Strategy for tourism development in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province period of 2010 - 2020

STRATEGY FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN BA RIA – VUNG TAU PROVINCE PERIOD OF 2010 - 2020 CAPSTONE PROJECT REPORT  MAI THANH QUANG  PHAN BÍCH NGA... Among regions in Vietnam, Ba Ria –

STRATEGY FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN

BA RIA – VUNG TAU PROVINCE

PERIOD OF 2010 - 2020 CAPSTONE PROJECT REPORT

 MAI THANH QUANG

 PHAN BÍCH NGA

CONTENTS

Contents i

Acknowledgments iv

Abbreviations v

List of data sheets v

List of charts v

General introduction 1

Chapter 1 : THEORETICAL BASIS 2

1.1/ Theories of strategy management 2

1.1.1/ Definition of strategy management 2

1.1.2/ Basis of strategy management 3

1.1.3/ Factors for strategy management and decision making 3

1.1.4/ Introduction of matrixes for building strategy 4

1.2/ Definitions of tourism 5

1.2.1/ Definitions of tourism 5

1.2.2/ Tourism classification 6

1.2.3/ Tourism products 6

1.2.3.1/ Definition 6

1.2.3.2/ Characteristics of tourism product 6

1.2.4/ Tourism resources 7

1.2.4.1/ Definition 7

1.2.4.2/ Characteristics of tourism resource 7

1.2.5/ Sustainable tourism 8

1.3/ The studied and applied theories about tourism development strategy 8

1.3.1/ Role of tourism in the economic – social development 8

1.3.2/ The necessity of development strategy management of BR-VT’s tourism in the period of 2010 – 2020 8

Chapter2:SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF BARIA-VUNGTAU’S TOURISM10

2.1/ Overview about BR-VT’s tourism 10

2.1.1/ Features of Ba Ria – Vung Tau 10

2.1.1.1/ Natural features 10

2.1.1.2/ Economic features 11

2.1.2/ Situation of tourism resource planning and exploitation 15

2.1.2.1/ Natural resources 15

2.1.2.2/ Humanitarian resources 16

2.1.2.3/ Unexploited tourism resources 16

2.1.3/ Situation of tourism infrastructure 17

2.1.3.1/ Traffics 17

2.1.3.2/ Electricity, water, telecommunication, environmental sanitation 18

2.2/ Situation and output of BR-VT’s tourism in the previous years 19

2.2.1/ Ba Ria – Vung Tau’s tourism market 19

2.2.1.1/ International visitor market 19

2.2.1.2/ Domestic tourist market 20

2.2.2./ Revenue of tourism sector 21

2.2.3/ Total products of tourism 22

2.2.4/ Material facility of tourism 22

2.2.4.1/ Transporting means 22

2.2.4.2/ Accommodation facility 23

2.2.4.3/ Restaurant service 23

2.2.4.4/ Entertainment and visiting facilities 23

2.2.4.5/ Goods and souvenir 24

2.2.5/ Tourism operation network 24

2.2.6/ Travelling operation 24

2.3/ The scientific basis for researching, solutions to develop BR-VT’s tourism in 2010-2020 25

2.3.1/ Research background 25

2.3.2/ Research objective, scope, and method 26

2.3.3/ Theoretical basis serving research for tourism 27

2.3.3.1/ Strategy management 27

2.3.3.2/ Comprehensive quality management 29

2.4/ / Limitations, shortcoming in tourism development strategy of BR-VT in recent years (2010 backwards) 29

2.5/ Causes for limitation, shortcoming in tourism development strategy of Ba Ria – Vung Tau in the past 29

2.5.1/ Objective causes 29

2.5.2/ Subjective causes 29

Chapter 3 : SOLUTIONS,RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 30

3.1/ Evaluating Ba Ria-VungTau’s tourism in the previous years 30

3.2/ Resolution for BR-VT tourism from 2010-2020 31

3.2.1/ Forecastings 31

3.2.1.1/ An affection of global economic crisis: (forecast of global GDP) 31

3.2.1.2/ Resolution for tourism developing BR-VT in the future 32

3.2.2/ Objectives of BR-VT’s tourism from 2010-2020 33

3.2.3/ Main objectives 34

3.2.4/ Resolution of 2020 35

3.2.4.1/ Using matrixes to analyse and build strategies for BR-VT’s tourism 35

3.2.4.2/ Typical suggestions 43

3.3/ Recommendations 47

3.3.1/ Macro management 47

3.3.2/ Aims of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province 48

3.4/ Plans of MICE for Ba Ria-Vung Tau tourism 50

3.5/ Conclusion 53

With deep respect, we would like to thank all enthusiastic professors of the course who attended teaching us in the pass 18 months

We are grateful to our Supervisor Professor who has been very helpful in the shaping of materials from the beginning To all members of class GaMBA01.C03, who have struggled with earlier objectives , given us much valuable feedback , which led group 5 to complete the report

We hope Griggs University and ETC centre of Hanoi National University to have got a long-lasting solidarity in teaching co-operation, and welcome you as an arrival of success for businessmen, especially for training Viet Nam’s human resource and more

Nguyen Huu Duc Nguyen Van Khuong- Phan Bich Nga

MaiThanh Quang - Du Minh Thy

LIST OF DATA SHEETS

1/ Data sheet of 2.1: Economic structure of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province 2/ Data sheet of 2.2: The average income of Ba Ria – Vung Tau people

3/ Data sheet of 2.3: Attraction to domestic investment in Ba Ria – Vung Tau 4/ Data sheet of 2.4: Situation of annual tourist attraction in Ba Ria – Vung Tau 5/ Data sheet of 2.5: Revenue of service – tourism of Ba Ria – Vung Tau

6/ Data sheet of 3.1: Forcasting of global GDP

7/ Data sheet of 3.2: Norm of 2015 – 2020

LIST OF CHARTS

1/ Chart 2.1:Economic structure of Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province

2/ Chart 2.2: The average income of Ba Ria – Vung Tau people

3/ Chart 2.3: Attraction to domestic investment in Ba Ria – Vung Tau

4/ Chart 2.4: Situation of annual tourist attraction in Ba Ria – Vung Tau

5/ Chart 2.5: Revenue of service – tourism of Ba Ria – Vung Tau

6/ Chart 3.1: Annual growth rate

7/ Chart 3.3 : Efe Matrix Analysis

8/ Chart 3.4 : Ife Matrix Analysis

7/ Chart 3.5 : CPM Analysis

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Tourism – a smokeless industry can bring large revenues, and high profit in

which many regions of countries in the world desire to invest However, not all of

them can manage to do a sustainable tourism betterly , since it requires in

develpoment many different factors of geographical location, nature, policy,

history, and human resource as well Among these, “Geographical location” ,

which is up to now considered as the top decisive in tourism competition , is

belonged to Ba Ria – Vung Tau of Vietnam

Vietnam is a country of natural advantages for tourism development

stretching beach from the north to the south Among regions in Vietnam, Ba Ria –

Vung Tau (BR-VT) is one of the most wonderful location for tourism with more

advantages than any other regions; however, the exploitation and development of

tourism are spontaneous without right planning, orientation compared to its own

potential in recent This can be blamed for the state tourism management agency as

Ministry of Tourism and Culture,Sports of BR-VT

Basing on the theoretical backgrounds about strategy management perceived

during the course at Griggs University, we carry out a research on the topic:

“Tourism Development Strategy of Ba Ria –Vung Tau in the period 2010-2020.”

This assignment aims at helping Ministry of Tourism and Culture,Sports of

BR-VT to implement the state management of local tourism and to propose practical

solutions summed up from the theory and practice to strengthen the rapid,

right-scale and sustainable development of tourism in the province period 2010-2020

-Our suggested approach: The group is comprised of 5 members on the basis

of agreeing on the opinion, objectives of the topic, assigned responsibility to

members to complete and assignment and to report it in front of the University

Council

- The assignment includes three chapters as follows:

+ Chapter 1: Theoretical basis

+ Chapter 2: Situation analysis of tourism in BR-VT

+ Chapter 3: Solutions ,recommendations and conclusion

Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BASIS

1.1/ Theories about strategy management and basic studied arguments:

1.1.1/ Definition of strategy management:

Currently, there are various statements about the definition of strategy

management; however, the content is to achieve the long-term objective for a

subject (organization) According to Fredr David, strategy management is defined

as follows: “Strategy management can be defined as an art and science to establish,

implement and evaluate the decisions related to various functions enabling an

organization to achieve a proposed objective.” 1

The process of strategy management is comprised of three stages:

+ Stage 1: Establishment of strategy includes the development of tasks,

identification of external opportunities and risks faced by the organization, pointing

out of internal strength and weakness, development of long-term objectives,

proposal of alternative strategies, and selection of specific strategies for pursuing

+ Stage 2: Implementation of strategy refers to the fact that the organization

must set annual objectives, stimulate the policies, encourage the personnel, and

distribute the resources to enable the implementation of the strategy

Implementation of strategy includes the development of a culture supporting the

strategy to establish an effective organizational structure, to re-orient the activities,

to prepare the budget, to develop and employ information system, and to provide

motive for personnel to achieve efficient performance

+ Stage 3: Evaluation of Strategy is to monitor and comment the results of

the strategy establishment and implementation This also includes the measurement

and determination of achievements obtained by individuals and organization, and

the proposal of adjustment, if necessary

Strategy management is a process of human to achieve success Humans here

mean the managers of all levels and the people implementing the strategies

1

The Definition of Strategy Management Book by Fredr David is translated by Truong Cong Minh, Tran

Tuan Thac, Tran Thi Tuong Nhu; and issued by the Statistics Publisher

1.1.2/ Theoretical basics related to strategy management:

In strategy management, a circumstance may have various solutions, options,

and actions The task of manager is to select the best strategy from the set of

potential strategies to make implementing decision

A good decision will lead to success, making the organization more and

more develop On the contrary, a wrong decision will lead to failure

According the above understanding, an organization has different types of

Strategy Management in different periods: general strategy management of the

whole organization (sector, business, etc); specific strategy management of

functional divisions (production, marketing, human resource, finance, etc.)

Specific strategies are specific solutions, actions of divisions those are

selected basing on the requirements of the general strategies

1.1.3/ The factors affecting the strategy selection and decision making:

To select a good and right strategy, the manager can not only base on the

experience, since he may be too subjective leading to mistake, especially when the

management is carried out on the large scale and in complicated manner

Therefore, it is necessary to develop scientific basis for the strategy selection

First of all, the factors with direct influence on the strategy selection and decision

making must be considered

There are two main factors as follows:

- Quality factors

- Quantity factors

Quality factors always play the top important roles They are expressed

through the objectives, tasks of the organization These objectives may vary by

time

The objectives of an organization may be reflected through the level of

striving by period, the output, the productivity, the modernism, and the stand in the

market

Once the objectives are defined or stabilized, quantity factors become

significant to select the strategy and decide the implementation These are the

criteria to compare the strategic methods and to select the optimum strategy as the

strategies with the most effective indicators

In general, the objectives must be firstly identified as for the selection of

appropriate strategy to achieve such objectives The things to be implemented to

achieve the objectives are the contents of the strategy, which is expressed in the

form of the decision issued by the competent level

1.1.4/ Introduction of matrixes for building strategy :

 SWOT MATRIX : SWOT matrix combines external and internal factors to

form SO, ST, WO, WT strategic methods SWOT analysis is one of the effective skills

that helps us to improve the deciding ability; technical analysis helps us to identify

strengths , weaknesses to find out opportunities and threats

SWOT matrix includes 4 main factors:

- Strength (S = Strengths) is advantages of the sector

- Weakness (W = Weaknesses) is the weak points of the sector

- Opportunity (O = Opportunities) is the possibilities of the sector

- Threat: (T = Threats) is the risks faced by the sector

The establishment of SWOT matrix includes 8 basic steps :

- Step 1: List of main opportunities

- Step 2: List of main external threats

- Step 3: List of main strengths

- Step 4: List of main internal weaknesses

- Step 5: a combination of internal strength and external opportunity and

appropriate SO methods This strategy makes use of its strength to take

advantage of opportunity

- Step 6: a combination of internal weakness and external opportunity and

proposal of proper WO strategic method This strategy overcomes weakness by

making use of opportunity

- Step 7: a combination of internal strength and external threat and proposal of

proper ST

- Step 8: a combination of internal weakness and external threats and proposal of

WT strategy This strategy aims at mitigating the impact of weakness and

preventing the external threats

 MATRIX OF EFE AND MATRIX OF IFE are for evaluating the

external and internal environment factors of a situation event

There are 5 steps to do with EFE and IFE :

- Step 1: List the determined factors of tourism

- Step2: Identify important factors from the 0,0 (unimportant) to 1,0 (very

important) Total of important level of theses factors must be1,0

- Step 3: Confirm weigh index from 1 to 4 of each factor in the relationship with

strategy reaction of tourism, including the 4th is best response, 3rd is over average,

2nd is average and 1 is under average

- Step 4: Score each extra factor by multiplying for the important level of the factor

with its weigh index

- Step 5: Add the total with whole list of factors If the total at 2,5 is average, the

best result is 4 and 1 is under average

 MATRIX OF COMPETITION (CPM) is to compare image and

competition with other trade brands in the same field

To establish a matrix of competition through some typical basic norms for

classification The whole list of norm shows a result to compare with other trade

brands and identifies an exact area of trading of an organisation Besides, managers

could rearrange or adjust for better trading and sustainable trading situation

1.2/ Definitions of tourism:

1.2.1/ Definition of tourism:

Article 4 of Vietnam’s tourism law says: “Tourism is the activities related to

the human trips out of the regular residential location to meet the demand for

visiting, studying, entertainment, relaxation for a specific period of time Tourism

activity is the activity of tourists, tourism organizations, community and individuals,

organizations releated to tourism” 2

Therefore, tourism is an activity of various characteristics including various

participants to make a rich population Tourism activity carries the characteristics of

the economics and the culture – society Actually, tourism activities bring not only

economic benefits but also political, cultural, and social benefits, etc

1.2.2/ Tourism classification:

- Classification by area range: domestic and international travel

- Classification by types of tourism: business travel; trade travel; excursion

travel; visiting travel; cultural travel; conference travel; and religious travel

The classification of tourism is very important, helping us to exploit the tourism

advantage and potential, to identify the strength of tourism business agency in order to

determine customer structure, objective of tourism sites and create condition for the

best development of tourism sector.To plan strategy and solve problems of factors by

using matrix of IFE, EFE, SWOT, SPACE , etc that we present above

1.2.3/ Tourism products:

1.2.3.1/ Definition:

Definition about tourism products must be clearly specified, especially in the

tourism sectors Tourism product is an overall of factors, visible or invisible, but

helping to satisfy some specific demands of customers

According to Kotler and Turner , a broad definition about tourism product as

follows: “A tourism product is all the things those may be supplied to the

possession, use or consumption of a market It includes objects, achievements,

characters, places, organizations and ideas” 3

1.2.3.2/ Characteristics of tourism product:

Above analysis enables us to consider tourism product as a special product

with following characteristics:

2 Article 4, Vietnam’s Tourism Law

3International encyclopedias on tourism

- Collectiveness of tourism product

- Unreserability

- Immovability

- Concurrency of production and consumption

- Easy fluctuation

Therefore, tourism product includes tourism services, commodities and

facilities supplied to tourists, which is established by combining natural factors,

technical facilities, and tourism labor in an area, a region Tourism product is

comprised of tangible factors (commodities) and intangible factors (services) to

supply tourists or commodities, services and facilities serving tourists

Tourism product = tourism resources + services + tourism commodities

1.2.4/ Tourism resources:

1.2.4.1/ Definition:

Tourism resource is the basis for tourism resource The research on tourism

resources is to study the factors those can stimulate tourism motives of tourists used

by the tourism sector to make economic profit and social benefit We can

understand any natural, humanitarian, social factors, etc to attract visitors and

tourists can be commonly called as tourism resource Tourism resource includes the

exploited resources and potential resources

1.2.4.2/ Characteristics of tourism resource:

Through observation and analysis, the characteristics of tourism resource can

be overviewed as follows:

- Diversity: Tourism resource is a broad concept; therefore, the

environmental factors attractive to visitors can all constitute tourism resource In

term of expression, tourism resource is diverse, which may be natural resource or

social, humanitarian resource, the past history or the current resource, the tangible

or intangible resource

- Natural feature: Natural tourism resource is formed by the nature; while

historical culture is handed down by the history Moreover, national tradition,

custom are gradually constituted; modern architecture created by human beings to

get adapted to the development of the society and the economy

1.2.5/ Sustainable tourism:

Sustainability is defined by the World’s Environmental Development

Committee as “the development meeting the current demand without reducing the

ability to meet the demands of future generations " 4

The principles needed to be noticed during sustainable tourism development:

- Sustainable use of human resource

- Reduction in excessive consumption and waste

- Maintenance of diversity

- Integration of tourism in the planning process

1.3/ The applied theories about tourism development strategy:

1.3.1/ Role of tourism in the economic – social development:

The overall objective of the economic, social development of Vietnam in the

following year is “To push up the economic growth rate, to achieve the significant

shift in enhancing the effectiveness and sustainability of the development; to drive

our country out of low development and improve the material, cultural and

intellectual life of the people To strengthen industrialization, modernization and

development of intellectual economy”

Regarding service – tourism: “To develop the service sector rapidly in order

to meet the requirements and suit the huge potential of our country and the general

development trend of the world to create the outstanding development of the

service, making the regional service growth rate higher than GDP growth rate (7.7

– 8.2%/year)” 5

1.3.2/ The necessity of development strategy management of BR-VT’s

tourism in the period of 2010 – 2020:

In reality, there are various points of view about tourism development

planning Some people say that long-term planning is not necessary but to find out

positive solution and adjustment for any negative circumstances In this case,

4 Doan Dinh Hoang – Ho Chi Minh Development Management Institute www.cmardz.edu.vn

5 Extract from the document of the Vietnam’s tenth Party General Meeting in April 2006

tourism destinations may gain short-term profits rather than long-term effectiveness,

or they even shall have to bear serious consequences resulting from careless vision

about the long-term and sustainable steps in the future

There is the opinion that planning task is only related to the arrangement of

territory space through the model of land use, construction architecture, space

architecture, etc, and that planning only mentions the resource and technical factors

without concern about economic, social, environmental, legal factors, etc

In the recent year, province locals in regions have paid more concern especially

about tourism planning with a necessity to establish huge orientation for

sustainable tourism development Planning task becomes one of important

functions of the state management of all levels

It is necessary to implement the planned tourism development, since any

tourism destination has gone through 4 basic stages of a process including:

formation; development; saturation; and regression This shows that any tourism

destinations have living cycle and up or down development trend Therefore, to

achieve long-term benefits, tourism destinations must find the way to lengthen their

living cycle and competitive advantage This requires the forecast of changes and

the development of active actions to respond to such changes

The practice has demonstrated that tourism development planning can bring

various benefits Thanks to planning, we can establish the sustainable objectives and

find out the policies to develop positive solutions

The approach to tourism development planning in the view of sustainable

development is very significant, since most tourism development depends on the

natural, environmental value, cultural value of the province If the natural and

humanitarian resources are destroyed our degraded, the tourism destinations will not

attract tourist

Today, as tourism becomes a key sector in the national economy and brings

huge benefits, the study about tourism planning and sustainable tourism development

are essential to BR-VT in particular and the country in general

Chapter 2 SITUATION ANALYSIS OF BR-VT’S TOURISM

2.1/ Overview about BR-VT’s tourism:

2.1.1/ Features of Ba Ria – Vung Tau:

2.1.1.1/ Natural feature: 6

- Geographical location:

BR-VT - a province in the south east,

locates in the southern stressed economic zone

at the mainland coordinates from 107o00’ -

107o35’ (south longitude) and 10o20’-10o50’

(north latitude) and Con Son island district

located at 106o35’ (east longitude) and 8o42’

(north latitude), 120 miles from Vung Tau to

the southeast

BR-VT is adjacent to Dong Nai in the north, Can Gio district of Ho Chi

Minh city in the west, Binh Thuan province in the east, The East Sea in the south It

has the area of 1975.14 km2 with the mainland border line of 162 km, beach length

of 305.4 km and more than 100.000 km2 of mainland The population of the

province is 997,455 with the density of 488 people/km2 in 2009 Con Dao

exclusively has the beach length of 66 km

BR-VT has 0.6% in area and 0.95% in population of the country with 8

administrative units including 1 city, 1 town and 6 island districts as follows:

1 Vung Tau city

2 Ba Ria town

3 Long Dien district

4 Dat Do district

5 Xuyen Moc district

6 Chau Duc district

7 Tan Thanh district

8 Con Dao district

BR-VT also locates in the region of much positive influence from the tourism

zone in the middle south – southeast and Ho Chi Minh as the region with the

highest tourism growth rate in the country and the key point of the national tourism

development strategy

- Climate, terrain, soil conditions:

Climate:

BR-VT locates in the equatorial, tropical, monsoon climate region under the

influence of ocean; therefore, it has two definite seasons including rain season (from May

to November) and the dry season (from December to April)

- The average temperature is 27.9oC (the highest is 29.1oC, and lowest 25.2oC )

- The average humidity 83% - 85%

- The average rainfall is 1600 mm and at largest in June and July

Terrain, Geomorphology:

Terrain and geomorphology of BR-VT are relatively diverse, enabling to organize

various and attractive types of tourism attracting local and international visitors

From 2006 to 2009, the economic structure of the province gains positive

shift The service ratio is increased from 18.14% in 2006 to 23.90% in 2009 and

tends to grow in the following years, in which the tourism ratio in the service sector

will go up considerably The industrial value increases rapidly in term of the

absolute quantity but decrease gradually in term of industrial ratio in the economic

structure from 78.17% in 2006 to 72.47% in 2009, in which the ratio of gas – power

– nitrogenous fertilizer occupies 30 – 35% of the industrial value

DATA SHEET OF APPENDIX 2.1:

ECONOMIC STRUCTURE OF BA RIA – VUNG TAU 7

BR-VT is a province with rapid economic development rate with the

advantage of petroleum and gas, import – export and local economic development

such as industry, construction, tourism, seafood… The gross GDP of the province

from 2006 - 2009 is 735,423 billion VND (by current value), while the GDP by the

78.17

18.14 3.69

76.01

20.34 3.65

73.78

22.52 3.7

72.47

23.9 3.63

72.52

24.02 3.46

fixed price is 191,228 billion VND in 1994 The annual growth rate except for

crude oil and gas is 20% in 2006-2009, and that in 2008 increases 38.45% by 2007

DATA SHEET OF APPENDIX 2.2 THE AVERAGE INCOME OF BA RIA – VUNG TAU PEOPLE 8

BR-VT has various opportunities for development resulting from advantages in

investment Within 4 years from 2006 to 2009, the total investment capital in the province

reaches 65,017 billion VND with the annual growth rate of 25% - 45%, in which the

non-state investment capital increases rapidly from 7.210 billion USD in 2006 to

10926

2005: 7103 2006: 9981 2007: 15446 2008: 11860 2009: 9869 Expected in 2010: 10926

DATA SHEET OF APPENDIX 2.3 ATTRACTION OF DOMESTIC INVESTMENT TO THE PROVINCE 9

CHART 2.3 : Attraction to domestic investment in Ba Ria – Vung Tau

Source from Economic – Social Report in 2005 – 2009 by BR-VT People’s Committee

2.1.2/ Situation about tourism resource planning and exploitation:

2.1.2.1/ Natural resources:

In the recent years, the province has exploited some natural resources serving tourism activities in the province, contributing

to the development of BR-VT’s tourism The province pays attention to ecological tourism, sea-island tourism Many tourism companies are permitted to invest in the coastal

Total development investment capital in the province ) Billion dongs

development to promote such advantages BR-VT has beautiful beach with yellow

sands as an ideal bathing and relaxation site for visitors

However, in some places, natural resources are exploited uncontrollably

without conservation and embellishment of environmental landscape, green plants

and lawns The reduction of forest and non-connection of the forest environment

with the sea also imposes huge impact on the forest ecology

The exploitation of sand, stones in some mountains, mountain edges is of

great concern for the sustainable development in general and tourism sustainable

development in particular Forest resources are degraded, especially the tropical

resource along Ray River, con Dao National Forest, Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu

Ecological Forest, Nature Reserve…

BR-VT has two primeval forests including Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu Nature

Reserve located in the area of 11,392 ha and Con Dao National Forest in the area of

5,998 ha with more than 700 species of timbers, herbs and 200 species of animals10

2.1.2.2/ Humanitarian resources:

BR-VT province is home to many recognized, revolutionary historical and

cultural relics (25 accredited and ranked relics) The majority of the revolutionary

relics, cultural relics have been embellished to educate tradition for young people

and meet the needs of tourist activities such as Con Dao Prison, Hang Duong

Cemetery, Vo Thi Sau Monument and Memorial Area, Binh Gia, Dinh Co Victory

Statues, Mr Tran Nui Nua – Bach Dinh Temple, Lighthouse of Tao Phung

Mountain, Round House, Ba Ria, Dinh Mountain Base, Loc An Non-number

Wharf, Large Mountain Artillery (Tuong Ky), Small Mountain Artillery (Tao

Phung), Kim Long Tunnel, House of Mother Tam Nhung, Bau Sen Base, Hac Dich

Tunnel, Long Phuoc Tunnel, Minh Dam Resistance Base, Bau Thanh Cultural

Area… The religious establishments in the area are also beautiful architectural

works, and make the impression for visitors

2.1.2.3/ Unexploited tourism resources:

10

Ba Ria Vung Tau Tourism and Culture,Sports Ministry

Email : wwwBariavungtautourism.com.vn

Although BR-VT welcomes 7-8

million turns of domestic and foreign

visitor every year, there are still many

tourism resources those have not promoted

Therefore, the possibility to increase the

number of visitors to BR-VT is broad

One of the potential that BR-VT’s tourism sector can promote is

mountainous ecological tourism BR-VT is endowed with various beautiful

mountains such as Tao Phung Mountain, Tuong Ky Mountain, Thi Vai Mountain,

Minh Dam Mountain, Chua Mountain, etc

Next may be Water tourism potential (lake, coastal, under the sea) BR-VT has

advantage in river ecology with Da Den lake, Song Ray lake, Thi Vai river, Dinh river

and the sea surface, sea bed with diverse biological system and cool weather However,

this potential has not been well-exploited The types those can be invested and

promoted include yacht, sea diving, river-side tourism, aqua-restaurant, water sports,

etc Moreover, it is required to implement good state planning and management to

ensure no pollution caused to the water system

2.1.3/ Situation of tourism infrastructure:

route connecting Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeast The coastal route to the

north, south is an important route for marine ecotourism

- Waterway:

Ba Ria Vung Tau-Kito Jesus statue

Road in Ba Ria Vung Tau

BR-VT has three major tributaries including Thi Vai River, Dinh River and Ray

River and 17 large and small canals with the length of 167 km for waterway

transport BR-VT River has many advantages for developing water transport system

and seaports at large and modern scale According to the seaport system planning,

there will be 47 seaports in the province, in which the port on the Thi Vai River

may bear 80,000 ton ships and other passenger ships, internal cruise ships The total

length of the river is 242 km, of which 102 km has the water depth from 3 meters or

more

- Airway:

BR-VT has two airports including Vung Tau Airport and Co Ong Airport (Con dao)

Vung Tau Airport is operated at small scale for helicopters serving petroleum and gas

exploration and exploitation in the southern land In addition, it can serve passenger

carriage to Con dao and special tourism tours The airport is located in the area of 125

hectares with short runway of 50 x 1200 m

- Railway:

Currently, BR-VT has no railway connected to the national railway system

However, the future planning needs to comprise the railway from Sao Mai Port –

Vung Tau through the industrial parks in the province and Thi Vai Port system to

meet the demand for import-export goods circulation It is possible to combine

passenger transport from Ho Chi Minh City to Ba Ria – Vung Tau and vice versa

2.1.3.2/ Electricity, water, tele-communication, environmental

sanitation:

Electricity, water, tele-communication

system can basically meet the current demand

In the following years, it is necessary to invest

in new systems or upgrade the existing systems

to meet the demand for expansion and

development

BR-VT is a province of many green trees and urban green space and the home to 2

nature reserves and mountains There are many green tree pieces good for weather

Vessel of Ba Ria Vung Tau

conditions; environmental eco-balance with the tree coverage of 44% including forest

coverage of 13%

2.2/ Situation and output of BR-VT’s tourism in the previous years:

2.2.1/ Ba Ria – Vung Tau’s tourism market:

2.2.1.1/ International visitor market:

In the recent years, the volume of international visitors to Vietnam for

tourism-business combination has increased sharply There were about 200,000

visitors to BR-VT in 2006, while this number is 320,000 in 2009 The average

annual growth rate reaches about 15%

DATA SHEET OF APPENDIX 2.4 SITUATION OF ANNUAL VISITOR ATTRACTION 11

CHART 2.4 : Situation of annual tourist attraction in Ba Ria – Vung Tau (million turns)

Source from Social Report in 2005 – 2009 by BR-VT People’s Committee

Compared with other countries, the number of international visitors to

Vietnam is low, which creates high potential for Vietnam’s international tourist

market

2.2.1.2/ Domestic tourist market:

In recent years, the market of domestic tourists in the country in general and

BR-VT in particular gains unstable growth In 2006, the quantity of Tourists grew 21% due to

many factors including improvement in human life, encouraging activities for tourism But

in 2007, the quantity of domestic tourists only increased 0.3% compared to 2006, while

foreign tourists coming to BR-VT increased strongly by 17.5% In 2008, the quantity of

visitors to BR-VT gained the highest level in the period of 2005 -2009; while the year 2008

gained the low growth of international tourists at 0.64%, and dramatic growth of domestic

tourists at 21% This shows that the market of international travelers is affected by the

economic crisis, influenza A H1N1, etc, but the domestic market is in good advantage

However, unlike the previous decade, BR-VT is losing its monopoly in term

of tourism BR-VT tourism must participate in the tourism market of violent

competition with Phan Thiet, Nha Trang sea tourism, Da Lat and Sapa Highland

tourism, garden and water tourism in Cuu Long Delta Provinces, etc In the

neighboring provinces, there are more an more strange, attractive tourism areas;

unique tourism products; various destinations attractive to visitors Therefore,

sustainable tourism development requires BR-VT to do continual research on visitor

market, to improve the service quality to ensure healthy competition with other

provinces, to cooperate with neighbouring provinces to form an important tourism

highlight for itself

2.2.2/ Revenue of tourism sector:

The tourism revenue including the incomes from accommodation,restaurant ,

tourist transport, visiting fee, entertainment, souvenir, fine arts and other services

DATA SHEET OF APPENDIX 2.5 REVENUE OF SERVICE- TOURISM 12

CHART 2.5 : Revenue of service – tourism of BR-VT

Source from Social Report in 2005 – 2009 by BR-VT People’s Committee.

2.2.3/ Total products of tourism:

GDP value of BR-VT’s tourism gains the average growth from

20-22%/year13 The contributing ratio of the tourism to the service sector in particular

and economy in general is higher and higher, contributing to the GDP ratio of the

province

2.2.4/ Material facility of tourism:

2.2.4.1/ Transporting means:

BR-VT has advantage in shipping lane with various big ports including Thi

Vai port system, Ben Dam port, Con Dao port In addition, the domestic shipping

system is relatively modern, equipped with air-conditioned room, beds with

capacity of 100 - 250 passengers/ship from Vung Tau to Con Dao, Vung Tau to Ho

Chi Minh city, Vung Tau to Can Gio and the returns

66.645

80.16 2005

The Ministry of Transport is proposing the project in constructing the

railway from Vung Tau to Bien Hoa (92 km) and Ho Chi Minh connecting with

Thong Nhat railway serving commodity carriage and tourism The main transport to

BR-VT is road through highway 51 from Dong Nai, Long Khanh to BR-VT and

highway 55 from the middle south, Binh Thuan to BR-VT Currently, Highway 51

is under the situation of traffic jam in rush hours

2.2.4.2/ Accommodation facility:

Accommodation facilities include hotel, guest house, resort, Bugalow… In

1996, the there are only 73 hotels with 2839 rooms in the province However, in

2009, the room capacity increased tripple with 148 hotels, resorts and 6,189 rooms

Many 4-star, 5-star hotels are used effectively such as DIC STAR, My Le,

IMPERIAL, Thuy Duong, Binh An, Samy, etc

There are currently 38 ongoing hotel, resort projects, 07 projects adjusted by techniquetechnically adjusted, 99 coming projects in land procedures approved 14

2.2.4.3/ Restaurant service :

The foods in BR-VT are diversified, especially sea foods Moreover, BR-VT

is a land of great potentials; therefore, it attract people of all regions in the country

to live, bringing Vietnam’s traditional dishes of the three regions including north,

central, and south The three-star hotels or more serve asian, european foods with

professional serving staffs and better and better manner

In general, the scale of current restaurants can partly meet the cuisine

demand of tourists However, the development of cuisine services are simultaneous

and generally planned with some negative aspects such as unreasonable price, food

insanitation

2.2.4.4/ Entertainment and visiting facilities:

14 The source provided by BR-VT Tourism and Culture, Sports Minsitry, Department of Planning and

Ba Ria Vung Tau’s hotel

In the recent years, the enterprises try to create many tourism products to

serve the long-time visiting demand of tourists In addition to restaurant service ,

sea bathing for tourists, there are some other types of entertainment in BR-VT

including:

 Sports: 54 tennis courts, 2 golf courts, 9 swimming lakes, sea diving,

mountain climbing

 Entertainment: dog racing in Friday

night, Saturday night, Sunday night;

other sea games such as water

motorbike, parachute, sailboat,

fishing

 Cinema: 5 cinemas, 8 theatres

 Health relaxation: Binh Chau mud bathing center, physical treatment:

42 centers, gyms, 1 Medicoast

 12 dance halls, 126 karaoke points

2.2.4.5/ Goods and souvenir :

Currently, there are not many local special products in BR-VT, despite some

noticeable products including arca, nail fine art products, lacquer products, rattan

products, processing seafood, fresh seafood, frozen seafood… Supermarkets,

restaurants start their development at small scale, and are located in the residential

area There are no big supermarkets, plazas supplying high-quality products for

tourism areas and local residents Market system is not invested in accordance with

modern standard but equipped with poor infrastructure Large-scale shopping

center, shopping street, nigh market have not been established to serve tourists

2.2.5/ Tourism operation network:

By the end of 2009, there are 143 tourism enterprises and business units

including 128 enterprises those are established in accordance with the enterprise

law The tourism enterprises operate mainly in Vung Tau, Long Dien, Dat Do,

Xuyen Moc, and Con Dao

2.2.6/ Travelling operation:

Beach in Ba Ria Vung Tau