Diep Son- Charming Destination in 2016

Recently, many tourist groups have come to discover the beauty of Diep Son Island. This is believed to be the most charming destination this year because it is a new pristine island where seafaring cultural identity remained unspoiled. Apart from watching the beautiful natural scenery, joining a homestay tour and living with villagers is an unforgettable experience for visitors. After walking along the coast and watching the dawn, they can go shopping, swimming, cooking and playing gambles. In the evening, they can walk along the street and watch villagers playing gambles joyfully. At night, they can stargaze and hear about experience to tell the time by watching the stars. It will be more interesting if some seafood is served at this time.

 

Phat, a local policeman, said the island became more renowned after a group of tourists came to experience the life here and updated their photos to Facebook. The wild beauty of the island stunned viewers and many other tourist groups came here to have the real sense of exploring daily life activities in the village. The village has 87 households and 400 people. It has a school with 27 primary students and three teachers who teach local students from primary to secondary levels. Living on rudimentary fishing, villagers have better off livelihoods. Power generators work four hours each day and villagers usually gather when the lights are turned on to chat and play gambles. Young sunburnt and tattooed people look unruly but they are very rustic and friendly to visitors. The atmosphere seems quiet and peaceful. Villagers know to serve tourists with homestay services and use money more often.

 

Despite being a favourite new choice of tourists, tours to Diep Son Island are still quite haphazard, said Pham Vi Dong from Long Phu Travel Company. Most visitors have the sense of adventure and discovery and they do not want to use services from professional travel companies. This is why tourism development on the island is low.

According to surveys, although some travel companies are offering two-day and one-night tours to Diep Son Island, they do not focus on improving services and diversifying end-products. Thus, keeping tourists and promoting tourism development into an economic sector of the island district are difficult. In addition, self-discovery will inspire the sense and pleasure of conquest but its implication on tourism development is not high. Tourists meanwhile lack information about destinations, security and safety.

 

Spontaneous travelling, typically carried out without the presence of professional service providers and without insurance policy, makes order and security management harder on the island and put traveller safety at risk," Phat said.

 

He added that many people organise visits for their own to the island because there are not enough companies supplying professional tours. Because it is far from the mainland, electricity and water are not always available. Many visitors expressed their wish to spend the night at official houses in order to feel more secure and get better support when necessary. But, this cannot be a long-term solution as it does no good for tourism development. No risks have been recorded to date but security must be a matter of concerns when more people come here.

 

To effectively tap the tourism economy, quality, safety, security, environmental protection and landscape conservation must be ensured for sustainable development. Van Gia commune (Khanh Hoa province) and travel companies should work together to ensure quality and security for travelers and develop tourism into an economic sector of the island in addition to fishing.