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that greatly contribute to the country’s
overall appeal to travelers.
The area has a coast line of
1,430km, with most cities facing the
ocean. These central coast provinces
are developing eco-sea tourism, leisure
tourism, and sea sport tourism, with
scuba diving, parasailing and kayaking.
The region is also very rich in inland
natural resources, with green forests, im-
posing mountain ranges, amazing hot
springs and a thick density of cultural and
historical relics which are still waiting to
be highlighted as tourism products.
All this means the area is drawing
the attention of both local and inter-
national investors. There are more and
more prestigious local and international
hospitality groups operating and due to
open soon. The scale and structure of
investment in the region is changing
rapidly towards the luxury market. Ma-
jor names now on the scene include La-
guna, InterContinental and Six Senses.
Along with providing upscale ser-
vices for tourists, many hotel brands
have won prestigious international hos-
pitality awards from world tourism or-
ganisers, magazines or travel websites
helping to highlight Vietnam and its
gold central coast and put it on the
world luxury tourism map.
Another advantage of the central
coast is its growing collection of world-
class golf courses. Marketed as the Golf
Coast Vietnam, it brings together some
of finest golfing experiences available
in Asia. Options now available include
the Colin Montgomerie designed Mon-
gomerie Links, Greg Norman’s Danang
Golf Club and Nick Faldo’s Laguna Lang
Co Golf Club in Thua Thien Hue.
Furthermore, the international air-
port in Danang is bringing in more direct
international flights which have given a
significant boost to local tourism.
SPARKLING FIGURES FOR THE
CENTRAL COAST
Statistics show that sea-tourism in
the central coast area has increased
markedly, with more than 4 million in-
ternational tourists in 2012, accounting
for 59 percent of all international tour-
ists to Vietnam last year.
The GDP of the region increased
significantly by 10 per cent as a result.
The area is home to a strong mix of
attractions, including natural resources,
cultural treasures, memorable cuisines,
and adventure travel options.
“Central Vietnam has a wide array
of activities and landscapes that appeal
to a mix of travellers, including tropical
beaches, colonial towns, world heritage
sites, top cuisine and more. Each tour is
designed with flexibility to suit travel-
lers’ personal interests, schedules and
energy levels,” said Pham Ha, CEO of
Luxury Travel.
LIGHT UP THE CENTRAL COAST FUTURE
“The central coast provinces have
a great tourism potential, but have not
received the proper care from tourism
industry,” said Vu The Binh, deputy
chairman of Vietnam Tourism Associa-
tion. He added: “Most provinces focus
all their efforts, human and financial
resources in promoting sea tourism.
The inland tourism in the forest, up
the mountains, and in other cultural
areas remains underdeveloped. There-
fore, we see few specialised and unique
tourism products in the region.”
Despite rich cultural and natural
treasures, the central coast provinces
have yet to market these in a harmoni-
ous package; instead, most provinces
offer similar tourism products, mainly
including swimming, sightseeing and
viewing pagodas and temples.
Moreover, the development of
each province is not at the same level.
The key investor locations are still Dan-
ang, Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa) and Binh
Thuan. Meanwhile, potential destina-
tions such as Tuy Hoa, Phu Yen, Binh
Dinh, Ninh Thuan and Quang Ngai are
left behind, without any master plan or
promotion campaigns.
For Vu The Binh, a key reason is
that infrastructure and human resourc-
es in these less developed provinces are
lagging behind Danang, Nha Trang and
Phan Thiet.
“These provinces are rich in natural
beauty, but have a shortage of interna-
tional hospitality brands to help to build
up luxury hotels and resorts as well as
promote the image of these areas,” said
Tran Dinh Thien, director of the Viet-
nam Economic Institute.
According to Tran Bac Ha, chair-
man of Bank for Investment and De-
velopment of Vietnam and the Central
Research and Development Fund, it is
necessary to set up a regional chain to
connect all these provinces together to
study and determine the unique charac-
ter of each province.
“Though there are many more ef-
fective inter-regional programs and
projects, the promotion campaigns are
still run on a rather limited scale with-
out any comprehensive cooperation,”
he said. “We need a master plan for
developing tourism in the whole re-
gion; it should not be spontaneous like
it is now, especially in terms of large
projects such as infrastructure develop-
ment,” he continued.
THE GOLD COAST IN CENTRAL VIETNAM
Colourful fishing boats rest in
Xuan Dai Bay, Phu Yen