DIEN BIEN MAKES A MARK ON THE TOURIST MAP
Dien Bien, located in the far northwest of the country, is not only a place of heroic historical victories but also a magnificent natural landscape with towering mountains, lush valleys, and gentle rivers. Dien Bien’s most unique tourism product is the historical experience. The legendary Dien Bien Phu battlefield has left Dien Bien with a complex of 45 relics, such as A1 Hill, Muong Thanh Bridge, Dien Bien Phu Campaign Headquarters, and De Castries’ Bunker. Dien Bien has 33 ranked relics, including 1 special national relic, 14 national relics, and 18 provincial-level relics.
These historical sites attract a large number of visitors annually. This unique advantage forms the core of Dien Bien’s efforts to promote its historical values and attract tourists. Visitors to Dien Bien also have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the daily life of the ethnic communities, enjoy local specialties, and admire traditional Thai dances and the sweet melodies of "Then" songs.
DIEN BIEN HAS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
In recent years, despite facing challenges, Dien Bien's tourism industry has made progress. According to the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Dien Bien, from January 1, 2024, to May 7, 2024, the province welcomed more than 1 million visitors, including about 4,800 international tourists. Total revenue from tourism activities reached nearly 1,900 billion VND. During the peak holiday period from April 30 to May 7, Dien Bien welcomed over 371,000 visitors, with tourism revenue surpassing 390 billion VND.
The year 2024 is particularly significant for the leaders and people of Dien Bien Province. Hosting the National Tourism Year and commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, Dien Bien aims to attract 1.3 million visitors, with an estimated revenue of around 2,200 billion VND. Having already welcomed over 1 million visitors, Dien Bien is on track to surpass its target, with many events from the National Tourism Year - Dien Bien 2024 still to come.
In the Dien Bien Provincial Tourism Development Plan for 2025, with an orientation toward 2030, the People's Committee of Dien Bien Province has set a goal to make tourism a key economic sector, driving growth and economic restructuring. The plan envisions Dien Bien becoming an attractive tourism destination in the Northern Midlands and Mountains by effectively leveraging its potential and advantages while preserving ethnic cultural identities, protecting historical relics, improving the environment, and enhancing the material and spiritual well-being of the people. Additionally, it aims to maintain political stability, social order, and national border sovereignty.
BREAKING THE ICE OF THE PROVINCE'S TOURISM POTENTIAL
Despite its many advantages compared to other northern mountainous provinces, Dien Bien has yet to fully exploit its tourism potential. Its remote location from the country’s central areas poses challenges to its tourism development plans, including inconsistent transportation infrastructure, especially roads to remote tourist sites. Tourism services such as hotels and restaurants remain limited in both quantity and quality. Moreover, ineffective tourism promotion and a lack of skilled tourism workers present significant hurdles.
To maximize its tourism potential, Dien Bien must adopt comprehensive solutions, from infrastructure investment to improving service quality, while prioritizing environmental protection and cultural preservation.
In the content of the presentation that will be presented at the Conference and International Conference on Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion VACOD - Dien Bien 2024, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, gave a number of recommendations to promote connectivity, expand links, and create a breakthrough in tourism development in Dien Bien and the Northwest provinces effectively and sustainably:
Firstly, Dien Bien needs to have a perspective for sustainable development by determining the optimal tourism development direction for the locality, in line with tourism potentials and advantages, and having mechanisms and policies to create a favorable environment for tourism development. In addition, it is necessary to study the experience of tourism development of localities that have gone ahead and come from the characteristics of the localities so that the tourism industry really becomes an important economic sector or a spearhead in the economic structure of Dien Bien province in the Northwest provinces.
Secondly, the province should focus on the planning and management of the implementation of tourism development planning in the locality: From the proper implementation of the planning in the process of investment in tourism development on the basis of mutual experience exchange to the implementation of the general planning of adjacent areas in the direction of ensuring the preservation of resources, landscape, environment.
Dien Bien needs to focus on implementing tourism planning, especially in tourist areas and destinations that have been and will be identified in the National Master Plan, the Northern Midlands and Mountainous Region Plan, the Tourism System Plan and the Dien Bien Provincial Plan for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, and potential tourist areas and destinations.
Third, strengthen connectivity and promote sustainable tourism investment attraction. In addition to exploiting local economic potential, Dien Bien needs to promote linkages and cooperation in exploiting the Northwest arc tourism route, connecting with the Northeast provinces and connecting with neighboring Laos through Tay Trang border gate.
There should be a mechanism to select the right investors with sufficient financial capacity to invest in tourism projects, in addition, people in attractive villages should be encouraged to invest in upgrading their houses to provide homestay services for tourists.
Fourth, strengthen linkages to develop a diverse and distinct tourism product system based on the tourism resource advantages of Dien Bien and the Northwestern provinces.
Fifth, Dien Bien also needs to promote the application of digital technology in management, business and tourism promotion. Applying technology to each stage of tourism development will help the province grasp the trend of the times and reach potential customers at home and abroad.
Sixth, human resources are the weakness of Dien Bien province because the majority of the population is ethnic minorities. Therefore, in the future, Dien Bien in particular and the Northwestern mountainous provinces in general need to focus on developing high-quality human resources for each activity, supplementing specialized staff to advise on state management of tourism in districts, towns, cities and especially communes, villages and hamlets in localities with tourism development potential.
Finally, tourism development still needs to ensure the preservation of cultural identity, heritage conservation, and environmental resource protection in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, contributing to ensuring security and national defense.
According to Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Dien Bien needs to develop a Strategy and Plan for managing crisis risks in the tourism sector and at the same time develop appropriate response and rescue plans. Dien Bien and the Northwestern provinces need to proactively learn and draw lessons from the tourism development process of other localities and international experience to find the optimal tourism development direction for the locality, in line with new tourism trends and sustainable development principles./.
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