Deputy Director of Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism ‘worries a lot about the province’s tourism industry’

The imbalance in tourism development space, unsynchronized transport infrastructure, and lack of high-quality accommodation are obvious weaknesses of the tourism industry in Lam Dong province. And this is also the reason why the tourism industry of this province in recent years has not developed properly with its inherent potential.

In the interview with ViGuide.vnMs. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc – Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lam Dong province said that she still worries about many things with the province’s tourism industry. She expects that when it comes to Lam Dong tourism, visitors will know many other places, not just Da Lat city.

Luck grows during the pandemic

Under the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the accommodation and service tourism industry of Lam Dong province still achieved a growth of 2.01% (According to the socio-economic report of Lam Dong province 2019-2020) thanks to the source of tourists. Do you think this is a lucky thing because before now Lam Dong’s tourism market is mainly domestic tourists?

Currently, the Covid-19 epidemic is still complicated, continuing to seriously affect the global economy. According to the forecast of the World Tourism Organization, the tourism industry will start to recover mainly by the end of 2021 (if the Covid-19 epidemic is basically controlled) and it may take until the end of 2023 to recover by the end of 2021. growth rate of 2019, in which the domestic tourist market will recover quickly and is a key tourist market of Vietnam in general and of Lam Dong in particular. In the current context and according to a certain aspect, this can be considered a fortunate thing of Lam Dong.

The base province has oriented tourism development, focusing on exploiting both domestic and international tourists. Why has the tourism industry of Lam Dong province not really attracted international tourists in the past two years, madam?

In the period 2016 – 2019, the number of tourists to Da Lat – Lam Dong increased steadily each year with an average growth rate of 8.9%; In which, the average number of visitors to stay increased by 11.9%; International visitors accounted for 10.1% of the total number of visitors.

However, at the end of 2019 and 2020, due to the global impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, international routes to Vietnam and vice versa were limited to ensure the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic. . Therefore, the number of international visitors to Da Lat – Lam Dong decreased sharply compared to the previous period.

In order to attract international tourists to Lam Dong province, it is indispensable for the connecting role of international tourism business units, what policies does the Department have to attract these units to invest in the province? , Dear madam?

First of all, it is necessary to increase investment in infrastructure development for tourism and form tourism products and services. Next is to perfect mechanisms and policies for tourism development; Research and develop mechanisms and policies to develop the night economy in order to meet the needs of international tourists to use night tourism services.

In addition, the Department is studying and developing policies to attract and encourage large tourism groups and international brands to invest and manage business activities in Lam Dong in terms of tourist accommodation such as Marriott, Accor , Intercontinental, Hilton…; about travel and transportation such as Saigontourist, BenThanh tourist, Lua Viet Tours, Fiditour…

What policies of the Department have really brought positive signals to attract international tourism business units to invest in the province, madam?

Strengthening research and market promotion: Annually conducting research, surveying visitor market demand, forecasting the situation to orient product development and tourist market; Organize Lam Dong tourism promotion programs in international and domestic markets according to orientation; welcome caravans and press to survey, new tourism products and services in Lam Dong; promoting the opening of new domestic and international routes.

Strengthen communication and promotion: Connecting television channels, press agencies, media units, tourism representatives, domestic and international celebrities… to promote tourism information calendars on channels of organizations and individuals; Invite domestic and international film crews to Lam Dong to make movies, music videos, etc. to create new and effective promotional images for Lam Dong tourism; Carry out digital transformation in tourism promotion; Organize annual tourism stimulus programs.

The big drag of Lam Dong tourism

Traffic jams, congestion, jostling have become specialties of Da Lat in the peak tourist seasons every year. Why hasn’t this issue been resolved until now, ma’am?

Traffic congestion and solutions are always “hot issues” that scientists, managers in general and Lam Dong province in particular are particularly interested in. Currently, the number of personal vehicles is increasing too rapidly, especially cars; people’s demand for enjoying tourism services is growing, the number of tourists traveling by personal vehicles is also increasing; People’s habits of using personal vehicles increase the pressure on infrastructure, leading to traffic congestion, especially in peak tourist seasons. Meanwhile, the transport infrastructure of Da Lat city and Lam Dong province has not kept up with the needs of tourism development.

The “hot issues” about traffic that you just mentioned, what solutions did the Department have to improve?

In order to gradually improve and minimize the above situation, the People’s Committee of Lam Dong province has approved the “Project to combat traffic congestion in Da Lat city until 2025, vision 2035”.

In particular, the contest of ideas to combat traffic jams in the city. Da Lat is based on this scheme. Based on the ideas of participating organizations and individuals, the organizers will select the most feasible ideas for implementation and award prizes worth 1 billion VND.

The immediate solution is that Da Lat needs to organize traffic flow, renovate and expand the road surface and add traffic control signal lights for congested nodes. Completing the system of signs and road markings, organizing the installation of signs prohibiting parking and restricting vehicles from transporting goods into the city center during the day. At the same time, study a complete solution to connect traffic in Da Lat area with surrounding areas.

ViGuide has published a series of articles identifying gaps and limitations that need to be overcome for the development of Lam Dong tourism such as: unbalanced tourist structure, lack of high-quality accommodation facilities, development space. limited travel….how do you rate these contents?

It is true that Lam Dong tourism has many opportunities and challenges such as ViGuide identify. For example, the limitation of Lam Dong tourism is mainly domestic tourists, not many international visitors. However, this limitation is also an opportunity for us to compete with other localities during the pandemic.

The culture, sports and tourism sectors are a core part of the province’s socio-economic development strategy. Therefore, the remaining problems of Lam Dong tourism industry need to have the hands and cooperation of many different sectors such as traffic, environment, … to solve thoroughly.

Lam Dong tourism is not only Dalat

Although other localities in the province have many beautiful and attractive destinations, when it comes to Lam Dong, most tourists from other localities only know Da Lat. Do you think this is a big limitation of Lam Dong tourism industry?

The reason why, when it comes to Lam Dong, most tourists from other localities only know Da Lat because of the privileges that nature bestows on Da Lat. In addition to visiting and experiencing tourism services in Da Lat, many tourists come here to relax because of the beautiful natural landscape, cool and fresh climate.

What solutions did the Department have to develop tourism for Da Lat and other localities of Lam Dong province, madam?

In order to exploit the potentials and strengths for tourism development of other localities in the province, Lam Dong tourism industry will advise planning and expanding tourism space, orienting to develop typical tourism products. according to each tourist cluster: Da Lat city and its vicinity (Da Lat city, Lac Duong district, Duc Trong, Dam Rong, Don Duong and Lam Ha); Bao Loc city and surrounding areas (Bao Loc city, Di Linh and Bao Lam districts); southern districts (Da Huoai, Da Teh and Cat Tien districts). Besides, planning tourist routes such as:

Inland: From Da Lat city to Bao Loc city and districts; Tourist routes depart from Bao Loc city and districts in the province.

Linking domestic regions: Central Highlands – South Central Coast – Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh – Mekong River Delta – Northern provinces.

National – international: International travel by land and air to countries in Southeast Asia and the world.

As the person in charge of tourism management and development of Lam Dong, up to this point, what makes you still wonder and worry?

As the person in charge of and managing the tourism development of the province, I still have many concerns and worries. Firstly, the road and air transport infrastructure connecting Lam Dong with key tourist areas of neighboring provinces and throughout the country still faces many difficulties. Especially the expansion…