Binh Dinh (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucasked Binh Dinh to make breakthroughs in tourism while he was addressing aworking session with officials of the south central province on January 20.

Binh Dinh has a lot of potential thanks to itsfavourable geographical location, which is in the centre of the North-Southroad, railway, sea and aviation routes. It is also the nearest gateway to thesea for provinces in the Central Highlands, southern Laos, and northeasternCambodia.

The province is rich in cultural and historicaltraditions and boasts many scenic sites along its 134km-long coast.

In 2017, Binh Dinh welcomed more than 3.7million tourist arrivals, up 15.6 percent year on year. Many tourism investmentprojects have been implemented and put into operation, helping to increaseaccommodation and entertainment facilities to serve tourists.

PM Phuc said Quy Nhon city’s tourism has becomean impressive brand. He asked the province to make tourism breakthroughs byimproving service quality, promote local tourism, and enhance connectivity withdomestic and international tourism hubs. Notably, it needs to tap localcultural identities to develop tourism.

Binh Dinh should make better planning for its134km-long coast with a focus on tourism so that this sector will become aneconomic momentum of the province in the near future.

Recognising local attainments in 2017, he alsopointed out certain problems such as growth slowdown, failure to attract investorsto industrial and economic zones, wastefulness of socio-economic developmentresources, deforestation, and high poverty rate.

He told provincial officials to adopt an inclusivegrowth viewpoint, which he described as an important factor to create a drivingforce for the whole province.

The Government leader said the province shouldplan the development of its industry in the greater context of the entire centralkey economic region, which Binh Dinh is part of, and the Central Highlands soas to capitalise on the regions’ advantages.

The province also needs to concurrently developfishing and fisheries processing and logistics, build a brand name for thelocal offshore tuna fishing, and boost hi-tech and intensive shrimp farming, hesaid.-VNA