Da Nang cafes, restaurants offer free restrooms for tourists

DA NANG — More than 300 restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and shopping centres are offering free restrooms for tourists in the downtown area as part of an effort to boost hospitality in the central city.

Nguyen Xuan Binh, deputy director of the city’s tourism department, said the campaign was launched in 2015 at 100 restaurants and cafes downtown. He said the city would continue to encourage restaurant and cafe owners in the city to offer free restrooms for visitors in the coming years.

He said the department also offered a smart phone application called Comfort as Home to help tourists locate free restrooms in the city.

Nguyen Hong Son, vice chairman of Hai Chau District’s business association, said tourists can recognise free restroom sites with the logo saying Comfort as Home, or “Free Restroom” on the door.

He said the free service will help reduce the city’s expenditures on building public toilets.

Da Nang, with only 20 public toilets, has determined that it needs more than 6,000 public restrooms for tourists and local people at a cost of VND10 trillion (US$440 million).

In May, the city’s tourism department opened visitors’ centres at Da Nang International Airport’s new terminal and downtown to provide free information, brochures and maps for tourists.

Last year the department launched its fanpage, Danang FantasiCity, as an official channel of Da Nang’s tourism sector on Facebook. The city hosted 5.1 million tourists, including 1.76 million foreigners, in the first nine months this year, bringing VND15 trillion ($663 million) to the local economy. — VNS