Viet Nam News
PHU YEN — The tourism sector in the central province of Phu Yen made a strong start with its 2011 National Tourism Year, but has shown little progress since then.
According to Vo Khanh Ngoc, director of the Phu Yen Tourism Promotion Centre, thanks to the national budget spent in Phu Yen in 2010, local infrastructure was significantly improved.
“A new road was built linking downtown Phu Yen with beaches and beauty spots in the province,” he said, “Some five-star hotels were built for this occasion. Tuy Hoa Airport and the road to Ghenh Da Dia, a local beauty spot, have been upgraded. Various historical cultural sites have been renovated. Phu Yen was given good impetus for development.”
Yet local tourism has registered little success in comparision with neighbouring central provinces, like Binh Dinh, Quang Binh and Kien Giang.
“The biggest challenge of the province is the poor infrastructure and limited numbers of high standard rooms," said Nguyen Hong Dai, director of APT Travel.
Ngoc said big groups want to stay at three to five-star hotels. “The province has not got enough accommodation to serve this kind of customer. Big groups cannot stay at the same hotel but have to be divided into smaller groups to stay at several hotels,” he said. “Not every big delegation is content with the division.”
There are 125 hotels and other types of accommodations in Phu Yen, with more than 2,500 rooms, only 500 of which have a three to five-star rating.
Another weak points that Phu Yen should improve is poor tourism services.
“The 190-km coastline stretches along many beautiful bays and beaches. Yet tourism services at these points remain poor,” said Dai, “Pristine beaches are inviting, but to serve guesses well, the spots should be easily accessible and offer good service.”
Dai added that the province should offer a public beach for both residents and tourists near Tuy Hoa City, which is near accommodations, restaurants and the airport.
“Another weak point in Phu Yen is the limited number of good restanrants,” he said. “The localitity has various delicacies, like sea sardine, nuoc mam (fish sauce), banh hoi long heo (vermicelli served with boiled pig’s intestine) and fresh seafood. Yet there are only three or four restaurants that can serve tourists, beside restaurants at hotels.”
The number of tourists to Phu Yen during 2011-15 increased 20 per cent per year, on average, with the number of foreign tourists growing 10 per cent per year. Income from tourism increased 30 per cent per year, on average.
In 2015, about 900,000 visitors came to the province, a 19.2 per cent increase against 2014. Some 45,000 were from overseas. The total 2015 income from tourism was VND850 billion (US$37.8 million), a 33.3 per cent increase against 2014.
However, the numbers are small in comparison with those of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces.
Quang Binh hosted 2.86 million visitors last year, a 3.9 per cent increase against the previous year.
Last year, the number of tourists to Binh Dinh reached 2.6 million (205,950 were foreigners), a 25 per cent growth compared to the previous year. The total income from tourism was over VND 1,000 billion ($44.4 million), a 31 per cent increase against 2014.
Neighbouring Binh Dinh had similar infrastructure problems but has since made big achievements, with a beautiful public beach running along the city coast, luring not only Vietnamese but also foreigners, especially Russsians, he said.
Dai said Russian guests tend to tour from Nha Trang to Binh Dinh and Phu Yen, which is a big opportunity for Phu Yen. “If Phu Yen doesn’t change quickly, it will miss its chance for such potentital tourists.” — VNS