| Editor's note: The economic growth recovery momentum of our country in the first 6 months of 2024 was clearly demonstrated when the GDP in the second quarter reached nearly 7%, bringing the GDP in the first half of the year to a growth rate of 6.42%. Contributing to that recovery process is the strong rise of many localities, including the breakthrough story of Khanh Hoa after 2 years of struggling due to Covid-19. Changes in thinking and action, along with the ability to grasp the 'green' trend, have created growth figures along with many new things of this locality. The series of articles "Khanh Hoa renews growth drivers" produced by VietNamNet describes the journey of overcoming difficulties and leading the trend of this locality. |
Full of orders
These days, all four sewing lines with more than 1,000 workers at Khatoco garment factory are busy completing fashion clothing products to deliver orders to domestic and international customers.
This is something that Mr. Tran Minh Quang - Head of the Board of Members of Khatoco could hardly see in the past 3 years.
Mr. Quang revealed: Not only garment but all business areas of the enterprise have recovered well and are gradually shifting towards green production following the world trend.
The garment industry has gone through an extremely difficult period, with production at times almost “frozen” and orders plummeting. Post-Covid-19, inflation occurred globally, along with geopolitical conflicts… causing consumers to cut spending, severely affecting the garment industry, with a lack of orders.
However, since the beginning of this year, the market has recovered, and processing prices have also increased, helping the company's business grow well. In just 6 months, it has achieved 66% of the plan for the whole year. Especially in the export sector, the market has recovered strongly, with more and more orders.
Khatoco's signed production orders are full until the first quarter of 2025. Photo: Xuan Ngoc
Khatoco has signed orders with output to ensure production operations until the first quarter of 2025, with processing prices increasing by 5-10% compared to the beginning of this year.
“We are continuing to negotiate new contracts, while building a high-end fashion brand associated with Nha Trang Bay. The goal is to turn Nha Trang into a fashion city in the future,” he hopes.
Khatoco representative said that difficulties and challenges always exist, the important thing is to seize the opportunity to recover and return to the growth track. For example, currently, due to changing consumer trends, the company has shifted from low-cost segment products to promoting the production of high-quality, high-priced products.
“It sounds paradoxical. However, when people tighten their spending, they look for and buy good, durable products. Therefore, high-quality products priced at VND400,000-500,000/product sell more than products in the VND100,000-200,000 segment,” he shared.
Mr. Tran Minh Quang – Head of Khatoco's Board of Members. Photo: Xuan Ngoc
Khatoco's story is a vivid example of Khanh Hoa province's impressive economic recovery in recent times.
In the tourism sector, when talking about the number of visitors, Mr. Tran Minh Duc - Director of Long Phu Tourism Joint Stock Company - boasted: "It has increased sharply!". He commented that last year the number of tourists grew very well. In the first 6 months of this year, the number of visitors continued to increase by about 16% compared to the same period last year.
Talking to reporters at Hoa Lan Island in Ninh Phu Commune (Ninh Hoa, Khanh Hoa) - where the company is operating and exploiting tourism, Mr. Duc introduced this as an eco-tourism area - a type of natural green tourism that is quite picky about guests. However, on average, each day the island welcomes 800-1,000 visitors to experience the services and accommodation.
“Not only has it recovered, but the trend of tourists coming to Orchid Island has also increased sharply every year; including a large number of foreign visitors from Korea, Russia…”, he said.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, Director of the Department of Tourism, informed that the number of visitors staying in the first 6 months of this year in the locality reached nearly 5.2 million, an increase of 88% over the same period last year. Of which, domestic visitors are estimated at 2.8 million, an increase of 40%; international visitors reached nearly 2.4 million, 3.2 times higher than the same period in 2023. Revenue reached more than 26,072 billion VND, an increase of 97% over the same period last year.
With the advantage of sea tourism, Khanh Hoa expects to attract a large number of tourists to travel and relax in the summer, soon completing the target of welcoming 9 million guests in 2024.
Back on track after 2 years of decline
Previously, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, for the first time, Khanh Hoa's economy recorded a negative GRDP (gross regional product) growth of 10.5% and in 2021 continued to be negative 5.58%.
Thanks to flexible, proactive and drastic solutions, the province's GRDP has made an impressive recovery, returned to the spectacular growth track and is regularly ranked among the top in the country.
In 2023, according to the General Statistics Office, Khanh Hoa achieved a GRDP growth rate of 10.35%, ranking 4th in the country. In the first 6 months of this year, the province's GRDP is estimated to increase by 12.73% over the same period last year, ranking 2nd in the country with a series of impressive numbers.
Specifically, the industrial production index increased by 46%; total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue reached about 62,585 billion VND, up 15.2%; tourism revenue nearly doubled over the same period last year, international visitors staying in Khanh Hoa increased 3.3 times; the province's 6-month export turnover is expected to reach more than 1 billion USD, up 17%...
After Covid-19, Khanh Hoa realized the lesson of needing to diversify growth targets instead of relying too much on tourism. Photo: Xuan Ngoc
Mr. Chau Ngo Anh Nhan - Director of the Department of Planning and Investment shared: After Covid-19, everything in Khanh Hoa, especially in Nha Trang, has changed. Domestic tourists are fewer than before the pandemic, but the income of the service industry is high. There are many Korean tourists, the consumption level is good and very civilized.
“The inauguration of the final section of the Cam Lam – Vinh Hao expressway connecting the expressway from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang has shortened travel time to only 4.5 hours, so more tourists are coming here,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Incheon (South Korea) - Cam Ranh (Khanh Hoa) route has more than 20 flights per day, attracting not only Korean but also American tourists because Incheon is a major international transit point.
However, in the process of changing thinking and doing, for a long time Khanh Hoa province has not paid due attention to industrial development.
Mr. Nhan pointed out that, due to the advantages of beautiful beaches and mild climate, Khanh Hoa focuses on developing tourism. Accordingly, tourism has boomed, with 5-star hotels leading the country in the number of rooms. That is good but also not good.
Because, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the local economy became unstable due to imbalance. Tourism was affected by external fluctuations while the province had no other industry capable of compensating for the decline in visitors.
Looking back at this lesson, Khanh Hoa’s leadership realized that the economy must be rebalanced. Tourism will still be maintained, but there needs to be more unique products. Specifically, attracting strongly in the fields of culture, health care and intensive treatment so that tourists can come here to both travel and use resort services, beauty services, etc. When there are many good services, the quality of tourism will improve and be sustainable.
With the province's orientation, Mr. Chau Ngo Anh Nhan believes that in the next 2 years, Khanh Hoa will strongly develop industry. Photo: Xuan Ngoc
Regarding culture, the province also invested in a sports center on Vo Nguyen Giap Avenue that is large enough to attract major international tournaments; invested in museums and social and cultural foundations to create more entertainment for visitors. Because currently, tourists coming to Khanh Hoa only "sleep and swim".
Regarding industry, Mr. Nhan said that according to the provincial planning, Van Phong has about 8-10 large industrial parks, mainly concentrated in Nam Van Phong - Ninh Hoa; Cam Ranh has 2 industrial parks. The growth momentum from industry will create more foundation for Khanh Hoa to develop its economy, instead of just focusing on tourism.
Facing the Net Zero trend, Khanh Hoa also determined right from the investment attraction process that it will aim towards green industrial zones.
“We also determined to accompany businesses, promote trade with businesses, and sign trade agreements. During the recent investment promotion trip to the US, Japan, and South Korea, industrial park investors also went along to introduce their advantages,” the leader of the Department of Planning and Investment shared, hoping that in the next 2 years, Khanh Hoa will develop strongly in industry, creating a more balanced position in economic development.
Looking back at the business's operations associated with "greening", a representative of Khatoco said: The business is also flexible in production, promoting the search and development of new markets to balance and reduce dependence on traditional markets. In particular, in the global trend of gradually shifting to green and sustainable, the company greens the production process through increasing investment in technology, modern machinery and equipment; prioritizing the use of green energy, operating a centralized wastewater treatment system, etc.
Input materials are also greened. In addition to products of natural origin such as bamboo fiber, cotton fiber, wood pulp fiber, etc., the company has recently pioneered the launch of product lines made from lotus fiber, mint fiber, and coffee fiber.
Currently, the EU and the US have carbon labeling requirements. Therefore, businesses exporting to these markets must accept the new “rules of the game”. Khatoco has completed green energy credits and is in the process of implementing carbon credits.
“Once we get that certificate, our products will be able to enter these markets and compete with other countries,” said Mr. Quang.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cach-khanh-hoa-tro-lai-duong-dua-lot-nhom-tang-truong-dan-dau-ca-nuoc-2299696.html
Comment (0)