Vietnam, home to five World Heritage sites has witnessed an increasing number of Caravan visitors mostly from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia in recent times, signaling a boom in the new tourism model for the future.
Analysts have anticipated the travel boom from northeast Thailand and caravans of foreign tourists traveling to Vietnam overland through Thailand.
According to Thai Ba Canh, Deputy Director of the Danang Tourism Department, in 2006 the number of tourists that have come to Danang as part of caravan tours has seen a sharp increase to 20,000, or five fold the figure from last year.
The rise will be even faster after the Huu Nghi Bridge, the opening of the East-West Economic Corridor (EWC), will be put into operation on December 20, Canh said, adding that the route connects Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
This is expected to be a good opportunity for Vietnamese travel companies to kick start the tour, ‘taking meals in three countries in one day’.
Talking about increasing tourism opportunities with the inauguration of Huu Nghi Bridge, Duong Thi Tho, Head of the Travel Management Division of Danang Tourism Department, said the city would see caravan tourism boom in the coming time. Despite Typhoon Xangsane in early October, more than 2,000 caravan tourists arrived in Danang through the Lao Bao border gate.
With the launching of Huu Nghi Bridge, the EWC linking northeastern provinces of Thailand, the central region of Laos, central provinces of Vietnam including Quang Tri and Thua Thien- Hue, and Danang would be in place, Savannakhet Mayor Vilay Vanphomkhe said, noting that the bridge would kick start trade and tourism activities in the economic corridor.
In the short term, a group of 100 vehicles carrying Thai caravan tourists will come to the central city of Danang on the occasion of the Huu Nghi Bridge inauguration.
Accordingly, a caravan tour going from Thailand to Laos and then to Vietnam, consisting of 100 vehicles, will go through the Lao Bao border gate in Quang Tri province before arriving in Danang on December 23. The Vietnam Tourism Company Danang Branch (Vitours) will organize a cultural exchange between the city’s leadership, travel companies in the city and the caravan tourists.
The Danang tourism department and travel companies are hectically preparing to welcome caravan tourists who will come to the city after the bridge is launched.
Danang and Savannakhet have signed eight memoranda of understanding (MOU) on accelerating cooperation in many fields, especially in tourism and trade. Under the spirit of the MOUs, Danang has assisted Savannakhet province in many projects on sports, agriculture and transportation, worth VND5.1 billion (US$0.31 million).
Currently, caravans are only permitted to enter Vietnam through the border gates of Lao Bao in central Quang Tri province, and Cau Treo in central Ha Tinh province.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the country’s tourism watchdog, was seeking permission to welcome motorcade tourists from Malaysia and Singapore.
VietNamNet
Vietnamese
