Speaking at the conference on “Linking tourism development among provinces and cities in the Central Coast - Central Highlands” held on May 30 in Binh Dinh, Pham Trung Luong, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, said that 20 years ago the Central Vietnam - Central Highlands tourism development project also emphasized regional linkage, but it was challenging to identify any truly successful linkage model.

He found that successful linkage is impossible if there is localism, which could later become a hindrance during integration. Tourism is a p business field with inter-regional and inter-sectoral characteristics, making it difficult to develop without linkage.

“Regional linkage has proposed many projects and models, but the question is how they are implemented. There are no resources for implementation, except for contributions from localities. How much should localities contribute to project implementation? Moving forward, localities need to clearly assign responsibilities and benefits to participating parties, and with government support, success can be achieved,” he said.

Nguyen Quang Thang, Vice President of the Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Tourism Association, who participated in tourism development cooperation agreements in the past, pointed out that there was no evaluation, review, or lessons learned from the agreement implementation, leading to the tourism linkage in the past 20 years starting from scratch.

Lam Hai Giang, Vice Chair of the Binh Dinh People’s Committee, admitted that although the province signed linkage programs with six central coastal and Central Highlands provinces, as well as five provinces in the Central Key Economic Region, cooperation remains superficial, failing to create truly distinctive tourism products or establish stable and sustainable coordination.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Ha Trung, Deputy General Director of Vietravel Tourism JSC, noted the lack of mutual support among localities when developing tourism products. “Without strategic coordination, each province promotes and develops its own products, making it impossible for regional tourism to leverage the strength of linkage.”

Weak infrastructure, lack of inter-regional products

A significant bottleneck identified by experts is the poor transportation infrastructure, particularly aviation. Many localities don’t have convenient direct international or domestic flights, making it difficult for tourists to travel.

Tran Thi Kim Qui, Standing Deputy General Director of FLC Hotels & Resorts, said a group of nearly 10,000 international tourists wanted to sign a contract to bring visitors to Quy Nhon but ultimately could not do so because of the lack of convenient flights.

“Despite no direct flights, they were willing to fly to HCMC and then take connecting flights to Quy Nhon. However, long waiting times at the transit airport exhausted tourists, significantly affecting their initial impressions,” Qui said.

Choice Young Gill, CEO of DA Trip, a company from South Korea, one of Vietnam’s largest inbound tourism markets, said the lack of direct flights from South Korea to Binh Dinh hinders Korean tourist flows to the region, despite high demand for golf and resort tourism.

Moreover, tourism products are not diverse and lack promotional information about destinations.

Giang proposed that for effective tourism linkage in the Central Coast - Central Highlands region, effective linkage requires an inter-provincial coordination mechanism with clear assignments of responsibilities and benefits for participating parties. The entities involved in cooperation should not only include authorities but also require active participation from businesses and tourism associations.

Furthermore, to do well, efforts must focus on promotion and marketing; building a shared database for provinces in the region to provide better promotional resources.

Additionally, it is necessary to develop inter-regional products that leverage each locality’s unique strengths to enhance the value of tourism routes, particularly by sharing costs to offer reasonable prices.

“A system of values and a regional tourism brand must be established to create an environment of both cooperation and healthy competition,” Giang suggested.

Ha Van Sieu, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, stated that tourism linkage among Central Coast - Central Highlands provinces will expand development space, combining the advantages of coastal and highland areas to create distinctive and attractive experiences for tourists.

However, for successful linkage, breakthroughs are needed, especially the decisive role of local leaders in building and implementing regional linkage strategies.

Ngoc Ha