Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Urban tourism has the potential tocontribute to the socio-economic development of a locality significantly but tocapitalise on this potential, experts have identified strong brand positioning,proper planning, and development as key areas to focus on.

In Vietnam, the urbanisation rate has reached nearly 40%, withover 860 urban areas.

Cities are the driving force of socio-economic development,facilitating economic restructuring towards industrialisation andmodernisation.

However, not all cities are tourist destinations, even though mosthave outstanding tourism potential.

Vietnam has numerous urban areas, especially coastal cities or keytourist destinations like Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, VungTau and Phu Quoc.

To improve tourism competitiveness and attractiveness, cities withstrengths in tourism development must create and position a brand.

According to Nguyen Thu Hanh, President of the Science Union forSustainable Tourism Development, brand positioning is one of the importantstrategies for cities with a focus on tourism.

Vung Tau city, for example, is rich in advantages such asconvenient traffic locations, seaports, a large oil and gas centre, afour-season climate, and beautiful beaches.

This urban area also converges different cultures throughreligious monuments, churches, communal houses, and pagodas.

Hanh described Vung Tau as a "smart, modern and dynamiccoastal city" with a system of industrial parks, high-tech zones, eventcentres, festivals, entertainment, and shopping operating on a digitalplatform.

Phu Quoc, located on the southwest coast, is considered a centreof eco-tourism and high-class beach resorts. With around 150km of coastline,the length of beaches suitable for tourism development is about 50km.

Sustainable planning and development

In recent years, experts have warned that coastal cities are atrisk of sea level rise and unusual natural disasters due to climate change.

In response, architects Nguyen Viet Huy and Do Dinh Trong, from Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, haveproposed measures to minimise the harmful effects of natural disasters anddevelop stable technical and economic-tourism infrastructure systems that canadapt to climate change.

To achieve this, it is necessary to think differently and have amore open and positive view of climate change. Building construction plansshould be based on integrated planning that promotes the socio-naturalpotential of the region while adapting to climate change.

Additionally, rational exploitation and strengthening solutionsare essential to manage and use freshwater resources and protect coastal lands,sea mouths, and estuaries.

Associate Professor Pham Trung Luong, Vice President of the VietnamAssociation for the Protection of Marine Resources and Environment and a memberof the National Planning Advisory Group, emphasised the importance of promotingsustainable marine tourism urban development.

To achieve this, he recommended reviewing and adjusting theplanning of existing sea tourism urban areas, especially for coastal spaces.

Separate services, shopping, and entertainment areas should beplanned with little impact on the lives of residents, ensuring that tourismactivities can take place 24/7, thereby promoting the development of the urbannight economy, in which tourism will be the core./.