety of the undersea world is particularly attractive to foreign visitors.
Vietnam’s beaches are flat, almost deserted and full of shine, with white sandbanks, blue seawater, mild wave and wind and without whirlpools and dangerous fishes. The harmonic combination between natural landscapes and the cultural and social characters of coastal areas and islands, plus with the advantages of geography and terrain created favorable conditions to develop the sea tourism rather than other fields. Up to 70 per cent of tourism sites across the country including luxury sites well-known both at home and abroad concentrate on coastal areas. They include Tuan Chau in Ha Long City, Van Chai in Thanh Hoa province, Sun Spa resort in QuangBinh proinvce, Lang Co beach in Hue, Furama in Da Nang city, Pal, Garden Resort in Quang Nam, Vinpearl in Nha Trang, Mui Ne in BInh Thuan province, Long Hai in Vung Tau city and Saigon-Phu Quoc resort in Kien Giang province.
Vietnam is home to many beautiful bays recognized as the world’s most beautiful bays like Ha Long and Nha Trang bays and others which still maintain their primitive beauty such as Vinh Hy in Ninh Thuan province, Van Phong in Khanh Hoa province. Tourists are also attractive to a series of wonderful beaches across the country like My Khe in Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Tra Co in Quang Ninh province, Thien Cam, Nhat Le, CUa Tung, Lang Co, Dai Lanh, Mui Ne and Vung Tau. The Da Nang sea has been awarded by the US’s Forbes magazine as one among six the most charming beaches in the earth while the Lang Co sea, along with Ha Long bay in Quang Ninh province and Nha Trang sea in Khanh Hoa province, have been just named in the list of the world’s most beautiful gulfs and beaches. The recognitions are significant to Vietnam to develop and advertise the sea tourism sector as well as expand the development of the maritime economy.
According to the statistics, the sea and island tourism attracts up to 70 per cent of international arrivals to Vietnam and 50 per cent of domestic visitors annually. The sea tourism also accounts for 65 per cent of the whole sector’s laborers and 50 per cent of hotel rooms, of which 80 per cent are three-to-five star standard. The earnings from the sea tourism occupy approx 60 per cent of the sector’s revenue. It also maintains three out of four national tourism areas, 12 among 30 special tourism sites and ten among 11 tourism urban areas nationwide. These figures show the huge benefits of sea tourism as well as profuse potentials to continue developing the sector.
To Raise Quality of Sea Tourism
This is a fact that Vietnam’s sea tourism plays an important role in the country’s tourism development strategy. With its weather characteristics, Vietnam can exploit the sea tourism all year round. In addition, Vietnam has potentials to build the international brand for its beaches, through which to mark the country’s status in the map of sea tourism in the region and the world.
Currently, many foreign corporations and investors are pouring their capital into sea tourism to create conditions for stronger development in the field. Sea tourism products have gradually become various, particularly the combination of tourism with study of cultural and historical sites, organization of conferences and seminars and huge events. The number of international arrivals to Vietnam by sea has been on the rise. In the future, more international tourism ships are expected to rest anchors in Vietnam’s ports. The Saigontourist Company has just signed a deal with the US’s tourism ship agency to open a North-South sea tourism route.
Besides the attractive advertisement, Vietnam owns many tourism destinations recognized by the world like Ha Long Bay, Van Phong bay, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, Phu Quoc and Con Dao. Thus, it is necessary to build a suitable zoning scheme of sea and islands to develop these places into international-standard sea tourism areas. In order for the sustainable and long-term development, Vietnam should work out a plan in both general and detail, particularly focusing on the tourism development in harmonization with the coastal residential community in order to protect the environment and the native culture. It is important to raise the coastal community’s awareness that the sea tourism development will contribute to make their life better and encourage them to attend the development process of the sea tourism. This is one way to share profit from tourism to local people. Each region and locality should be defined to concentrated on own tourism services. For example, the model of resorts should be developed in the central while the adventure sea tourism and sea ecological tourism are suitable to Nha Trang and overnight tours in Ha Long bay.
The sea tourism sector should bravely choose its own way to diversify the country’s tourism sector. In detail, Vung Tau should develop the sea tourism in combination with the organization of colorful events like sports contest, cultural and entertainment programmes. Con Dao, particularly Phu Quoc Island is suitable to develop luxury resort tours. Nha Trang, Phan Thiet should focus on MICE tourism. Other places like Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Da Nang, Hoi AN, Quang Ngai, Quy Nhon, Ninh Thuan, wich are home to many UNESCO-recognised heritages and famous cultures of Sa Huynh and Champa, should organize tours to study the historical and cultural sites. In the north, Sam Son in Thanh HOa province, Cua Lo in Nghe A province and Do Son in Haiphong city are attractive places to tourists. It is exclusive to Ha Long Bay as a brand, which has been affirmed, and other islands and bays like Vinh Hy, Van Phong, Cam Ranh. During these years, the tourism model like MICE, study of cultural and historical sites have become popular in Vietnam and brought a good economic effect. In parallel with the North-South railway route, the Highway 1A and the Ho Chi Minh legend trail, a coastal tourism road is being considered to be built in the future in order to take advantage of natural landscapes across the country and facilitate the transport. Importantly, Vietnam needs to boost further marketing activities for the sea tourism in order to create an own brand in the world’s sea tourism map.