Khanh Hoa works to attract more tourists from ASEAN nations
Authorities of the south central province of Khanh Hoa see the need to attract more tourists, especially from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Tourists in Hon Tam island of Nha Trang Bay (Source: VNA)
Khanh Hoa (VNA) - Authoritiesof the south central province of Khanh Hoa see the need to attract more tourists,especially from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).
Many measures have been devised, focusing onpromoting the province’s images and developing its infrastructure.
Khanh Hoa, with a coastline of more than 380km and hundreds of islands and islets, and mild and sunny year-long climate, hasmany advantages for tourism, especially sea-island tourism.
Besides Nha Trang Bay, Khanh Hoa also boasts Cam Ranh and Van Phong bays, bothbeing natural masterpieces.
Khanh Hoa’s tourism sector has experienced abreakthrough in recent years. The number of tourists visiting the province hasenjoyed average expansion of 15 percent - 17 per year in recent years.
In 2010 - 2016, the number of tourists to Khanh Hoa reached 21.5 million,including more than 5.1 million foreigners. In 2017, 5.5 million domestic andinternational holiday-makers visited and stayed overnight in the locality.
In the first eight months of this year, KhanhHoa welcomed 4.4 million visitors, including nearly 1.9 million foreigners.
However, Khanh Hoa has not focused on attracting tourists from ASEAN countries.With nearly 1.9 million visitors to Khanh Hoa from the beginning of the year, thenumber of visitors from ASEAN countries is less than 100,000.
In September last year, low-cost airlines AirAsia of Malaysia opened a direct flightfrom Kuala Lumpur to Cam RanhInternational Airport of Khanh Hoa and vice versa.
According to Spencer Lee, Commercial Director of AirAsia, the new route helps notonly bring more holiday-makers from Malaysia to Khanh Hoa, but also makes iteasy for Khanh Hoa people and those from adjacent localities to access 120destinations in the airline’s Asian network.
A number of international travel agencies in Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang city havetaken advantages of the new route to run tours to Malaysia and Singapore. After a year, the number of visitors fromMalaysia to Khanh Hoa has increased tenfold. In the first eight months of 2018,Khanh Hoa received more than 30,000 visitors from Malaysia, up 15 timescompared to the same period last year.
Khanh Hoa aims to welcome 8.5 million tourists by 2020, with 3.5 millioninternational visitors, raking in 70 trillion VND (more than 2.98 billion USD).
The province’s tourism industry is hoped to become a spearhead economic sector,creating momentum for its development.-VNA
Khanh Hoa targets to receive 5.5 million tourist arrivals this year, up 17 percent from 2016, including 1.7 million foreigners, according to a recently-approved action plan of the tourism sector.
The Government’s master plan for tourism development by 2020 aims to develop seven key tourism zones, of which five are sea-island related zones, reflecting the importance of sea and island tourism.
Numerous activities to recreate marine resources and protect the environment were organised during the ongoing Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa Sea Festival 2017.
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Tourists in Hon Tam island of Nha Trang Bay (Source: VNA) 
