Basic HTML Version
timeout
35
province.
The initiative was initially wel-
comed by travel agents and the Viet-
nam National Administration of Tour-
ism. In 2004 the World Heritage Road
became the theme of the tourism year
of central Vietnam and since then tour
operators have joined hands to provide
a tour programme called “Happy Holi-
day – The Heritage Journey”. The tour
aims to bring tourists from Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City to the central coast for
weekend holidays. In 2005, Thua Thien
Hue, Danang and Quang Nam signed
a memorandum of understanding to
work together to develop tourism in
the area.
Paul Stoll, the then secretary gen-
eral of the World Heritage Road, said
he expected the development of the
World Heritage Road would provide
confidence in the destination and po-
tentially encourage investment. He also
said the World Heritage Road would
promote quality tourism that would
benefit Vietnam’s society, culture, his-
tory and environment.
However, the initiative did not take
off and today it is no longer on the
radar. Vinh says that although the ini-
tiative contributed to developing and
promoting tourism to the central coast,
resulting in greater number of tourists
and hotel developers, it did not con-
tinue for a host of reasons.
Vinh points out that during the
period when the World Heritage Road
initiative was active, central Vietnam’s
tourism was under-developed, with
Furama Resort being the only upscale
hotel in the area for many years.
As there were not many hotels to
contribute budget and effort, the World
Heritage Road lacked enough funding
and human resources to be successful.
In addition, although tourism authori-
ties in the three provinces pledged to
work together, there were few mean-
ingful collaborations to promote the
area under one banner.
Another obstacle to the develop-
ment of the World Heritage Road was
the lack of a legally bonafide organisa-
tion to promote the initiative. At that
THE HERITAGE JOURNEY
Peace and tranquillity are easily found
throughout the central coast