Phu Bai Airport Fosters Tourism in Thua Thien-Hue

A meeting to discuss measures to promote Thua Thien-Hue tourism growth and attract international air carriers to the province will take place in Hue city from August 21-23, 2009.
Attending the meeting will be representatives from 15 foreign embassies in Vietnam, representatives from 27 international air carriers and 20 travel agencies from Southeast Asia and North Asia, representatives from Top Ten Vietnamese travel agencies in 2008, relevant business organizations and associations, information and tourism promotion organizations and tourism businesses. Vietnam Economic News' Phuong Hong spoke with Thua Thien-Hue's deputy chairman Ngo Hoa about the meeting.
Could you brief the meeting's major contents?
This is the first time a meeting that links tourism promotion to the issue of attracting foreign air carriers to Thua Thien-Hue will take place in the province. This is an initiative of the Middle Airports Corporation, it is hosted in cooperation with Thua Thien-Hue authorities under the patronage of the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Vietnam Airlines Corporation. The meeting's main content is to ignite tourism growth and discuss measures to attract international air carriers to operate flights to Thua Thien-Hue. In the meeting, the province's management will present the Politburo's determination to turn Thua Thien-Hue into a centrally governed city in the next few years, a big economic hub in the central region, and one of Vietnam's largest centers in culture, tourism, science and technology development, intensive healthcare and multi-field training in Conclusion 48-KL/TW dated May 15, 2009 on the development of Thua Thien-Hue and Hue city by 2020 and Decision 86/2009/QD-TTg dated June 17, 2009 approving Thua Thien-Hue socioeconomic development plan until 2020 with vision to 2030.
To push up tourism growth, it is essential to present Hue's particular tourism offerings (natural landscapes, distinctive culture) to domestic and foreign visitors. Propagation could be made through the mass media, national and international forums and meeting and the Internet. In my view, propagation with support from travel companies both at home and abroad is quite efficient.
Besides, to fuel tourism development it is important to increase people's access to Hue by land, by rail, by sea and especially by air. Through the meeting, the organizers want to present travel agencies and international air carriers favorable legal and administrative conditions for Thua Thien-Hue tourism sustainable growth, from there attracting them to the province.
The meeting is expected to attract representatives from many countries, domestic and foreign travel companies and air carriers. So what Thua Thien-Hue must do to attract foreign air carriers to the province?
There is a direct connection between opening international air routes and promoting the province's tourism growth. International air routes are important to attract foreign visitors to the province. When new air routes are available, airport services companies, air carriers, travel agencies and hotels will have more prosperous business. Therefore, there must be an increased cooperation among relevant parties for socioeconomic development. In my view, it is an urgent issue for the province, Vietnam Airlines, the Middle Airports Corporation as well as air carriers.
Phu Bai is an international airport, however, it still has poor material base and it is not yet exploited up to its potential. What is Phu Bai Airport's future development plan to deserve the status?
The Prime Minister has reached a conclusion in Notice 209/TB-VPCP dated July 22, 2009 saying that: Thua Thien-Hue could be proud of its great many historical sites and natural landscapes that have been recognized worldwide. Therefore, this is an opportunity as well as the responsibility of the province's management and central bodies to make maximal use of local potential for tourism development. Great efforts have been made to improve local infrastructure system to enable the province to meet the requirements for a centrally governed city in the near future. The Prime Minister has enacted a decision to turn Phu Bai into an international airport to help the province attract more foreign visitors. Investing in upgrading Phu Bai airport under an approved planning scheme is then essential to meet future development requirements. In the meantime, the Government has agreed on principle to join hands with foreign partners in investment, management and exploitation of Phu Bai International Airport. Thus far, Changi Airport, a strong airport group from Singapore, is actively negotiating with the Middle Airports Corporation, Thua Thien-Hue authorities as well as relevant central bodies and the Prime Minister to be able to soon get the project on upgrading Phu Bai Airport off the ground. The main target is to build up an international airport in the province to deserve the status of a centrally governed city, a big tourism hub of the central region and the country in the not distant future.
Thua Thien-Hue has great potential for tourism development, however, little efforts are made to attract domestic and foreign visitors. So what measures will be taken to attract visitors to the province?
Thua Thien-Hue seeks to welcome more than two million visitors with half of them coming from foreign countries by 2010. To achieve this goal, the province has enacted many policies and regulations to call for investment. Steps have been taken to improve the planning of major tourist sites and revise the general tourism development plan to make it suitable to actual development conditions. Especially, tourism promotion efforts have reached a new high. In the past years, the province has launched many programs to propagate sport and cultural events and big festivals nationwide, and hosted market development programs such as the Hue Culture Week in major foreign markets. Information technology progress has been applied to increase the efficiency of propagation activities such as opening tourism website and e-newspapers. Further efforts have been made to step up international cooperation, take advantages of support from international governments and organizations, host and participate in fairs and workshops at home and abroad to present the province's tourism potential. However, these efforts are still not up to the province's actual potential. In fact, the strategy to present Hue to domestic and foreign visitors has low professional quality, therefore its efficiency remains modest. Therefore, working out a proper tourism marketing and development strategy right from now is important to turn Thua Thien-Hue into an attractive destination to domestic and foreign visitors in the near future.