Following the Movenpick Resort Phan Thiet opening in Binh Thuan, Binh Dinh will open the 5-star resort Marriott International. Meanwhile, Quang Binh has the 6-star Dolce Penisola Quang Binh.

These international-standard hotel management brands are expected to be a magnet luring high-income Vietnamese and foreign travelers to the central region.

Besides Da Nang and Nha Trang, new tourism points in the central region are rising strongly. A report from the Binh Dinh Tourism Department said the province received 123,000 travelers on National Day September 2 with total turnover of VND615 billion, an increase of 150 percent over 2019.

Meanwhile, the Phu Yen Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported 34,500 travelers on September 1-4, including 23,000 staying at accommodation facilities.

As for Binh Thuan, the provincial tourism department reported 45,000 tourists on the holiday, an increase of 15.4 percent over 2019, including 2,000 foreign travelers. Binh Thuan plans to attract 4.5 million travelers in 2022, including 220,000 foreigners, and obtain a turnover of VND13.5 trillion.

Nguyen Chau A, CEO of Oxalis Adventure, which provides tours to Son Doong Cave in Quang Binh, said tourists have booked 700 seats for the 2023 program, and 70 percent of them are foreign travelers.

The year 2022 marks the strong recovery of Vietnam’s tourism. Domestic flight frequency has returned to the level of 2019, before the pandemic outbreak. 

The Civial Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) reported that in the first half of 2022, the domestic market had 20.8 million passengers, up by 58.4 percent compared with the same period last year and 19 percent with the same period in 2019.

Vietnam’s airlines have shifted to new potential markets such as India and expanded routes to familiar markets such as South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. This is seen as a satisfactory sign amid the slow recovery of the international market as many countries and regions are still restricting travel because of the pandemic.

The interest in new destinations in the central region is on the rise. A new survey by the Vietnam Real Estate Research Institute found that Binh Thuan has the most attention from investors (58 percent), followed by Ba Ria – Vung Tau (44 percent) and Quang Nam (14 percent).

Tran Dinh Thien, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said the central region’s tourism would see a boom in the time to come, making a higher contribution to local economies. 

Binh Dinh and Quy Nhon are expected to become tourism sites of international stature, while Binh Dinh will be a leading destination in Asia.

In Khanh Hoa province, Van Phong, Cam Ranh and Nha Trang now have impetus for tourism development. They are located in the central coastal subregion from Phu Yen towards the south. Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan also has great potential for development.

“Revenue from tourism in 2024 is expected to surpass that of 2019, before the pandemic. The focus will be in the coastal areas of the central region,” Thien said.

Commenting about the prospects of the central region, Su Ngoc Khuong from Savills Vietnam said Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa and Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan are considered traditional, familiar tourism sites associated with urban areas. 

In general, the areas of Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Quy Nhon have a competitive edge in the country.

The strip of land with coasts passing, very close to urban areas, high number of sunshine hours all are the great advantages for coastal provinces to develop tourism. Khuong said that Vietnam, with the 3,260km of coast line, has great opportunities to develop tourism. 

“If the government, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and investors have a longer-term vision, Vietnam’s tourism will be in no way inferior to Thailand and regional countries,” he said.

Ngoc Ha