Border Tourism Needs Proper Development Measures

Vietnam needs to map out proper measures to fully tap the potential of border tourism in the near future as most border provinces are home to magnificent natural views, sites and landscapes that can attract foreign tourists from neighboring countries, said a local official.

 

In recent years, the northern border provinces have received a significant increase of Chinese visitors from the south-western region of China, mostly through border gates in Lang Son, Lao Cai and Quang Ninh provinces. Tourist sites in the northern border region such as Mau Son in Lang Son province, Sa Pa in Lao Cai province and Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province have become favorite destinations for Chinese visitors.

 

However, travel agencies have not built suitable plans to comprehensively exploit the advantage, Nhu Tien Cu, deputy Director of Lang Son Import-Export and Tourism Company said.

 

The important thing is for travel agencies and craft villages to know what visitors like, Cu added.

 

“Many Chinese visitors from the south-western region of China prefer tours to northern Vietnam. However, when shopping in Vietnam, Chinese visitors have several difficulties, for example they cannot speak Vietnamese and are not introduced to reliable addresses for shopping,” said Li Yao Guang, deputy head of Hei Khou Tourism Department in the Chinese province of Yunnan.

 

Nguyen Anh Dzung, Deputy Director General of Hanoi Transport Corporation, which is co-operating with Chinese partners to launch border tours, said domestic businesses should team up to compete and build stable trademarks for themselves.

 

These are weaknesses of the local tourism sector in developing related services. For a long time, tourism managers and travel agencies have only focused on promoting the image of landscapes without taking into account visitors’ shopping demands. It is a paradox that during border tours, Vietnamese visitors spend much more on Chinese goods than Chinese visitors do on Vietnamese goods.

 

“They are not high demanding customers and their incomes are still modest, therefore they often buy Vietnamese products at reasonable prices. However, they require attractive patterns, particularly colorful and red products. We are confused about making attractive products for Chinese visitors,” said Mr Cu.

 

Currently, several border provinces are building schemes to develop tourism in combination with on-the-spot exports. Businesses specialized in related services such as transport, entertainment and restaurants have been advised to improve the quality of these services, Cu said, hoping that the move will contribute to lure Chinese visitors in particular and foreign ones from neighboring countries in general to the country.