Tourism in Hanoi's hinterlands to take off

Speaking at the Leader Talk on "Tourism Development in Hanoi's Hinterlands: Current Situation and Prospects" held yesterday, Nguyen Manh Than, chairman of Hanoi Tourism Association said that in some localities in the surrounding areas of the capital city, authorities "have not supported firms developing the tourism".

"Local authorities have no specific actions and policies to improve local people’s awareness on the development of this kind of tourism,” Than, also the founding investor of Ao Vua, Dam Long and Dao Ngoc Xanh tourism complexes in Hanoi's suburbs, claimed.

Several experts agreed, blaming such a reason on a scattered and limited number of resort projects in Hanoi suburban areas and neighbouring provinces such as Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, Hoa Binh and Ninh Binh.

So far, just some dozens of well-known resort projects have been built around Hanoi such as Flamingo Dai Lai, Melia Ba Vi, Mai Chau Ecolodge, Serena Resort Kim Boi and Emeralda Ninh Binh.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, deputy general director of Archi Invest Joint Stock Company estimated that there were around 1,600 resort rooms of three to five-star standards in Hanoi's hinterlands.

"Such a number was too limited to satisfy with the booming demand of visitors to the Hanoi's outskirts," he said.

Than looked into the intensive reason saying that the process of designing and building up a resort tourism project took a long time.

"State agencies should help businesses quickly resolve administrative procedures and remove barriers which could limit their development," he added.

Luong Ngoc Khanh, general director of H&K Hospitality said that investors "have to work with different departments and offices to resolve an issue." 

"We expected that local authorities would give more supports and favorable policies to firms in developing projects under the model,” he said.

Despite these challenges, industry insiders are confident that there's large room for tourism in Hanoi's hinterlands to grow. 

Trung said in the coming time, Hanoi could accommodate around 30 million visitors per year while only 1,200 new hotel rooms have been built over the last five years.

Trung calculates that around 4.5 million people in the inner Hanoi want to go on breaks around six times each year. Therefore, it would have up to 25 to 30 million tourist arrivals a year.

"The market for resort developers in Hanoi's suburbs is huge," he added.

Amorn Harnkham, former director of Tourism Authority of Thailand cum regional director of the International Hotel and Tourism Industry Management School claims that the natural beauty of Hanoi's hinterlands "is so fabulous and magnificent" together with culinary delights and friendly local people.

"Hanoi would become one of best destinations in Assia for resort tourism in suburbs," he said.

He pushed for a comprehensive masterplan as well as synchronization and integration of resort tourism development in Hanoi's suburbs.

Nguyen Quoc Hoan, general manager of The Ann Hanoi hotel said that resort tourism investors "should build up and offer visitors unique products and entertainment services which ought to be served by dedicated and professional staff".