NgheAn (VNA) – The central province of Nghe An is stepping up tourismpromotion to fulfill the target of welcoming about 6.5 million tourists in2019, including 145,000 foreigners.

Apart from Cua Lo beach and the Kim Lien relic site, Nghe An has attracteddomestic and foreign visitors to new destinations like Thanh Chuong green teaisland, buckwheat flower valley, Nghia Dan sunflower field and community-basedtourist sites.

Tourism promotion has been seen as the key of the local tourism sector.Therefore, Nghe An has targeted such promising markets as Laos, China, Japanand Thailand.

Many travel companies in the northeastern region of Thailand have come to seekcooperation opportunities with local businesses.

Tanavit Kongsuriya, president of the travel association of Thailand’s NongbuaLamphu province, said this is not his first trip to Nghe An to study the localtourism market.      

“Each trip offers us opportunities to explore new tourist sites in Nghe An andexchange experience with local tourism operators,” he added.

In 2018, Nghe An served 123,000 foreign holiday-makers, mostly from France, theNetherland, Japan and Thailand, up 11 percent against the previous year. However,experts said, the province has yet to fully tap its potential and advantages.

Thinakorn Thongphao, President of the Thai Travel Agents Association’sNortheastern Chapter, suggested Nghe An pay more attention to personneltraining, infrastructure development and tourism promotion.

He underlined the need to maintain flights between Nghe An and Thailand whichis home to a large number of Vietnamese.

David, a UK tourist, said Nghe An should improve the quality of services attourist destinations and accommodations, and special tourism products, whilelaunching more promotion programmes.

According to Nguyen Manh Cuong, Director of the provincial Department ofTourism, Nghe An has renewed tourism promotion methods, focusing on socialnetworks and the application of achievements of the Fourth IndustrialRevolution, along with combining local destinations with inter-provincial andinter-regional value chains.

It has identified ASEAN member countries, China, the Republic of Korea(RoK), Japan, Russia, France, Germany and the Czech Republic as major tourismmarkets. Domestically, it has targeted Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, LamDong and localities in the north central, northwestern and Central Highlandsregions.-VNA