Building Tourism into a Spearhead Sector

Quang Tri is bestowed with great potential for tourism development. It is located along the Central Heritage Road with such famous historical sites as Vinh Moc underground tunnel, Quang Tri ancient citadel, Hien Luong bridge, Huong Hoa, Khe Sanh and Lao Bao. Particularly, Quang Tri has 75 kilometres of coastline with many beautiful beaches, among which Cua Tung is named the Queen of Indochinese beaches. Quang Tri is also positioned along the East West economic corridor, being a hub of socio-economic and cultural exchanges among Indochinese and other nations.

 

Currently, 30 out of 50 heritages in the province have been ranked at national level. The most typical heritages can be named here include Quang Tri ancient citadel, Vinh Moc tunnel and Truong Son martyrs’ cemetery, which all serve as tourist attractions for both domestic and international visitors when they come to visit the battle site.

With a view to exploiting potential and cultural values, Quang Tri is having specific development strategies implemented. First and foremost, it concentrates on developing tourism by land on the East West corridor route. This is the shortest way connecting ASEAN countries together and also a hub for regional socio-economic and cultural exchange. In order to attract more and more tourists, it is necessary that Quang Tri focus on constructing and upgrading some heritage sites as well as building commercial centres and relaxation resorts for tourists.

 

So that the province’s tourism sector can be turned into a spearhead sector by 2015, it is pivotal that Quang Tri focus on mobilizing external resources to invest in and develop technical infrastructure systems, service and trade centres and ecological areas.

 

However, capital investment remains a challenge for Quang Tri. The budget of the province is limited, resources allocated to economic development in general and tourism in particular mostly rely on State support (75 percent). Quang Tri’s tourism is mainly by land. There is no sea port or airport in Quang Tri, which hinders tourist attraction. The province currently has projects to build My Thuy sea port and a domestic airport in order to overcome its limitations in infrastructure.

 

Talking to us, Mr Nguyen Van Dung, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, “It is necessary to be fully aware of the importance of the tourism sector to all levels of authority, industries and the people and thereby generate friendliness, openness and hospitality to attract tourists to Quang Tri. Besides, Quang Tri tourism needs to establish its own brand name bearing its cultural identity and human values. This must be done for Quang Tri tourism to become a destination for both national and international tourists.”