Cat Ba archipelago in Cat Hai Island District, Hai Phong City, where the biosphere reserve was recognized by UNESCO, attracts millions of domestic and international tourists each year. (Photo: An Dang/VNA)
One of the key tasks of Hai Phong’s tourism was to refresh the sector with new products to satisfy tourists while safe adapting to COVID-19 epidemic.
Flexible adaptation
Mr. Vu Huy Thuong, Deputy Director of Hai Phong Department of Tourism, said that according to plan on recovering and developing Hai Phong tourism to safely, flexibly adapt and control COVID-19 epidemic approved by the City People's Committee, Hai Phong would focus on developing 5 tourism groups as follows:
- Sport tourism (golf, cycling, marathon), in association with yacht tourism to attract customers with high affordability.
- Experiential travel in rural areas with culinary enjoyment, health care (hot mineral spring), medical examination and treatment services with family, pupils, students and adults as target customers.
- Beach tourism at resort complex for young people and group guests.
- MICE tourism for businessmen, politicians and artists.
- Spiritual cultural tourism aiming at women and the elderly.
Regarding tourism market, Hai Phong City would focus on domestic sector as driving forces for recovery, in which prioritize tourists in Hai Phong, Ha Noi and adjacent localities by ; developing tourism cooperating programs with Ha Noi and other provinces and establishing safe tourism corridors among 12 Northern provinces and cities before attracting tourists from key tourism markets in Ho Chi Minh and the southeast regions.
For international tourist market, the City would focus on visitors from countries in Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, then expanding to such key tourism markets as Europe and North America.
Digital transformation – an inevitable trend
Digital transformation will be an inevitable development trend of Hai Phong tourism. Accordingly, relevant units will build Hai Phong digital tourism map on a website system or a mobile application with various utilities to meet the demands of tourists, travel agents and state agencies; digitalize tourist destinations in general tourist introduction system with 360-degree and 3D image interfaces, using flying cams and virtual reality technology.
Previously, Hai Phong tourism sector had cooperated with Traveloka (a famous travel platform) for tourism digital promotion, accelerating technology for safe toursim among Hai Phong people.
Accordingly, Traveloka will promote Hai Phong tourism as a new attractive, safe destination in Vietnam on its social networks, creating QR codes for guidance, maps and no-touch travel experience with the aim of attracting more tourists to the Flamboyant Flower City.
In the coming time, Traveloka will coordinate with Hai Phong Department of Tourism to organize conferences to introduce no-touch tourism and support Department of Tourism to promote Hai Phong tourism events or contests.
According to Ms. Huynh Thi Mai Thy, Director of Traveloka Vietnam, Traveloka - Hai Phong Department of Tourism cooperation aimed at making the city– a hidden gem of Vietnam tourism – wellknown to international tourists and developing its tourism in a sustainable manner in the longterm.