Nhan Dan – The Red (Hong) River Delta possesses a variety of natural and humane tourism resources. Hanoi ancient capital city along with thousands of historical and cultural relic sites; traditional craft villages and intangible cultural heritage systems all converge in the Red River Delta, making it possible a key tourism centre of the nation.

The tourism development has yet to match  the potential

In recent years, the Red River Delta has received great support from the Government to boost its tourism industry. In response to the Government’s policy, the northern provinces of Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh have created favourable conditions to develop tourism so as to make it a key economic industry as well as contribute to the regional socio-economic development.

Lately, a variety of tourism products and services have been exploited: island, sea-based tourism; cultural, artistic tourism; culinary tourism; craft village tourism; eco-tourism; adventure tourism and so on.

However, the Red River Delta’s tourism has not matched its potentials. Tourism products of poor quality are among other reasons responsible for this shortcoming. These products are often duplicated time and time again, causing boredom to tourists. Additionally, the travel agencies in the regions are small-scaled and lack of professional knowledge so they can not actively offer high-end products and attract tourists to the localities.

Duplication of products should be avoided

To develop tourism of the Red River Delta, the tourism industry needs to work out and take urgent measures. Of which, it is advisable to quickly review currently-exploited products to find out the strength and weakness of each product and each locality as well. Then, localities could give out new products and services with higher quality that are suitable to the diverse needs of tourists.

Before tourism products are launched, it is essential to firstly define the subject that the products aim at. There are still localities reproducing intact the tourism models of other localities without modifying them which causes boredom and incompatibility. Each locality should specify their target and potential customers so as to create appropriate products and services. The tourism products created should be imbued with the regional identity to impress tourists and help to build up the brand name of each locality.

Each region itself should choose a suitable tourism strategy based on their strength in co-operation with travel agencies and other regions. It would be the best to create chances for local people to offer tourism products and services since it contributes to the poverty reduction. One important thing that can not be ignored is human resource training to serve the regional tourism industry.

Co-operation for the diversity and attraction

Investing in building key tourism zones is necessary but it must be in conformity with the master plan. Additionally, localities should focus on developing infrastructure facilities like transportation and accommodation to promote tourism in general and attract more tourists in particular.

In the process of building a brand name in regional tourism, great attention should be given to promotion and advertising work. Mass media, trade fairs, tourism expos and tourism publications are helpful channels to provide tourism information to the public at home and abroad. Also, information exchanges between travel agencies will help the region know about the tourism products and services of other regions and therefore promote their own products. Besides, the Red River Delta needs to open its own website on tourism to offer updated information and knowledge to the public.

The close co-operation among cities and provinces in the Red River Delta is indispensable to build up high-quality tourism products and services. A locality alone might not have sufficient tourism resources or conditions to offer attractive tours but inter-regional co-operation could help to create diverse products without overlapping. At the same time, priority should be given to developing travel agents since they will play a role as an information centre to connect with other domestic and foreign travel agents so as to promote tourism better.

LUU NHAN VINH