New tourism site to be built in Daklak

HCMC will sign a cooperation deal with Danang City, Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai provinces to develop tourism products, attract investments and engage these provinces in this year’s travel stimulus program.

The four-star Saigon-Ban Me Hotel in Buon Ma Thuot is inaugurated this Tuesday. (Photo: Courtesy of Saigontourist)

According to Nguyen Viet Anh, head of the Travel Division under the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the deal will be signed late next month in Quang Ngai Province in a survey trip of HCMC-based enterprises.

Except for Quang Ngai Province, the other localities have received a large number of tourists taken there by travel firms in HCMC.

“HCMC’s advantage is that it is a major transit hub for tourists and has many tour operators while other provinces have tourist attractions. Therefore, our cooperation aims to help enterprises create more products to attract tourists,” Anh said.

The tourism promotion is one of the main content of the cooperation. The provinces and cities will join travel events and promotion activities of each other, and HCMC will offer assistance to the provinces in running tourism road shows and organize familiarization trips for travel and press groups to the central region.

Besides, the provincial tourism associations will discuss and offer discounts to domestic tourists. “We hope to have a common voice to offer the best price to tourists,” Anh said.

* Asian Trails Co. Ltd. will develop an 11-hectare eco-tourism site near Lak Lake in Daklak Province to serve its European customers.

The tourism site will be opened in late this year. Visitors will sleep in tents to get close to nature, said Bui Viet Thuy Tien, managing director of Asian Trails.

She said the government of Daklak had approved in principle the development of this tourism site. The project worth around VND60 billion will get going in May and its first phase will be completed in late 2013.

During the first phase, Asian Trails will purchase tents for use in the tourism site, build restaurants and develop eco-tours of 3-5 days in which tourists will walk to ethnic villages and meet local people. Tourists will rest in tents to enjoy nature, but restaurants and other services will be of high standards.

“When coming to Daklak, tourists only ride elephants in Ban Don, row boats in Lak Lake and take a walk around before returning to Buon Ma Thuot as services are not sufficient. European visitors want to experience the indigenous culture and get close to nature, so we develop this tourism site to provide them with what they need,” she said.

In the area planned for the project, there is a forest, which will be the venue for organizing activities for tourists. In addition, there are some farming households in this area, so in the second phase of the project, Asian Trails will have them grow appropriate crops for tourists to join the farming.

“Eco-tourism with adventurous feature and little impact on the environment is very attractive to European tourists. Particularly, French and Dutch tourists will love to visit this area,” said Tien.

Source: SGT