Resort tourism in Hanoi’s suburbs and neighbouring areas has seen potential for higher growth, experts said.

A view of Flamingo Dai Lai in northern province of Vinh Phuc. (Photo: khachsan.chudu24.com)

Estimates from the General Statistics Office showed that with the travel time of around one and a half hours to suburbs, middle-income people in Hanoi are likely to take 20 to 30 short-breaks each year.

However, the number of resorts which are given adequate investment in Hanoi suburban areas and neighbouring provinces such as Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh has been limited. Others include Flamingo Dai Lai, Melia Ba Vi, Mai Chau Ecolodge, Serena Resort Kim Boi and Emeralda Ninh Binh.

Speaking at the talk on tourism development in Hanoi’s hinterland: situation and prospects, held on November 21, Nguyen Manh Than, Chairman of the Hanoi Tourism Association, said authorities, community and businesses should cooperate to develop sustainable tourism models in the capital’s suburban areas.

“We acknowledge that in some localities, authorities have not supported firms developing the tourism as well as not having specific actions and policies to improve local people’s awareness on the development of this kind of tourism,” Than said.

He added that among 10 criteria to evaluate provincial competitiveness index (PCI) released by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, support from local authorities has been a key issue to help enterprises improve their competitiveness.

Especially, the issue of progress and opportunities is extremely important for firms. It was the reason that State agencies should help businesses quickly resolve administrative procedures and remove barriers which could limit their development.

From a view of investors, Nguyen Thanh Trung, deputy general director of Archi Investment Joint Stock Company, said the market would see strong and sustainable development.

Trung said there is around 4.5 million people in the Hanoi capital region who want to go on breaks around six times each year. 

Therefore, it would have up to 25 to 30 million tourist arrivals a year.

“This is a huge market and no competition. Resort developers should do their jobs well and visitors would come,” he said.

He added that the resort tourism market in the suburbs would share the overload in the capital.

“In the future, Hanoi would welcome nearly 30 million tourist arrivals while it has 1,200 hotel rooms in the past five years,” he said.

Another advantage, he said, was the easy access to suburban areas thanks to new roads shortening distance from the city’s centre to those areas.

Amorn Harnkham, regional director of Thailand International College of Hospitality Education said Hanoi has advantages of connections with other regions.

Hanoi would become one of best destinations for resort tourism in suburbs in Asia, he said.

Ngoc Khanh, general director of H&K Hospitality said investors should understand markets and cooperate with hotel and resort management companies to have real knowledge in the industry. In addition, authorities should have specific policies and regulations in terms of taxes, safety and environmental hygiene to facilitate investors.

“In reality, investors said administrative procedures have been troublesome to businesses. Investors have to work with different departments and offices to resolve an issue. We expected that local authorities would give more supports to firms in developing projects under the model,” Khanh said.-VNS