Attracting customers from the Northwestern provinces to Thanh Hoa with advantages and differences

One of the goals of Thanh Hoa’s “smokeless industry” is to turn the Northwestern provinces into an important tourist market, accounting for a large proportion of the tourist structure. Accordingly, many tourism promotion activities to this market have been and are being effectively implemented by Thanh Hoa province.

Famtrip delegation from the Northwestern provinces surveyed Lam Kinh Historical Relic Site (March 2024).

The Northwestern provinces are regions with great tourism potential, possessing unique beauty created by terrain, climate, landscape, ecosystem, combined with unique culture and heroic history. Up to now, provinces such as: Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Son La... have always been attractive tourist destinations for visitors, especially the international market.

With a convenient transportation system, tourists from Thanh Hoa are one of the traditional tourist markets, accounting for a large proportion of domestic tourists in the Northwestern provinces. However, in the opposite direction, connecting tourists from these provinces in particular, and connecting tours from the Northwestern provinces to Thanh Hoa in general, is still very limited. To specifically assess the connection opportunities, most recently (March 2024), Thanh Hoa province organized a famtrip delegation from the Northwestern provinces to survey and learn about tourism products and services. The famtrip program lasted 5 days and 4 nights (from March 11 to 15, 2024), attracting more than 50 businesses from the Northwestern provinces to survey some locations such as: Ho Dynasty Citadel Cultural Heritage (Vinh Loc); Cam Luong Fish Stream Tourist Area (Cam Thuy); Lam Kinh Historical Relic Area (Tho Xuan); Anh Phat Hotels & Resorts Tourist Area (Nghi Son town); Sam Son coastal tourist urban area (Sam Son city)... and experience the tour "Up and down the Ma River" (Thanh Hoa city).

Through a number of promotional programs, promotions and comments from tourism businesses, Thanh Hoa province has determined to promote attracting visitors from the Northwestern provinces with its own advantages and product differences. The most prominent is the beach resort tourism product - a product that does not overlap with any locality in the Northwestern region. Along with that are a number of new and attractive products and experiences such as: Formula 1 racing, paragliding, grass sliding, trekking, water parks... On that basis, many tourism service businesses in Thanh Hoa province have been implementing a variety of stimulus programs and discount incentives specifically for the Northwestern market.

Mr. Hoang Anh Tho, Hac Thanh The Street restaurant (Thanh Hoa city), said: “The tourist market from the Northwestern provinces is a potential market with high connectivity. Therefore, we are ready to participate in the province's tourism stimulus alliance chain, thereby researching products, services and appropriate approaches for the Northwestern provinces' tourist market. We are committed that the stimulus products for the Northwestern provinces' market will fully meet the criteria of price and quality”.

On the part of travel agencies in the province, along with renewing traditional tourism products and tours, many agencies such as Trust Viet, VNPlus Travel, Long Hai Travel, Lac Hong Travel, Green Travel Travel, etc. have proactively built tours to attract visitors from the Northwestern provinces to Thanh Hoa. Recently (from October 8 to 10), the Thanh Hoa City Tourism Association also organized a famtrip program, surveyed services and connected with tourism businesses in Lao Cai province. Along with reviewing and evaluating the quality of products and services at destinations, travel businesses in Thanh Hoa province introduced to partner businesses a number of new products, services and policies to seek opportunities to connect visitors from Lao Cai to Thanh Hoa. In addition, representatives of the Thanh Hoa City Tourism Association discussed specifically with the Lao Cai Provincial Tourism Association about the orientation of building joint products between the two localities in the last months of 2024 and 2025.

Permanent Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa City Tourism Association Pham Tien Hai said: “Innovating products and tour programs will certainly bring tourists new and attractive experiences. Therefore, in recent years, Thanh Hoa City Tourism Association has regularly organized famtrip programs, connecting with the Northwestern provinces. Up to now, 100% of members are travel businesses that have built a set of tourism products from Thanh Hoa to 6 Northwestern provinces (Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Lao Cai and Son La) and vice versa. In which, each linked itinerary has about 5 - 10 highlight tours for tourists to choose from. However, in 2024, due to the impact of floods, the number of visitors from this market to Thanh Hoa will decrease by about 15 - 20% compared to 2023”.

It is known that, in order to attract visitors to Thanh Hoa, travel agencies have researched and developed products for each type of visitor. In particular, for international visitors connecting tours from the Northwestern provinces to Thanh Hoa, they will focus on providing community ecotourism products; the exploitation time will last all months of the year and be promoted in the last months of the year. For domestic visitors from the Northwestern provinces, they will approach with sea tourism products, event tourism, combined with new entertainment and recreation tourism products; the peak time is determined to be in early spring and summer. Thereby, both meeting the needs and tastes of each market and customer segment, Thanh Hoa tourism will have more opportunities to welcome visitors all year round.

In order to effectively and deeply connect localities, the Provincial Tourism Association, the Travel Association and the Thanh Hoa City Tourism Association need to further promote their role as a bridge between travel agencies in the province and tourism service providers in the Northwestern provinces. Thereby, promoting connection activities, at the same time encouraging tourism businesses in the province to develop diverse tour programs and quality products, attractive enough to attract the tourist market in the Northwestern provinces.

Article and photos: Le Anh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/thu-hut-khach-tu-thi-truong-cac-tinh-tay-bac-den-voi-thanh-hoa-bang-loi-the-va-su-khac-biet-229819.htm