Khanh Hoa Tourism: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities

In 2006, the tourism industry of Khanh Hoa Province obtained significant success, laying the groundwork for the pace of development in the coming time. Total revenue of the hospitality industry reached VND834.2 billion (US$52.13 million) and the number of visitors exceeded one million. In 2007, Khanh Hoa tourism is encountering many opportunities and challenges under the WTO.

Khanh Hoa is usually associated with coastal Nha Trang City and its many natural endowments. The most popular features are sea and island tours. The coastline is beautified by dozens of islands. The beauty of the mountains, forests, rivers, springs, waterfalls and lakes of Khanh Hoa also generates interest among visitors. At present, Nha Trang is famous worldwide for its world-class luxury resorts such as Ana Mandara, Evason Hideaway and especially Vinpearl Land. In the near future, these places of interests will have all entertainment, recreational and shopping services for world-class luxury resorts.

 

Mr Tran Son Hai, Director of Khanh Hoa Tourism and Trade Department, said Khanh Hoa is regarded as one of the largest seaborne tourism centres in Vietnam. With attractive natural endowments, modern tourism infrastructure, hotels and world-class management methods, tourism firms in Khanh Hoa have a great chance to bring their names worldwide, sharpen their competitive edge and draw investment capital.

 

However, the tourism industry of Khanh Hoa Province is also facing numerous challenges. The tourism business environment has become more competitive as the service sector is opened for foreign companies. Currently, Khanh Hoa is home to more than 800 companies engaged in tourism and travel, including 36 State-owned enterprises. Most companies are small and medium sized, with small capital and weak capability. The hotel system remains very poor as only 1,200 rooms meet three-star grade or higher, around 13.7 per cent of total hotel rooms.

 

In early 2009 when Vietnam fully opens accommodation and travel services for foreign firms, Khanh Hoa will face increasingly stiff and active competition. With strong financial capacity, rich experience and senior management levels, foreign firms will enlarge their market shares in Khanh Hoa. The shrinkage of markets and the mobility of experienced employees will become a huge challenge for local firms, if they are not well-prepared beginning now. For the time being, Khanh Hoa has more than 6,400 people working directly in the hospitality industry. However, the industry lacks staff both in quantity and in quality.

 

According to Mr Nguyen Anh Thai, Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Tourism Company, tourism industry development is, to a certain extent, not dependent on the industry itself because it relies on so many other fields like traffic, aviation, hotels and others. The absence of an international airport is also a difficulty for the tourism industry.

 

According to Mr Hai, the largest challenge for the Khanh Hoa tourism industry is the alarming environment pollution, especially its effect on maritime and other natural resources. Another challenge is to build safe destinations for tourists in both security and traffic. More importantly, inconsistent advertisement may blunt Nha Trang City’s tourism advantages over other localities in Vietnam.

Hai believed that the challenge will certainly create a chance for development; thus, the challenge should be considered an opportunity. With reasonable strategies and dynamic measures, the tourism industry of Khanh Hoa Province will overcome all challenges on the path to success. Currently, the Yasaka-Saigon-Nha Trang Hotel is drawing talented staff, diversifying tourism products and popularising its name. Hai said the People’s Committee of the province is considering the construction of a programme to advertise Nha Trang seaborne tourism in other countries.

 

Khanh Hoa Tourism Company is focusing on restructuring its apparatus to make it more dynamic and efficient, recruiting professionals, diversifying its products and internationalising the product. Khanh Hoa Trading and Investment Company has meticulously prepared for successful integration. After building the world-class Ana Mandara resort, the company has worked with many other firms to build Ana Mandara resorts in many other localities like Phu Quoc (Kien Giang Province), Nhon Trach (Dong Nai Province), Hue City and Quang Binh Province. At the same time, the firm also reorganised into a holding company and joined hands with other companies of the same industry to become an economic group, called TIC-Group, to accelerate competition and raise integration capacity.

 

Each tourism or travel firm in Khanh Hoa has made its own preparations for integration, depending on its size and goals. However, the most important thing is cooperation among individual companies to form joint organisations to tap potential and turn challenge into opportunity.