Cua Lo Town: Tourism Drives Development

3:26:19 PM | 7/8/2005

Ho Duc Phoc - Chairman of Cua Lo People’s Committee

Nghe An tourism goes hand in hand with Cua Lo, one of the two tourist sites in Vietnam considered to maintain the cleanest environment by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Over the past ten years, thanks to tourism development, Cua Lo has turned itself from a poor town into a busy tourist destination.

Developing potential

Cua Lo town is located 20 kilometres from Vinh city to the east. The town, with its natural area of 31.2 square kilometres, is home to 50,000 people and boasts a beautiful 10.2 kilometre beach. Further to the east are Hon Ngu and Hon Mat islets. The combination of all these natural resources has offered Cua Lo a great opportunity for developing its tourism.

Cua Lo town at the crossroads Road 535, National Highway 46, Nam Cam Road and the road that runs along the Lam River. The town has great potential to attract visitors from Laos, the north-eastern region of Thailand and China thanks to its location ten kilometres from Vinh airport, 300 kilometres from Hainan island (China), 80 kilometres from Thanh Thuy border gate and 280 kilometres from Hanoi. The town has two seaports, Cua Lo and Cua Hoi. The first meets international standards with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of cargo per year. It is expected to reach five million tonnes of cargo by 2010. Cua Lo also has a clean industrial park and processing industry, together with suitable areas for vegetable and fruit tree cultivation, and an eco-tourist village.

In its early days, Cua Lo looked like a fishing village with poor infrastructure facilities. After just ten years, the town has changed for the better with electricity, water supply drainage and road networks, schools and hospitals. In 1994, the town had only 12 hotels. The number has now increased to 165 hotels, capable of serving 8,000 visitors. There are also more than 400 stands on the beach capable of serving 10,000 visitors a day. The number of visitors to Cua Lo increased from about 70,000 people in 1994 to 750,000 in 2003 and is expected to reach 850,000 this year. As a result, tourism and services each year earn the town VND200 billion (US$12.738 million) in revenues. This figure does not take into account the millions of visitors who use the beach services not via the hotel system.

Tourism and trade have become a spearhead sector and a focal point in economic structure of Cua Lo town, which will account for an estimated 51 per cent of its GDP in 2004. Over the past decade, tourism and trade have seen the highest growth rate of 22 per cent on average. Developing trade and tourism have helped reduce poverty and improve the living standards of the local people. The number of poor households in the town has reduced from 41.15 per cent (or 4,128 households) in 1994 to 5.8 per cent in 2004. Each year, tourism creates jobs for 5,000 people.

Plentiful Attractions

There are many means of transport, including cars, trains, ships and airplanes that visitors can use to reach Cua Lo. As well as swimming and bathing in the sea, visitors can visit famous places in the town. Four kilometres east of the Cua Lo beach is the Song Ngu Island with a beautiful beach, a recently renovated pagoda dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy and Hoang Ta Thon, who made great contributions in the struggle against Yuan invaders in the 13^th century. Furthermore, Cua Lo town has a 500-year old temple worshipping the high ranking mandarin, Nguyen Su Hoi, who made a great contribution to the country and set up the Van Loc village - Cua Lo today. The temple was recognised as a national relic site in 1991. Two kilometres away from Cua Lo is a temple worshipping Nguyen Xi – a general under the Le Loi dynasty.

From Cua Lo visitors can travel upstream on the Lam River to Giang Dinh to visit the home village of the great poet, Nguyen Du, temples of Nguyen Cong Tru and Nguyen Bieu, the Hoanh Son communal house – the largest artistic work in Nghe An, which was built in the 17^th century. Visitors can also travel to Nam Dan to visit the tomb of King Mai Hac De, who organised an uprising in 722 to sweep away the Tang invaders and the relic site of patriot Phan Boi Chau. The most notable attraction though is Kim Lien, the home village of late President Ho Chi Minh, the Pu Mat National Park and the temple of King An Duong Vuong.

To attract more visitors to Cua Lo, the town has concentrated on developing infrastructure, especially infrastructure facilities for tourism. It has focused on attracting investment capital for building more entertainment areas and diversifying tourism services, including eco-tourism in Ngu, Lan Chau Islands, sea sports activities and performances of local folk songs on the sea and the Lam River. The town will restore its traditional craft villages and develop news crafts, including conical hat making, fish sauce producing, seafood processing, ship and boat building, and the fabrication of rattan and bamboo articles to create more products for tourism. The town will develop its human resources by training skilled workers and tour-guides, and attracting quality craftsmen, managers and investors. Attending the Nghe An Tourism Year 2005, visitors will be surprised by the new and attractive products of Cua Lo, thanks to the local Party Committee and people’s efforts in striving for a clean, beautiful and civilised town.