PV: 2023 is a year of many changes, but Cua Lo has made a breakthrough to achieve positive results in tourism. Can you tell us more about these milestones?
Mr. Doan Tien Dung: 2023 is a year with many difficulties and challenges, the domestic and international situation is complicated and unpredictable; the market for goods and real estate consumption is sluggish, many industries and activities are stagnant and difficult, accordingly the tourism sector is directly and heavily affected.
However, with the attention and direction of the province and the efforts of the entire political system, Cua Lo town has successfully achieved the goals and tasks of economic, cultural and social development, Party building, and building a strong political system.
Right from the beginning of the year, the town has focused on directing the early planning and implementation of tourism service plans. In particular, the town has many "new and creative" ways of doing things, contributing to bringing a new look, suitable for the reality with the inherent potential, to "retain" tourists. After clearing 209 kiosks on the east side of Binh Minh Street at the end of 2022, the town has started to renovate the park area on the east side of Binh Minh Street.
Mobilize resources to clean and beautify the beach surface, restore the beach's appearance to be airy, clean and beautiful to welcome guests, install LED lighting systems, decorative electricity, lighting on inner-city roads, check-in points, food courts, beach embankments, hotel and restaurant systems, Binh Minh Square area; build sea daisy hills and typical check-in points to attract guests.
In addition, Cua Lo also rearranges the urban area, expanding the tourism space to the West. Currently, the town has over 150 newly built, spacious, clean, beautiful, modern restaurants with good service style and quality, meeting the requirements of organizing large events.
At the same time, Cua Lo has proactively coordinated with provincial departments, branches, and event organizers to launch the tourism year early, regularly organize events, festivals, competitions, and tournaments throughout the tourism year, making the cultural life and spirit of the coastal tourism city truly innovative and vibrant.
With the strong efforts of Party committees at all levels, authorities, socio-political organizations from the town to the grassroots, the consensus of the people on tourism development policies in Cua Lo, the support of press agencies, businesses and favorable weather for sea tourism and resorts, Cua Lo has overcome difficulties in infrastructure and achieved many positive results in a year.
In 2023, the town welcomed over 3.6 million visitors, of which the number of overnight visitors was estimated at 1.256 million, revenue from tourism activities reached 3.562 billion VND, reaching 100.03% of the yearly plan, up 10.6% over the same period, creating jobs for thousands of workers, contributing to increasing income and improving people's lives.
PV: As you discussed, 2024 is the year when Cua Lo faces new opportunities, with many advantages, so how is Cua Lo welcoming those new opportunities, sir?
Mr. Doan Tien Dung: It can be affirmed that Cua Lo urban infrastructure has never been invested in as strongly as in the past 2 years, when a series of trillion-dong infrastructure projects have been continuously built and completed. Typically, the Cua Hoi bridge project has been completed and opened, connecting Cua Lo with Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh) and connecting to the coastal highway. Along with that, the coastal highway phase 1 section passing through Cua Lo has also been opened and put into use.
In addition, the important traffic project Vinh - Cua Lo Boulevard Phase 1 has been opened, and Phase 2 is currently being implemented. The project to expand Binh Minh Street to the East is also being focused on construction and is expected to be completed after 1 year. In particular, the North-South Expressway, Hanoi - Vinh, has been completed and put into use, shortening the travel time from Hanoi to Cua Lo to 3 hours and 30 minutes, creating convenience and motivation to attract tourists to the coastal tourist city.
Along with traffic infrastructure, tourism infrastructure in Cua Lo is also being invested in and built strongly, notably the Cua Hoi entertainment area project and cable car to Ngu Island with an adjusted scale of nearly 150 hectares invested by Vingroup Corporation, which is being urgently constructed day and night to complete and open on April 30, 2024.
An important highlight that will change the face of Cua Lo coastal urban area in the coming years is that the Town People's Committee has issued a Decision approving the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500 for the Eastern Forest Park Area of Binh Minh Street in Nghi Huong, Nghi Thu and Thu Thuy wards.
Regarding the planning structure and architectural space organization, there are 5 areas: A, B, C, D, E. In terms of nature and function, these are coastal parks, swimming areas, sea tourism services, modern and classy culinary and entertainment areas, invested in and built completely according to international standards, serving tourists.
Currently, the town is attracting potential investors to build the planning project of the Eastern Forest Park of Binh Minh Street, the beach in a modern and civilized direction, and is also continuing to attract investors for key projects in the area such as: The project of the Complex of Hotels - Commercial Services and Luxury Villas and large-scale projects as a driving force for the development of Cua Lo tourism.
PV: Those opportunities will certainly be the lever for the town to achieve the goal of welcoming 4.15 million visitors, 1.45 million guests staying, tourism service revenue reaching 4,200 billion VND, an increase of 18% compared to 2023, and in the near future, Cua Lo will be an attractive destination all year round?
Mr. Doan Tien Dung: That's right. 2024 is a pivotal year, a sprint year to realize the economic, social, defense and security development goals for the 2020 - 2025 period; the 30th anniversary of the town's establishment, Cua Lo tourism is facing new opportunities. Faced with that opportunity and luck, the Party Committee and the People of Cua Lo focus on the following tasks:
Focus on planning and improving the traffic infrastructure system, lighting and decoration. Strengthen propaganda and promotion of Cua Lo as a safe, friendly and attractive destination. Focus on developing a system of quality, unique, diverse and synchronous tourism products with high value, gradually extending the tourism operation period. Strengthen state management in all fields; strengthen environmental sanitation, rescue and search and rescue, ensuring safety for people and tourists. Continue to improve the quality of accommodation facilities, restaurants and labor resources serving tourism. Focus on reviewing targets and tasks and proposing solutions to continue effectively implementing Projects and Plans serving tourism development.
Aiming at 4-season tourism, the town will develop specific products to promote and attract tourists. Accordingly, the summer will focus mainly on swimming and relaxing. In the spring, invest in exploiting spiritual and cultural tourism. In the fall and winter, the town will implement a plan to stimulate low-season tourism with many attractive incentives to attract tourists, especially MICE tourism.
With the theme "Cua Lo - Aspiration to shine", in the tourism year 2024, Cua Lo will continue to take advantage of its existing advantages and potentials, mobilize external resources, attract investment to promote comprehensive tourism development in terms of scope, scale and service quality, making increasingly important contributions to the socio-economic development of the town. We firmly believe that in the near future, Cua Lo will develop rapidly and sustainably, worthy of the title of the first coastal tourism city in the country./.
PV: Thank you for this interview!
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