Int’l Airport Needed for Khanh Hoa’s Tourism to Take off

 November is the month which has the lowest number of tourists. There are just 279,000 visits, a decrease of 5.7 percent compared to October and of 22.1 percent over the same period last year. Between now and the end of the year, the number of international tourists to Khanh Hoa will still be stable since they already book tours. This year, Khanh Hoa is estimated to welcome 325,000 international tourists, up 15.25 percent compared to 2007. However, business situation in the coming year is of great concerns, according to businessmen working in tourism sector.

Number of international tourists likely to go down in 2009 If Khanh Hoa’s tourism used to be glad since it had no low season, the situation is different now. Evason Ana Mandara and Evason Hideaway, addresses which always attract a large amount of high-grade international tourists, are now seeing a significant downward trend in the number of tourists booking for the next year. This has never happened at these two relaxation areas after many years of operation. Many large international travel companies in Vietnam are raising their warnings on the fact that foreign partners keep cancelling year-end tours because they fail to gather enough tourists. Foreign travel companies also make their announcements on the difficult sales of tours and forecast that the source of tourists from Western Europe for this year and the year to come might witness a decrease of 30 – 40 percent. The above forecast makes trading companies worried since this phenomenon has never happened in the high season of international tourists.

The above fact has shown that tourism sector of Vietnam, in general and of Khanh Hoa, in particular, do not escape the two big global economic storms (inflation at the beginning of the year and financial crisis at the end of the year). In Europe, the major tourism market of Vietnam, summer tourism season ends without many positive results since European citizens have to tighten their pockets during the price storm. Such large tourism markets as the US and Australia are also affected and see profit go down. According to statistics, global tourism sector enjoys a steady annual growth of 0.5 percent in earlier years. However, its growth rate has gone down by 0.2 percent in 2008 and can possibly come back to zero in 2009, as forecasted by World Tourism Organisation (OMT).

Besides, there exists information that the political crisis in Thailand will be an opportunity for Vietnam’s tourism in coming time. Tourists can possibly shift their winter destination from Thailand to Vietnam. However, representative of Evason Ana Mandara does not share that view. According to this relaxation area, Vietnam’s tourism will encounter difficulty, especially Khanh Hoa. 80 percent of international tourists who come to Vietnam transit via Bangkok. If this is an opportunity, how can they arrive in Vietnam when Vietnam has few direct airlines? Khanh Hoa even has fewer chances since it has no international airport. Tourists who want to go to Nha Trang have to either depart from Tan Son Nhat airport (in Ho Chi Minh City) or Noi Bai airport (in Hanoi), spending a day there before leaving for Nha Trang. Furthermore, hotel renting price in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City has recently increased and it gets more difficult to book rooms, which makes many tourists select destinations near such international airports as Hoi An (in Quang Nam) or Mui Ne (in Binh Thuan). Particularly, there have recently been many Russian or Northern European tourist delegations who rent a flight to fly directly to Tan Son Nhat airport and Mui Ne within the day. Ana Mandara works with many partners and they propose direct arrivals in Nha Trang via specific flights but unfortunately, this is impossible since Khanh Hoa has not had an international airport.

It is high time an international airport got built Compared to the whole country, the system of high class hotels and services of Khanh Hoa just ranks after that of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. However, the number of international tourists to Khanh Hoa annually is not large and witnesses a slower growth against such regional localities as Hoi An and Mui Ne despite great local endeavours made in advertising and attracting tourists to Nha Trang. The main reason leading to this situation lies in the fact that Khanh Hoa does not have an international airport to directly receive tourists. According to Khanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, not until now does Khanh Hoa’s tourism sector realize the difficulty in operating without an international airport. This has already been warned since 1990s when tourism started to develop. According to a representative of the sector, what is most desired by Khanh Hoa’s tourism sector is how to accelerate the birth of an international airport in Khanh Hoa or at least there must be international flights. If this is done, Khanh Hoa’s tourism will really prosper. If not, the sector will just see a slow growth in the number of international tourists as currently.
Xuan Long