In Celebration of 29 Years of Binh Thuan Tourism (October 24, 1995 - 2024): New Era brings new opportunities to the locality

Entering a new phase

Notably, the clear transformation began last year when the province had the honor of hosting the National Tourism Year 2023, themed “Binh Thuan - Green Convergence.” This event not only effectively promoted the destination’s image and garnered significant attention but also served as a catalyst for attracting investment projects aimed at enhancing the quality, prestige, and professionalism of Binh Thuan tourism in this new phase. Meanwhile, Phu Quy Island, dubbed the “pearl island” of Binh Thuan, has recently emerged as an attractive tourist destination, drawing numerous visitors during the calm weather months.

Binh Thuan tourism is making efforts to refresh its destination image to attract more tourists (Illustrative photo).

Additionally, the opening of major highways, such as the Dau Giay - Phan Thiet and Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao routes, has significantly reduced travel times, creating a strong appeal for the southern tourist market. Thanks to these favorable factors, the local tourism sector concluded 2023 with impressive results: welcoming approximately 8.35 million visitors, a nearly 46% increase from the previous year (with international arrivals reaching 274,300, a 3.13-fold increase), and generating over 22.3 trillion VND in tourism revenue, marking a 63% rise year-on-year.

Entering a New Phase

In the first quarter of this year, Binh Thuan also held a ceremony to announce the provincial planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision extending to 2050. To achieve its goals, the locality is focusing on attracting investments, particularly in developing the province’s three economic pillars: Industry - Tourism, Services - and Modern Technology-Driven Agriculture. Specifically, the tourism sector will prioritize resource investment to become a spearhead economic industry while maintaining Binh Thuan’s image as a “Safe - Friendly - Quality” destination. The aim is to establish Binh Thuan as a national and international center for marine tourism and sports, with the Mui Ne National Tourism Area positioned as one of the leading destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Leveraging favorable factors, Binh Thuan remains proactive in tourism promotion, utilizing diverse communication and marketing strategies, and participating in numerous domestic and international events. Locally, the province continues to host programs to welcome and wish a happy new year to the first visitors of the lunar new year, as well as extend festive greetings to guests at tourism accommodations. For the upcoming Binh Thuan Tourism Day (October 24, 2024), the sector has planned a Golden Tourism Week featuring various attractive activities at Novaworld Phan Thiet in Tien Thanh commune, Phan Thiet City.

Aiming for Impressive Figures

Binh Thuan’s transformation also reflects the contributions of the business community, which has invested in upgrading accommodation facilities, creating new products, improving service quality, and participating in tourism stimulus packages to ensure thoughtful guest reception and service. As a result, the province welcomed over 7.3 million visitors in the first three quarters of this year, marking an 11.42% increase compared to the same period last year, with international arrivals reaching approximately 293,000 (up 53% year-on-year). During the same time frame, tourism revenue in Binh Thuan is estimated at 18.63 trillion VND, representing an 8.47% increase from the previous year.

In the coming months, the local tourism sector will accelerate efforts to meet its key targets for the entire year of 2024: welcoming 9.55 million visitors (an increase of 14.36% compared to 2023), including 320,000 international tourists (up 16.67%), and achieving total revenue of 25.5 trillion VND (up 14.35%). Achieving these goals would mark a significant milestone in the sector’s transformation and exceed the targets set by Resolution 06 of the Provincial Party Committee regarding tourism development through 2025, which aims for 8.9 million visitors by that year. This serves as motivation for the locality and the entire sector to continue striving for greater achievements in the new year, aiming for even more impressive figures to celebrate Binh Thuan tourism’s 30th anniversary in its journey of formation and development (1995 - 2025).

Next year, the Binh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will continue implementing the project to “Restructure the tourism sector to meet the requirements of developing it into a spearhead economic industry.” This includes facilitating and encouraging businesses to enhance effective cooperation and collaboration in developing complementary product and service chains, as well as refreshing and adding value to the province’s tourism destination and offerings. Additionally, there will be a focus on executing the project to “Diversify tourism types and products in Binh Thuan by 2025, with a vision to 2030,” which was issued by the provincial People’s Committee earlier this year. The goal is to diversify basic tourism types and products by 2025 and create specialized tourism offerings, including cultural-historical tourism, community tourism, agricultural tourism, and ecological tourism related to the sea, forests, and sand dunes (such as marine sports and sand sports). Furthermore, there is a plan to gradually expand the market, increasing tourist arrivals to 11.4 million by 2025 and contributing approximately 10% to the province’s GRDP.