TĂNG CƯỜNG THU hút KHÁCH DU LỊCH đến CÔNG VIÊN địa CHẤT TOÀN cầu CAO NGUYÊN đá ĐỒNG văn TỈNH hà GIANG e

Do Viet Hop is absolutely true and accurate.Leaders of Project Management Unit of Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, Ha GiangProvince highly appreciates the practical value of the research,

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

THESIS STRENGTHENING THE ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS

TO DONG VAN KRAST PLATEAU GLOBAL GEOPARK

IN HA GIANG

Project Management Unit of Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, Ha Giang Provinceconfirms that all data used in the thesis of Mr Do Viet Hop is absolutely true and accurate.Leaders of Project Management Unit of Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, Ha GiangProvince highly appreciates the practical value of the research, especially the proposedsolutions for Project Management Unit of Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark, Ha GiangProvince to apply in the future to enhance the attraction of tourists to Dong Van KarstPlateau Geopark to contribute to strong and sustainable development of the tourism in HaGiang province in general, Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark in particular.

Project Management Unit of Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark

MANAGER

AFFIDAVIT

On basis of research and collection of data, information, thank to the assistance of DongVan Krast Plateau Global Geopark Management Unit of Ha Giang province, Department ofCulture, Sports and Tourism, attention and enthusiastic instructions of the Guiding TeacherAssoc Prof Dr Ngo Thi Tuyet Mai – Dean of International Economics, Institute ofCommerce and the International Economics, Hanoi University of National Economics aswell as self-efforts, the author completes the Master’s Thesis in International Business

Administration with the topic of “Strengthening the attraction of tourists to Dong Van

Krast Plateau Global Geopark in Ha Giang”.

The author hereby warrants that the document is researched, collected, andanalyzed on basis of information and data from varied sources to complete theGraduation Thesis which is not copied illegally from any other documents

Ha Giang, 8 th October 2013

Undertaken by

Do Viet Hop

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONFIRMATION I AFFIDAVIT I TABLE OF CONTENTS III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VII LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES VIII LIST OF MAPS AND CHARTS IX INTRODUCTION 1 LIST OF REFERENCE DOCUMENTS X

CHAPTER 1 4

BASIC THEORY ON TOURISM AND ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS 4

1.1 O VERVIEW ON TOURISM AND TOURISTS

4 1.1.1 Concepts on tourism and tourists 4

1.1.2 Types and promotion of tourism 6

1.1.3 Features and importance of the attraction of tourists 8

1.2 A TTRACTION OF TOURISTS

9 1.2.1 Propaganda and popularization of tourism 9

1.2.2 Tour joint 10

1.2.3 Connection in tourism promotion 10

1.2.4 Training and cultivation of human resources for tourism 11

1.2.5 Investment in technical facilities for tourism 12

1.3 E FFECTS ON THE ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS

13 1.3.1 External factors (PEST model) 13

1.3.2 Internal factors 17

1.4 E XPERIENCE ON TOURISM PROMOTION OF SOME PROVINCES AND LESSONS LEARNT FOR H A G IANG

21 1.4.1 Experience on tourism promotion of some provinces and cities 21

1.4.1.1 Experience on tourism promotion of Hanoi 21

1.4.2 Lessons learned 25

CHAPTER 2 29

REALITY ON THE ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS TO DONG VAN KARST PLATEAU GLOBAL GEOPARK IN HA GIANG 29

2.1 I NTRODUCTION TO D ONG V AN K ARST P LATEAU G LOBAL G EOPARK IN H A G IANG

29 2.1.1 Background 29

31

2.1.2 Management Board of Global Geopark 32

2.1.3 Investment expenditure of the Global Geopark 36

2.1.4 Some investment projects in Global Geopark 38

2.2 A NALYSIS ON THE POTENTIALITY AND IMPACTS ON THE ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS TO D ONG V AN K ARST P LATEAU G LOBAL G EOPARK

39

2.2.1 Tourism potentiality 39

2.2.2 Evaluation of factors impacting tourist attraction 43

2.3 T OURIST ATTRACTION ACTIVITIES TO THE D ONG V AN R OCK H IGHLAND -G LOBAL G EOPARK IN THE RECENT TIME

49 2.3.1 Propaganda and tourism promotion 49

2.3.2 Connection of Tours 52

54

2.3.3 Connection in tourism promotion 54

2.3.4 Training and fostering the tourism human resource 58

60

2.3.5 Investment in technical infrastructure to support the tourism 61

2.4 R EALITY OF TOURIST ATTRACTION TO D ONG V AN R OCK H IGH L AND G EOPARK

62 2.4.1 Turns / number of tourists to the Geopark 62

2.4.2 Structure of Tourists in the Tourism Market 63

2.4.3 Revenue from tourism of the Geopark 63

2.5 G ENERAL EVALUATIONS ON TOURIST ATTRACTION TO D ONG V AN K ARST P LATEAU G LOBAL G EOPARK

65 2.5.1 Achievements 65

2.5.2 Limitations and reasons 66

CHAPTER 3 70

ORIENTATION AND SOLUTIONS TO INTENSIFYING TOURIST ATTRACTION TO DONG VAN KARAST PLATEAU GLOBAL GEOPARK IN HA GIANG PROVINCE 70

3.1 F ORECAST AND ORIENTATION OF TOURIST ATTRACTION TO H A G IANG PROVINCE , PERIOD OF 2013 – 2020

70 3.1.1 Forecast of tourists to Ha Giang Province 70

3.1.2 Orientation of tourist attraction to Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark 72

3.2 S OLUTIONS TO INTENSIFYING TOURIST ATTRACTION TO D ONG V AN K ARST P LATEAU G LOBAL G EOPARK

75 3.2.1 Effective implementation of mechanisms, policies to secure prioritized finance resourced invested to the tourism promotion of the Geopark 75

3.2.2 Improvement of tourism promotion capacity of the Geopark 76

3.2.3 Intensifying connection in tourism promotion of the Geopark 76

3.2.4 Intensifying international cooperation in tour connection 77

3.2.5 Diversifying tourism products and construction of tourism value sequence of the Geopark 78

3.2.6 Strengthening tourism propaganda activities of the Geopark 79

3.2.7 Strengthening tourism advertisement activities of the Geopark 81

3.2.8 Consolidation of the tourism promotion apparatus in the Geopark 81

3.2.9 Tăng cường đầu tư cơ sở vật chất cho du lịch vùng Công viên 82

3.3 R ECOMMENDATIONS ON PROMOTION OF TOURIST ATTRACTION TO D ONG V AN K ARST P LATEAU G LOBAL G EOPARK IN H A G IANG

82 3.3.1 Recommendations to the State and UNESCO 82

3.3.2 Recommendations for Ha Giang province and 4 districts in the Geopark 83

3.3.3 Recommendations for travel agencies in the area 85

CONCLUSIONS 86

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ASEAN Association of South East Asian

FAM Trip Familiarization Trip

JATA Japan Association of Travel Agents

KHĐC&KS Geologic & Mineral Science

PATA Pacific Asia Travel Association

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural

Organization

UNWTO United Nations World Tourism Organization

USTOA United States Tour Operators Association

VHTT&DL Culture, Sports and Tourism

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

TABLE 2.1: INVESTMENT FUNDS FOR TOURISM OF DONG VAN KARST PLATEAU GLOBAL GEOPARK WITHIN 2009 – 2012 37 TABLE 2.2: ECONOMIC GROWTH OF HA GIANG AND DONG VAN ROCK HIGHLAND- THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL GEOPARK OF VIETNAM AND GEOHERITAGE PRESERVATION 45 TABLE 2.3: SOME SOCIO-CULTURAL TARGETS OF DONG VAN ROCK HIGHLAND- THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL GEOPARK OF VIETNAM AND GEOHERITAGE PRESERVATION 46 TABLE 2.4: SOME EVENTS AND TRADE FAIR IN HA GIANG AND DONG VAN ROCK HIGH LAND GLOBAL GEOPARK IN 2010 – 2012 50 TABLE 2.5: PUBLICATIONS, PRODUCTS OF THE TOURISM ISSUED BY HA GIANG AND THE GEOPARK IN 2009 – 2012 52 TABLE 2.6: STATISTICS OF TOURISM EVENTS WITH PARTICIPATION OF DONG VAN ROCK HIGH LAND GEOPARK IN PERIOD OF 2010 – 2012 53 TABLE 2.7: SOME CONNECTION ACTIVITIES OF THE GEOPARK MANAGEMENT UNIT TO ATTRACT THE TOURISTS 54 TABLE 2.8: NUMBER OF TOURISTS TO HA GIANG AND THE GEOPARK 62 TABLE 2.9: REVENUE FROM THE TOURISM AND EXPENDITURE OF TOURISM PROMOTION OF THE GEOPARK IN PERIOD OF 2009 - 2012 64 TABLE 3.1: PLAN TO ATTRACT TOURISTS TO THE GEOPARK IN THE PERIOD 2013-2015 75

LIST OF MAPS AND CHARTS

FIGURE 2.1: ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD OF DONG VAN KARST PLATEAU GLOBAL GEOPARK 33 FIGURE 2.2: NUMBER OF TOURISTS TO HA GIANG AND THE GEOPARK 63 FIGURE 2.3: REVENUE FROM TOURISM AND TOURISM PROMOTION EXPENDITURE 65 FIGURE 3.1: INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS TO REGIONS AND TERRITORIES FROM 1950 AND FORCAST BY 2020 71

1 Essentiality of the topic

In the recent year, in the implementation of comprehensive innovation policy of theParty and the Government, with the trend of international economic integration, theVietnam tourism has experienced strongly development steps and increasingly hade activeimpacts on many aspects of the life and socio-economy Tourism nowadays becomes thecore section of the national economy and gradually further integrates with the area and theworld More and more tourists come to Vietnam in general and Ha Giang in particularincrease

According to declaration in the G20 Leaders Summit on tourism held on 16/5/2012 inMexico, income from the tourism makes up 9% of GDP worldwide In 2011, in the context

of the global economic crisis, the tourism in the world reaches 982 million tourists andincome from tourism increases 3.8% This is satisfactory sign and estimated tocontinuously increase in the coming years and achieves 18 billion tourists in 2030 Inaddition to, the tourism significantly contributes to the creation of jobs, labors for thetourism account for 8% of the global labors, every job in this is expected to create two jobsfor others

The Tourism has had prompt and constant growth, according to declared date ofVietnam National Administration of Tourism, the international tourists to Vietnam reach5,049,855 visits in 2010 and 6,014,032 visits in 2011 increasing 6,847,678 visits in 2012.Furthermore, domestic tourists have rapidly increased from 28 million visitors in 2010 to

30 million visitors in 2011, achieving 32.5 million visitors in 2012 Total revenue of thetourism accordingly increases from VND 96,000 billion in 2010 to VND 160,000 billion in

2012 The development of tourism thus not only meets the senior demands of everyindividual but also contributes to the development of economy of each country and locality.Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark of Ha Giang province located in the north ofthe country consists of four rocky mountainous and upland districts (Quang Ba, Yen Minh,Dong Van and Meo Vac) with plenty of natural resources, historical and cultural valuesassessed as potentiality for exploitation and development of tourism and currently becomes

a attractive and friendly destination of visitors

Determining the important location of the Tourism to the socio-economicdevelopment and with the purpose of effectively exploiting plentiful tourism potentialities,

Ha Giang province considers the tourism development as one of strengths in the economic development strategies of the Dong Van Karst Plateau On the basis of master

socio-plan on preservation, embellishment and promotion of value of Dong Van Karst PlateauGlobal Geopark of Ha Giang province approved by the Prime Minister in Decision no.310/QĐ-TTg dated 07/02/2013 and in the near future, this Geopark will be an attractivedestination of the regional and global tourists.

However, the tourism development of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark atpresent is not corresponding to the potentiality Ha Giang should complete strategies ontourism image promotion of the Park, increasing solutions to attract the tourists to the Park

in the future so that tourism becomes the core economy of four Northern rockymountainous and upland districts of the country

From above stated matters, I decide to choose the topic on “Strengthening the

attraction of tourists to Dong Van Krast Plateau Global Geopark in Ha Giang” as my

Master thesis

2 Purpose

- Systematizing the basic theories on tourism and attraction of tourists

- Analyzing potentialities and factors affecting the attraction of tourist to Dong VanKarst Plateau Global Geopark, Ha Giang

- Analyzing and evaluating the reality of tourism activities of Dong Van Karst PlateauGlobal Geopark in Ha Giang in the recent years, stating strengths and weaknesses in thetourism development of the Geopark

- Proposing orientations and solutions to the Management Board of Dong Van KarstPlateau Global Geopark, Ha Giang to strengthen the attraction of tourists to the geopark inthe near future

3 Objects and scope of research

- Objects: Domestic and international tourists to Dong Van Karst Plateau Global

Geopark in Ha Giang

- Scope of research: Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark area includesadministrative boundaries of four Northern rocky mountainous districts of Ha Giangprovince including Quang Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac with area of more than2,350km2 Research duration of 5 recent years (2008 – 2012) and orientation to 2020;especially since 2010 when Dong Van Rock Highland was recognized as a global geopark

board, Culture and Information Department, reports of district People’s Committee withinthe Geopark area, etc.

Information analysis concludes processing, summary, calculation, comparison,assessment and conclusion Information sources are summarized, analyzed, selected;statistic data is handled under analysis and statistics principle

Conclusion is based on proper analysis and assessment of data collected

4 Structure and outline of the thesis

a- Chapter 1: Basic theory on tourism and attraction of tourists

b- Chapter 2: Reality on the attraction of tourists to Dong Van Karst Plateau GlobalGeopark in Ha Giang

c- Chapter 3: Orientation and solutions for strengthening the attraction of tourist toDong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark in Ha Giang

Chapter 1 BASIC THEORY ON TOURISM AND ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS

1.1 Overview on tourism and tourists.

1.1.1 Concepts on tourism and tourists

Concept of tourism, along with the tourist development, is also understood in variousways depending on study points of view

Under the opinions of economists, tourism is not one of merely social phenomenonbut also associates to the economic activities

In accordance with definition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): Tourism

means the aggregation of relationships, phenomenon and economic activities originatingfrom trips and residence of individuals or collectives outside their permanent residence

Vietnam Tourism Law (approved by the 11th National Assembly in the 7th session in

2005): “Tourism is activities related to the people’s trips other than their permanent

residence satisfying the demands for sightseeing, study, relaxation and entertainment in acertain time.”

Tourism hence can be understood under different aspects based on the mentioned approaches:

above-In the view of the tourists, tourism is type of convalescence, positive sightseeing ofthe people other than residence for relaxation, entertainment, sightseeing of famouslandscapes, historical relics, and cultural and art works, etc

In the view of economy: tourism is a s highly effective synthesis of many fields such

as improving knowledge on the nature, nationally historical and cultural tradition

With the synthetic approaches, participants in the tourism activities are:

including activities on organization and instruction of tourism, production and exchange ofgoods and services of companies to meet demands on travel, accommodation, sightseeing,entertainment, study and others of tourists Such activities practically benefit the countryand companies themselves on the economy, politics and society.

1.1.1.2 Tourists

In accordance with definition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO): tourists

are those with following characteristics: Firstly, they do not follow the economic purposes;Secondly, stay time in the destination is at minimum 24 hours and 1 year at maximum;Thirdly, minimum distance from the house to the destination is based on every country’sconcept and lastly they enter in activities involving the entertainment, relaxation andtourism

According to Vietnam Tourism Law: Tourists are those who travel or travel combinedexcept for study, working or practice in the destination to get income

There is individual definition on tourists in every country The most generality in theway of understanding on tourists however is Tourists are people who leave their permanentresidence to go to certain place and then return with various purposes other than working or

getting income in the destination and stay in such place at least 24 hours (or overnight stay)

but not more than one year

According to the national border criteria, tourists are classified into two basic groupsincluding international tourists and domestic tourists

* International tourists are who visit other countries out of their country for any

purposes but practice to get income from the destination country (United Nations Statistic

committee).

In Vietnam, according to Tourism law, international tourists are foreigners,Vietnamese people residing abroad travel to Vietnam; Vietnamese citizens, foreignersresiding in Vietnam travel abroad

Purposes of the trip are to tour, visit relatives, enter the conferences, market survey,business, health treatment, sports, pilgrimage, and rest, etc

Thus, group of international tourist is classified into two types:

Inbound tourist: Foreigners and people of a certain country residing in other countrytravel to such country

Outbound tourist: citizens of a country and foreigners residing in such country travelabroad

* Domestic tourists differ from international tourists that the destination is also thecountry where they permanently reside They are also distinguished with domestic travelers

in the purposes of the trip, travel distance and stay time (depending on standards of every

country)

In various countries, concept on domestic tourists are also different

In Vietnam, according to regulations of Tourism law, domestic tourists areVietnamese citizens, foreigners permanently residing in Vietnam travel within Vietnam 1.1.1.3 Concept on tourism promotion

Promotion is a parameter of combined marketing There are many concepts ofpromotion According to “Basic marketing” of Philip Kotler, promotion is thecommunication activities of marketing to potential customers In business, marketingcommunication means the transfer, transmission of necessary messages concerning thecompanies, products, methods of service, benefits received by customers as buyingproducts of the companies as well as other necessary information from customers Sincethen, the companies find solutions to best satisfy customers’ demands

According to UNWTO, “Tourism marketing is administration philosophy that it canbring tourism products to the market in conformity with the purposes profiting the tourismorganizations thanks to researches, forecast and selection based on tourists’ needs.”

Tourism promotion is defined in the tourism marketing theory as “a communicationprocess conducted by the Seller to impact on the perception, behavior, attitude of the Buyerand lastly persuade them to buy its tourism products.” [10, tr 305]

According to Vietnam Tourism Law on 2005 (Clause 17, Article 4) :”Tourism

promotion is to propagandize, popularize and mobilize in order to search and promote thetourism development opportunities.”

1.1.2 Types and promotion of tourism

1.1.2.1 Types of tourism

* Classification under purposes of tourists

Tourism is to discover and enjoy thrills: Objects belonging to this group tends tohave high curiosity, they have stable and high income, accepting all costs but in return, theyhave severe requirements on quality of services

Tourism for rest and entertainment: This is famous and typical kind of tourism Thetrips are usually previously planned and prepared for a long time

Sustainable tourism: means the tourism development meeting current demandswithout prejudice to the future satisfactory capacity of tourism needs

Ecotourism: kind of nature-based tourism associating to the local cultureparticipated by the communities for the sustainable development

Cultural tourism: kind of traditional culture-based tourism participated by thecommunities for the preservation and promotion of the traditional cultural values

Tourism for other purposes: such as researches on the nature, history, sociology,relative visit, exchange and searching for business opportunities, etc.

* Classification under the consumption features of tourism services

Transport and accommodation: Including service systems in guest houses, hotels, andtemporary accommodations for tourists only during their itineraries, means of transports inand out of the country

Services on entertainment and relaxation include systems of entertainment areasoffered to tourists

Conference and seminar services combined with tourism are the diversification oftourism activities associating with many fields to maximize the comprehensivedevelopment opportunities of various factors of the economy

* Classification under organization of tourism programs

Tour package: Tourists buy the entire services of certain travel agency and sufficientlyfollow the tour program previously arranged by such agency

Open tour: Tourists do not purchase the entire services from travel agency, they onlyselect to previously buy some certain services

Self-organized tour: Tourists directly do procedures concerning passport, visa, airticket booking, and accommodation searching, etc This type of tourism is suitable to thosewho like to explore, research, adventure, and flexible programs, etc

* Classification under the topographic and natural condition of the destination

City tour: Tourists coming to the city usually are people who come from other regions

or live in the rural areas, they come to the city with many different purposes such asmission, business, research, study, sightseeing, searching for the urban life, architecturalworks, cultural and historical relics, economic life and shopping, etc

Countryside tour: The countryside are characterized with fresh air, quiet, beautifullandscapes, commodious houses, gardens and fields, ventilated space, friendly people andlow prices, etc Urban people therefore often travel to the countryside to enjoy the comfortand relaxation

Sea tour: meeting the typical needs of tourists on relaxation; joining in sport

activities on the water surface (fishing, diving, sailing and surfing, etc); entering in relax

activities

Mountainous and forest tour: This type mainly happens in the mountainous areasappropriate to those who like to go on vacation in the summer, climbing mountains,walking, mountain bike racing, camping, hunting and flora and fauna discovery, etc

Apart from above criteria of classification, tourism is also classified under means oftransport chiefly used, kinds of accommodation and length of the trips, etc

1.1.2.2 Types of tourism promotion

* Micro-promotion: (Tourism promotion of travel agencies and organizations) is

the approach of combined promotion strategies in the narrow meaning as a component ofmarketing mix in a travel agency or organization Micro promotion is a communicationconducted by the sellers to affect the awareness, attitude, and behavior of buyers and lastlypersuading them to buy its tourism products

* Macro promotion (Tourism promotion of the nations, regions, provinces and

cities)

Macro promotion is the approach of combined promotion strategies in the broad sense

of the nations, regions, provinces and cities Macro promotion is the communication andpropaganda for destinations and sightseeing places, etc conducted b the tourism promotionagencies of the nations or provinces and cities to introduce the country, people,potentialities and tourism products, thereby affecting the awareness, attitude, and behavior

of tourists, speeding up tourism activities of the country or local; attracting investments andassisting travel agencies The Government annually funds the State tourism promotionorganizations from the State budget and indirectly supports the companies to impulse thedevelopment of tourism

1.1.3 Features and importance of the attraction of tourists

Firstly, it is to widely propagandize and introduce the country, people, landscapes,historical and revolution and cultural relics, creative works of the people, traditional andcultural characters to the domestic people and international communities

Secondly, it is to strengthen the awareness on tourism, creating the civilized, healthy,safe tourism environment, promoting the hospitable tradition of the nation;

Thirdly, it is to mobilize resources to invest and develop the tourism cities, touristarea, tourist destination, diversified and unique, qualified destinations imbued with thetraditional and cultural characters, every region and local; developing the infrastructures,tourism technical facilities, diversifying and enhancing the quality of tourism services.Fourthly, it is to study the tourism market, building tourism products suitable to thetourist tastes, propagandizing and directing the tourism products

* Attraction of tourists has a very important roles, deciding the ultimate effect oftourism activities of every local, unit and company

Results of the attraction of tourists will directly impact on the plans of tourismdevelopment strategies, determining solutions of micro and macro promotion, plans ontourism infrastructural construction and investment, tourism human resource training, etc.and concurrently acting as the calculation foundation and result assessment of tourismactivities

In the framework of this thesis, the author accesses the attraction of tourists as acomponent of macro marketing Macro promotion of the provinces and cities to attracttourist is mentioned in this thesis including such contents as propaganda, advertisement,communication of tourism, connection activities in tourism promotion and training ofhuman resource for tourism, etc.

1.2 Attraction of tourists

1.2.1 Propaganda and popularization of tourism

Propaganda: is to provide information related to the destination, images ofdestination and tourism products so that recipients know the potentialities and identify theproducts Propaganda activities are able to be implemented by many ways and means such

as in word, written documents, images or electronic means to communicate to the potentialcustomers

Tourism propaganda plays an important role in the tourism development of certaincountry, local and travel agencies

UNWTO recommends that every country’s tourism annually should appropriate 1%

of income from international tourism for the external propaganda aimed at creating images

of the country, people in human mind in the world for attracting tourists to the country

Duties of tourism propaganda:

Tourism propaganda must impress to the customers on the country, local, touristcompany and tourism products

Tourism propaganda must have diversified, rich and specific information on themechanism and policies of the State in the tourism development, regulations onimmigration, international airlines, customs priorities, accommodation, etc for tourists,details of tours for the selection of tourists

Tourism propaganda has to improve the travel demands and stability, curiousness andraise the demands for goods and service consumption

Propaganda and popularization of national and local-level destinations are activities

of strategically national and local tourist organizations, kind of non-trade activities

Advertisement: According to marketing opinions, advertisement is thecommunication of any form paid, non-personally, used by an obvious fund to persuade orcommunicate to customers on any goods, products, services or ideas Advertisement can beimplemented by many means such as television, radio, magazines, newspaper, electronicjournals, advertisement banners or any means or publications

According to opinion of management, advertisement is strategic solution to gain ormaintain a competitive advantage in the market There are many forms in tourism

advertisement such as advertisement on mass media (mews paper, radio, image newspaper,

electronic newspaper).

1.2.2 Tour joint

In the condition that the people has increasing income and living standards, demandsfor services including tourism services quickly increase Countries worldwide activelyintegrate in the terms of economy especially entering in the World Trade Organization

(WTO) Principal thought of WTO is the trade liberalization (including trade in goods and

services) Commitments on opening the tourism market offer new chances to the

development of tourism

To facilitate the domestic travel agencies and tourism of the locals, the State touristagencies at micro and macro levels should promote the tour joint activities, organizinggroups or visiting and learning from experiences on tourism promotion in many countriesand locals in the world as well as introducing and assisting these units to enter in domesticand international travel associations

Through such activities as trade fairs, tourism exhibitions, bilateral and multilateralcooperation in economy among nations and locals, including tourism, State tourist agenciescan organize the mission groups of local bodies in tourism and companies to visit and learnfrom experiences in the cities and countries with the tourism developed in the country andthe world

Provinces and cities create conditions in respect of legal corridors, administrativeprocedures to join famous travel associations in the world such as US Tour Operators

Association (USTOA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), etc.

With the participation into prestigious travel associations, participants get the belief oftourists, enabling to cooperate, learning from experiences and promoting the development

by airy mechanism of cooperation, joint-venture, association and assistance each other

1.2.3 Connection in tourism promotion

In order to survival and development, the tourism must attach to relationships andconnections in both micro and macro levels Tourism development is always subject to thetwo-way effects and connection with other sectors in the service supply to transmit totourists

Sectors such as industry, agriculture, aquiculture, diplomacy, public security,transport, etc are resources and common conditions affecting the development of tourism

by providing products for accommodation, relaxation, and souvenirs; images ofdestinations and tourism events; immigration procedures and assurance of safety andsecurity for tourists; tourism promotion activities, etc

Connections between the State tourist agencies with provinces, cities and companyrepresent the two-way relationship For the State administrative agencies, these are theconstruction of general tourism development strategies of the sector, instructing, directing,inspecting and supervising professional activities of the local and travel agencies by legalsystem Tourism promotion has been annually organized in turn with many such significantevents of the region and world stature as sports, cultural and tourism week, trade fairs andexhibition, etc under the directions of Tourism in the locals or foreign countries throughthe connections of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant Ministries.

With its advantages and jurisdiction, the diplomatic service supports the tourismdevelopment through main activities including propaganda of the destination image of thecountry and local by assisting the organization and participation in regional andinternational meetings, foreign economic promotion forums in the local country, directlyexchanging with international partners, etc.; mobilizing international associations to acceptmaterial and non-material cultural relics of the country, local contributing to the assertion

of traditional and cultural values and landscapes of the country; helping to expand theinternational tourism cooperation, joining and signing agreements and treaty in tourismwith other countries and regional and worldwide organizations, enabling the movement offoreign people to travel, contributing to save time and costs for immigration procedures aswell as reduce travel costs; providing market information and research based on thesuggestions on directions and solutions for tourism development

State tourist agencies in provinces and cities also try to enhance the promotion andconnection activities to take advantages all chances, promoting all potentialities andstrengths, creating the stable development

1.2.4 Training and cultivation of human resources for tourism

The tourism relates to many different sectors and aspects however it naturally consists

of some certain fields undertaken by travel agencies subject to the management of the Statetourist agencies Accordingly, in the effect of the tourism and companies, directly orindirectly, the labor in the travel business can be divided into three groups including group

of State management-specialized labor in tourism, group of non-business labor in tourism,group of business labor in tourism

Travel business uses a lot of labors in various professions, each of which requiresvarious processes of service technologies, high-rank qualification and carefulness, manycareers require the labors to reach the service arts In order to have professional skills thusthe labors must be trained systematically and methodically and update knowledge regularlyand ceaselessly combined with experience

The State management involving tourism human resource training is through the State

tourist agencies (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam National Administration

of Tourism, Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the locals or Management committees) particularly as follows:

Firstly, forecasting demands for training and cultivation of labor Aimed at enhancingthe effectiveness in tourism human resource training, the capture of training needs is veryessential It is the principal foundation for training facilities to build training targets andprograms corresponding to the contents, programs and methods of training, etc

Secondly, properly orienting the training structures for businesses in tourismactivities The determination of proper training structure will avoid the imbalance of supplyand needs of labor in the market, avoiding waste of social resources or inefficient use ofhuman resources

Thirdly, agreeing the standardization, supervising the construction of trainingprograms and contents Standardization of building the training program is one of the mostimportant contents in the management of training

Fourthly, investing and building system of training facilities and determining thetraining methods Building system of training facilities can be subject to tourismpotentialities of the country, local and region The State and locals can establish tourismprofessional or vocational schools in tourism potential regions and key tourist areas Types

of training must be defined in the national educational and training system clarifyingtraining targets and respecting training quality

Fifthly, organizing the training and strengthening the tourism qualification formanagerial staff in the State tourist agencies, local tourism department as well asemployees and officials in travel agencies

1.2.5 Investment in technical facilities for tourism

Generally, technical facilities for tourism includes tourism infrastructures andtechnical facilities for tourism activities

Communication is an important part of tourism infrastructure It is to ensure theconvenient and effective exchange with tourists In the tourism activities, communicationtransmits information quickly and punctually, contributing to the implementation ofexchanges among regions all over the country and the world

Water and electric supply works Tourists leaving their permanent residence to go toother place, apart from the needs of accommodation, travel, meals, etc., electricity andwater for their living are indispensable factors in their normal life Factor on electricity andwater consequently is also very important directly serving the relaxation and entertainment

of tourists As a result, infrastructure is the premise and lever of all economic activitiesincluding tourism

1.2.5.2 Technical facilities for tourism

Technical facilities play a very important role in the creation and implementation oftourism products as well as decide levels of tourism potential exploitation to satisfy thetourists’ needs For this reason, the development of tourism always associates with theconstruction and completion of technical facilities

Tourism is a plentiful and diversified “production” industry in services and goodssatisfying the tourists’ needs

Technical facilities of tourism combine many components Consumption of tourismservices and goods requires a system of synchronous facilities Tourism natural resourcestake an important position in the tourists’ consumption Depending on above-stated points,

it is able to understand that tourism technical facilities include the whole materials meansentering in the creation and implementation of tourism services and goods to meet alldemands of the tourists such as accommodation, relaxation, entertainment and shopping,etc

Tourism technical facilities combine technical facilities of the tourism industry such

as those of some national economic industries for tourism including commerce andservices, etc and those of companies and individuals trading in tourism

1.3 Effects on the attraction of tourists

1.3.1 External factors (PEST model)

PEST model studies macro factors:

1.3.1.1 Politics

Factors on institution and law can directly impact on the survival and development oftourism activities, for instance, the stability of politics, tax policies, policies ondevelopment encouragement of the industry and aspects, policies on regulation andcompetition; related laws (investment law, business law, labor law, antitrust law, etc.).Promotion on the attraction of tourist in the implementation is not only governed bythe domestic law but also the law of the country where the cities popularize the tourism.Especially, law on advertisement of the countries is not similar, so during theimplementation of attraction activities of tourists, the locals should study carefully Forinstance, there are many countries directly taxing on advertisement bills, advertisementfirms, mass media because of not realizing the importance of advertisement in business.Some countries use advertisement taxes to limit the advertisement, instead of reducinginflation and demand, these countries apply the restriction of advertisement as non-tariffbarrier to foreign goods

Some countries prohibit to display advertisement images and materials manufactured

in other countries Australia asks all advertisements on television must be produced by thelocal film producers South Africa and Mexico require that products and services sold inthese countries are products and services are advertised in such countries

If there is a common law for all countries it will be law on prohibition of false orfraud advertisement For example, Germany requires information about goods and servicesmust be true, accurate and not ambiguous and the government will severely punish for falseadvertisements

Tourism development policies are specific regulations to perform guideline, duties onthe tourism development in a certain time Tourism development policies directly affect thepromotion of attracting tourists Tourism development policies in the provinces and citiesdepend on the national tourism development policies and socio-economic and politicalconditions of the locals The tourism promotion activities will be implementedcomprehensively and strongly as the nation as well as the locals offers appropriate policies

of tourism encouragement and development

1.3.1.2 Economics

Due to tourism is a synthetic economy with the deep cultural content,interdisciplinary and inter-regional nature and high socialization; at the same timeprofoundly impacted by economic factors in both short-term and long-term and thegovernmental intervention to the economy Economic factors include:

- Situation of the economy: Any economy has cycle, and in every certain period ofeconomic cycle, the development of the economy increases the people’s income and livingstandards that positively impacts the tourist attraction and vice versa.

- Factors affecting the economy such as interest rate, inflation, etc also directlyimpact the tourism needs of the society consequently impacting the results of tourismactivities in general and results of the tourist attraction in particular

- The Government’s economic policies: Policies on basic salary, economicdevelopment strategies of the government, preferential policies for industries such as taxreduction and subsidy, etc

- Future economic prospect: The growth, GDP growth, GDP rate on investment, etc.The economy is in crisis while businesses create a competition in prices, cutting downcosts from labor, increasing advertising costs to stimulate the consumption They howevermake mistakes because they negatively impact on the consumers’ sense while their income

is reduced, tourism needs reduce, and every people do not dare to invest in luxurious goods

or expensive services

1.3.1.3 Socio-culture

There are cultural values and specific social features in every country and region.These factors are features of the consumers in such areas

Cultural values are those forming a society, probably looking after such society’s

existence and development As a result, normal cultural factors are closely protected especially spiritual culture.

Not only economists but also culturalists nowadays agree that culture is both targets and motive power of the socio-economic development Effects of culture on the economy in general and tourism in particular are very complicated and extensive In particular, the culture significantly impacts on the tourism promotion.

In the system of cultural values, spiritual culture values, non-material culture stronglyand popularly impact on he tourism promotion by different variables, but they can bedivided into two groups:

The first group includes such set of variables as talent of using technical advances,scientific inventions in all aspects of the social life, cultural standard, technical science,education standard, arts and culture, etc within the people It is institutionalized or legalizedunder variables of the legal environment, scientific, technical and technologicalenvironment or population and demography environment

The second group consists of many variables such as languages, symbols, people,religions, methods of using time and space, concepts in friendship and companionship,mentality, lifestyle, way of life, tradition, customs, practice, and prohibitions, etc Cultural

variables in this group directly affect decisions, plans and implementation of touristattraction.

Direct effects of culture on tourist attraction of the local that are effects on behaviors

of tourists or of market operators, domestic and foreign travel agencies These behaviorswill imprint on attraction measures performed by the local by promotion tools withmeanings of propaganda and popularization of the local tourism products

Culture also indirectly influence the tourism promotion on a larger scale through suchentities as family, religion organizations, social organizations and schools, etc from whichimpacting on the buyers and decision of promotion measures by the sellers

As a marketing environment, culture comprehensively influences the tourismpromotion namely as follows: Culture affects a number of strategic issues in the tourismpromotion such as selection of the target markets, selection of common promotionstrategies, decisions on overall tourism objectives by the provinces and cities, tourismpromotions

Culture also affects the performance of tactics, policies, specific measures,operations and specific behaviors of tourism promoters

Every cultural variable has various influences on the tourism promotion such asissues of advertising language and images, acceptance of tourism products andaccompanied services affected by standards on attitude and values For instance, Muslimsrefrain from pork and beef, etc

Besides values of universal and united culture, there always exist values of specificnative culture or also cultural branches Values of universal and united culture haveconsiderable influences within the entire society and create general characteristics in theneeds, desire and behaviors of consumption of the buyers in a certain country and nation.Specific cultural values create their own styles in the behavior needs, characteristics ofpurchase and sale of every group of consumers in the society Such cultural values can beclassified under regions, kinds of belief, geographic areas and groups of the nation orclasses of people

1.3.1.4 Technology

A revolution of science, technique and technology deeply affects the entire economic activities including tourism Tourism promotions develop on the basis oftechnical science The increasingly growth in the technological contents and knowledge intourism promotion supports many tourism services including traditional services are knownmore widely, provided and consumed more effectively

socio-Issues set up from the reality of tourist attraction promotion of the locals that is how

to access and attract the majority of customers in a shortest time and cheapest costs or how

to promote their tourism images to the internal and external friends to reach the bestefficiency.

At the time that such traditional advertising means as newspapers, books andtelevision, etc do not maintain the key role any longer, demands for new advertising meansare essential In addition, in the recent years, the great development of informationtechnology and especially internet and its instruments have resolved the shortcomings oftraditional advertising means that are short time and wide space, high effectiveness and lowcosts, since then opening for the countries, provinces and cities to develop new advertisingand marketing forms more effective with low costs, that is tourism promotion by onlinetools

Tourism promotion in the internet environment practically is the performance ofadvertising activities, tourism propaganda and sale of products on internet Internet-basedtourism promotion brings more effective than the traditional advertising means, at the sametime help to minimize advertising costs as well as overcome a lot of shortcomings oftraditional advertising means or tools

Provinces and cities can take advantage of all online instruments such as website,blog, electronic newspaper, searching tools, etc for popularizing and propagandizing theirimages, building network communities, strengthening relationships to the public, enabling

to introduce and link the local tourism travel agencies with the provinces and cities aroundthe world

* Another factor is the integration and competition Though this model is not

integrated, nobody today negates that the globalization is an essential trend The integrationfactor creates the competition, competitors come from many areas The integration requiresbusinesses to adjust in accordance with comparative advantages, labor arrangement in theregion and the world

At present, the competition in tourism business is not only in the scope of the nation

(among businesses and locals) but also within the regions and continents (among countries

and cities) To win this competition, the State, cities, provinces and tourism suppliers,

professional associations in tourism, etc find all measures to attract resources of touristslargely One of these measures is tourism promotion The more severe in the competitionamong destinations, the more developed in tourism promotions

1.3.2 Internal factors

1.3.2.1 Factor on the people in tourist attraction promotion

Services are provided by the people and for the human so factor on the people plays avery important role in the tourism in general and tourism promotion in particular andconcurrently it reflects the service quality of services industries generally

Unlike other consumption products and goods, tourism destinations are not pureproduct but a collective product including services on transportation, accommodation,sightseeing, entertainment and leisure; consumption goods and souvenir; other supplementservices for the needs of tourists It is not easy for the tourism promotion of the country andcities to introduce a general product satisfying customers and encouraging them to use.Service objects of tourism labor and tended objects of tourism promotion is thepeople The people here is not only within a country or a region, etc but also theinternational tourists Visitors have various needs, qualification and understanding andculture as well If the cities retain the majority of simple labor force while lack of trainedlabors, service quality will not be ensured, tourists can hardly satisfy their proper needs atmaximum Therefore, the measurement of the tourism development and representation oftourism contribution to the economy of provinces and cities as well as the country depends

on the attraction of tourists

Tourism promotion is conducted by the subjects at three different levels including thenation, local and businesses

Subject at the State level consists of agencies in charge of tourism promotionbelonging to Ministry of Tourism or the State administrative agencies in tourism in charge

of implementation Core targets of the promotion in this level are to provide synthetictourism information involving the country and enhance the country’s images for tourists inthe potential market previously defined

Subject at the local level includes the local administrative agencies such as Tourismmanagement departments in the cities and provinces directly under the Center Tourismpromotion’s role in the provinces and cities is very remarkable in the propaganda,popularization and attraction of the international tourists to these provinces and cities,human resources in the tourism promotions hence must be particularly interested They notonly have professional knowledge and skills in marketing and promotion but also havingthorough knowledge of and researching the entire knowledge of the cities and tourismplaces as well as market characteristics expected to promote

Tourism promotion is also held and performed by the third subjects who are touristagencies Targets of propaganda and popularization of these subjects have manydifferences Main different target that is to provide information related to the businesses’capacity, prestige and tourism products of these businesses and attract the tourists to buythese products

Activities of three above-stated subjects create an overall tourism promotion bringing

a comprehensive efficiency This overall promotion will resolve the information provisionsufficiently and fully ensuring the satisfaction of the tourists on domestic tourism

information and when they travel to certain tourism destination This tourism promotionhas three main objects including potential tourists, travel agencies, mass media Objects ofthe propaganda and popularization have different demands on types, contents, information,amount of information, nature of information provided by subjects of this operation.

For this reason, professional skills of the tourism promoters play a very important roleand decide the success of tourism promotions They must be experts in marketing,proficient at foreign languages and informatics, good communication skills and self-confident to be able to set up reliable relationships with partners, potential customers.Besides, they must have extensive social knowledge, especially in tourism, historical andcultural information of their country and city as well as cultural characteristics of thecountries where they do activities of tourism promotion

1.3.2.2 Finance for tourism promotionTotal expense for the tourism promotion is prerequisite to the results of tourismpromotion of the cities and provinces With a source of abundant budget, any city orprovince may be capable to organize many tourism advertising events and programs It alsomeans that the attraction of tourist in provinces and cities with rich budget will be moreadvantageous

The following methods are often used by the locals to determine the budget for thepromotion:

- According to the percentage of revenue: Budget for the promotion can be built onthe basis of a certain percentage of revenue estimated to perform in such period However,there are some places determining the budget for the promotion according to expendituresfor a unit per visits of tourists and then totalizing to find out the budget for the promotion

- According to financial resources: The budget for the promotion is determined as acertain amount depending on the ability of assurance from the annual budget of the citiesand provinces

- According to the competitive requirement: To get the tourism competitiveadvantages, the attraction requires to financial resources to be appropriately allocated Thebudget for the promotion can be determined as equivalent or higher than that of the maincompetitors that are tourism cities within the area with the similar characteristics in thetourism products

- According to targets and duties of implementation: On the basis of requirements onperiodical duties, the urgency and sensitivity, etc the provincial and city governments willdefine targets and which promotion activities should be performed to reach such targets.Since then the agencies in charge of tourism promotion will establish financial plans for thenext year’s promotion depending on activities tended to participate and develop by the city

tourism The provincial and city governments based on such budget proposals and theirfinancial resources will arrange the budget for the promotion.

Most of small and medium-sized tourism cities, provinces and developing countriesaround the world with the limited funds usually deduct the percentage of revenue fromtourism to develop the tourism promotion whereas major provinces, cities and countriesdraw from revenue USD 8-10 per international tourist for the tourism promotions

1.3.2.3 Organization of tourism promotion apparatus

Tourism promotion agency has an important role in the attraction of tourist of theprovince and city One of reasons why the city should have tourism promotion agency that

is tourism service products are usually in fixed position Want to use these products, thetourists must come to see, touch, taste and smell, etc As a result, tourism promotion agencymust be established to find out the needs and taste of customers, introducing information,images of tourism products and services to the consumers and satisfying the tourists’ needs.Tourism promotion agency is functioned as the target market bridge with the tourism

of the province and city This role is expressed by searching the tourists’ needs, satisfying

the tourists’ needs This is the first key to find out what the tourists want, how specific inlocal tourism service products Tourism promotion agency together with the tourismadministrative agency also function in consulting, orienting the strategic construction of

tourism development of the province and city These are long-term strategies, key

investments in the right direction and with specific objectives set out in the process.

The organization of the tourism promotion apparatus of the provinces and cities isoften based on different criteria such as: function, geography, product and customermarket; at the same time, based on the potentialities, advantages to organize apparatusproperly, practically and effectively

- Function-based organization: employees in all jobs have specific and separate tasks.This kind of organization helps the employees can focus and specialize in their tasks Theleader will bear full responsibility and cooperate with the employees

- Geography-based organization: is often applied by tourism promotion agency in themajor provinces and cities as propaganda and popularization of tourism to global markets.Departments in the tourism promotion agencies in this case will take responsibility in thegeographic area they are in charge They can themselves make decisions in the marketareas under their management and subject to the general control and comply with thestrategies of the tourism management agency of the Nation and State

- Product-based organization: When the cities and provinces have many differenttourism services, the tourism promotion agency arranges duties to divisions in charge ofrelevant tourism services

- Customer market-based organization: This method is practically applied because it

is originated from the market needs Markets differ from the tastes of consumption so thetourism promotion strategies of the cities should be adjusted and changed appropriate to themarket needs

Ways of organizing the promotion apparatus of the provinces and cities should beflexible depending on the targets, policies on tourism development as well as other localconditions to select the most suitable tourism promotion agency This progress can bechanged because every way of organization is usually planned in a long time and assessedand verified the performance

1.4 Experience on tourism promotion of some provinces and lessons learnt for Ha Giang

1.4.1 Experience on tourism promotion of some provinces and cities.

1.4.1.1 Experience on tourism promotion of Hanoi

- In respect of the market research and construction of tourism products for thecore market:

In order to get effectiveness in the tourism, Hanoi focuses on the market research,determining the target and core market To organize effectively the tourism promotionstrategies, it is necessary to base on the market research results, depending on the targetmarket defined, characteristics, psychology and traveling trends of potential customers, ordepending on the comprehensive market strategies to propose proper promotion,propaganda strategies This experience is also the connection between the market andproducts by the tourism promotion and propaganda

- Construction of brand and images of the tourism destinations

Construction of brand and images of the tourism destinations will help to create theunique and difference among destinations Brand of the destination is not only the tangiblefactors such as advertising slogan, logo, color schedule, catalogues or website but also suchintangible factors as advertising information, efforts in public relations and directmarketing, specific events, strategies on selling and implementation of service products.Brand is always a mixture of these factors in the connection with its position and nature

In addition to the construction of brand, the construction of tourism images of thelocal is also a leading task in the tourism promotion This is a strategic decision to make the

differences and competitiveness compared to other destinations

- Flexible use of tourism promotion tools

It is essential to perform promotion and propaganda activities flexibly anduninterruptedly to avoid the oblivion and these promotion campaigns must be simplified,accessible and informative One or mixture of tools can be used depending on the nature of

destinations, characteristics of groups of the target customers, target markets, strategies oncompetition and budget for the tourism promotions.

As building the mixed marketing strategies with the purpose of promoting theeffectiveness of promotion tools, Hanoi uses propaganda means flexibly that is both usingadvanced technologies, modern advertising films and advantages of internet topropagandize and popularize, introduce products and not disregarding the popular, simplepublications such as tourism map, catalogues, brochures, book and photos, etc

- Implementation of promotion campaigns and programs

Hanoi focuses on building and implementing large-scale promotion campaigns andprograms with the purpose of promotion of tourism effectively These campaigns arenoisily organized to promote the city’s tourism images to the key markets to attract thedomestic and international tourists

Campaigns have their own slogans and symbols and normally last for 1-2 years.Some slogans may be used longer because they promote effects in the previous campaignssuch slogans as “Infinitely Yours, Seoul” In order to organize the impressive and effectivecampaign and program, it is essential to have great efforts of the tourism agency of the city,the close cooperation with the national tourism agency, departments and related bodies ofthe city government, businesses and the responses of the citizens under the unifiedleadership of the Government and City Leaders

The city positively organizes the tourism events in the country and foreign countries

as well such as food fairs, traditional cultural festivals, sports events, tourism internationalseminars and forums, sales promotion campaigns, etc at the same time organizing FAMTRIP tours for travel agencies, foreign journalists cooperate with the mass media andtaking advantages of internet to propagandize these events at the most As a result, theimplementation of new propaganda campaigns and programs of the city becomes moresuccessful, attracting more visitors and bringing significant foreign currencies to the city 1.4.1.2 Some experiences in tourism promotion of Ninh Binh province

Ninh Binh with the favorable geographic location, plentiful tourism natural resources,systems of tourism service facilities are invested rather synchronously that are principalfoundation for attracting the tourists to Ninh Binh In the recent years, the tourismpromotion and propaganda activities are attached special importance to step up and reachencouraging results Through the tourism promotion practice of Ninh Binh, someexperienced lessons are learnt, namely:

First, Ninh Binh well organizes the propaganda and promotion in many forms It

firstly intensifies the advertisement tended to the diversification of information, focusing

on the mass media such as newspaper, radio and television, especially internet,

concurrently actively propagandizing to improve the awareness and knowledge of tourismdevelopment for the local communities These activities contribute to enhance theawareness of all levels, divisions, sectors, tourism businesses and the inhabitants in theprovince in the terms of construction of tourism brands and images of Ninh Binh.

Second, promotion and propaganda on the internet are also promoted with the

establishment and development of two electronic websites on tourism promotion including: (http:// www.ninhbinhtourism.com.vn and www.dulichninhbinh.com.vn) Websites are posted by three languages (Vietnamese, English and French) withupdated data and images sufficiently, plentifully which are reliable addresses for thetourists and travel agencies to find out and understand the tourism of Ninh Binh There areaveragely more than 3,000 accesses per day and at current, these websites are ranked at thesixth per ten by google page

Third, Ninh Binh has built a system of publications and information materials in

tourism which are rather plentiful and adequate in types The tourism has built its logo and

title of tourism “Ninh Binh - Non nước hữu tình” (or Ninh Binh – Charming Sceneries) as

foundation for the tourism promotion of brand and images of Ninh Binh consistently andprofessionally Contents of publications are selected and updated information related toprices, services, accommodation, shopping in multiple languages (Vietnamese, English,Chinese and French) enabling the visitors to self-organize the trips

Forth, Ninh Binh has organized a lot of seminars and conferences on

management and development of tourism such as conference on “Stable development ofNinh Binh tourism in the correlation of cooperation and assistance of the friend provinces”

in 2003, “Optimal management model of area and location” in 2007, “Solution for stabledevelopment of Ninh Binh tourism” in 2008 Ninh Binh annually takes the initiative toinvite and welcome the travel agencies, the press, television and tourism administrativeagencies to come to survey, study and set up new tourism programs and products NinhBinh participates in trade fairs and conferences and exchanges tourism topics in the coremarkets in tourism such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Hue and DaNang, etc these activities enrich the activities of tourism propaganda and promotion ofNinh Binh significantly contributing to the promotion of brands and attracting visitors tocome to Ninh Binh

1.4.1.2 Some tourism promotions in Lao Cai province

- Tourism and trade fair in Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province: Aimed atstrengthening the promotion of tourism products of Lao Cai province in general and Sa Pa

district in particular, promoting the stable development of tourism, stimulating theconsumption, introducing and consuming specific products of regions of Vietnam to somearea away from the city center.

These activities enhance the promotion of investment, tourism propaganda, commerce

of Sa Pa district, respecting the native cultural characters and traditional products of theethnic minorities in Sa Pa area, Lao Cai, associated with the campaign on “Người Việt

Nam ưu tiên dùng hàng Việt Nam” (Vietnamese people use products made in Viet Nam) In

addition, there are many practical activities mixed to implement so that Sa Pa district canintroduce and propagandize its socio-economic development achievements to the peopleand visitors

Sa Pa trade and tourism fair with the subject “Sa Pa - Nơi gặp gỡ đất trời” (Sapa

where the heaven meets the earth), associated with the organization of “Lễ hội Trên mây”

(Cloud festiaval) in 2013 There are 150 show cases in the trade fair (with 20 food show

cases) participated by dozens of domestic and foreign businesses Lao Cai provincearranges 10 show cases in the trade fair to introduce its specific products in tourism,agriculture, and forest of Sa Pa and the province Show cases are arranged in various areas,including show cases in tourism promotion, introducing tours of travel agencies of Lao Caiprovince, Lai Chau, Son La, Dien Bien, etc Furthermore, there are also show casesintroducing agricultural, forestry, aquatic products of the provinces and cities; products oftraditional trade villages of the ethnic minorities of Mông, Dao, Giáy in Sa Pa, exportedgoods, daily consumption goods such as textiles, furniture, household appliances, etc.Especially in the trade fair, there are show cases in pharmacy, traditional medicine- specificproducts of the ethnic minorities of Sa Pa district in particular and Lao Cai province as well

as the Northwestern provinces in general

- Experience in the community tourism in Bac Ha district, Lao Cai province:

Characteristics of the community tourism in Bac Ha district are the tourists can enjoythe natural ecology and live within the communities of villages, traditional nativecharacters of the ethnic groups of Mông, Dao, Tày, Nùng, giấy

To organize this form of tourism, the first importance is to build the cultural andtourism villages, attaching the special importance to the construction of technical facilitiessuch as traffic roads, electricity, water, communication, and auxiliary works meeting theneeds of tourists The second importance is to preserve and promote the traditional culturalcharacters, both food culture and festivals, folk songs, popular games, etc The thirdimportance is to implement well the promotions on the attraction of tourists

Community tourism facilities in Bac Ha have focused on the three above-statedcontents, especially the promotion activities The district has held the training classes for

such facilities in respect of methods on service organization of welcoming the tourists inhouses and communication skills with the tourists, cooking for the tourists, ways ofarranging furniture in the families and rooms for the tourists, methods on organizing theactivity models of the community tourism villages.

Arriving Bac Ha, the tourists may discover and experience from the daily life andlabor of the native people Actvities discovered by the tourists are very simple and easyones in the daily life but very lively The tourists like sightseiing, making films on thevillage scenes and landscapes, houses on stilts, traditional dresses and taking photos withthe native people Moreover, the tourists like seeing the women here weaving and entering

in other traditional cultural activities

In the nights, on the bamboo floor, near the warm fire, the performances of folkartisans throwing the tourists into ecstasy with folk songs The tourists can both listen tothe song and enjoy the traditional dishes such as grilled bamboo, roast pork, phrynium-

wrapped chicken, steamed fishes, and bamboo-tube rice, etc and drinking rượu cần (wine

drunk out of a jar through pipes, corn wine, etc

of documents to submit the UNESCO for accepting Dong Van Karst Plateau GlobalGeopark as CVDVTC; The government early approves the master plan on preservation,restoration and development of Global Geopark, period 2012-2012 vision to 2030 Atcurrent, Ha Giang province is interested in directing and implementing the construction ofdetails plans and dozens of projects at costs of hundreds of billion dong Such interestblows a new breathe of air for the tourism development in the karst plateau

In 2011, the government approved the tourism development strategies of Vietnamuntil 2020, vision to 2030 and decided the exemption of unilateral visa for tourists fromseven countries, determining to advertise on foreign television channels such as CNN,BBC; promulgating the stimulation program of domestic tourism in 2009, etc for thepurposes of interrupting the reduction, maintaining the growth of the tourism of Vietnam.Political determination and the concern of the leaders at all levels, especially seniorleaders, are important and leading factor for the Tourism of Vietnam in general and of theGlobal Geopark in particular in order to existence and development

Second lesson: Mobilization of resources for promoting the attraction of tourism

In comparison with other provinces and cities, the State budget of Ha Giang allocated

to the tourism promotion is limited At the same time, according to the general guideline on

“reduction of the public expenditures”, expenditures from the State budget for the tourismpromotion will gradually be lessened The mobilization of resources for promoting theattraction of tourists therefore requires the socialization flexibly, of which the State budget(probably making an inappreciable density in total expenditures for the promotion) plays

an important role as “oriented finance” and relying on that the locals and businesses mayarrange from their own funds, since then to implement in the right range, adequate contentsand effectively in a promotion activities of every region and local

For promotion activities in accordance with the initiatives of the businesses, orpromotion of tourism products, services of the businesses, the businesses will be sponsored

by the local agencies in the terms of information and directed the contents The businesseswill self-allocate expenditures for their tourism promotion and popularization

Third lesson: The professionalism and high speciality in the tourism promotion

The tourism of Vietnam in general is in the integration with the region and the world.The promotion for the attraction of tourists thus must step by step professionalize, ensurethe high speciality enabling the integration, competition and promotion effectively

Tourism promotion is not only to sell “what we have” (tourism potentiality), orpropagandize the common images of the locals but also to sufficiently perform and ensurethe quality of marketing steps of tourism, from the market research, orientation of productconstruction and tourism promotion, construction of tourism brands, etc To do these tasks,

it is essential to complete in team of the people, organization of apparatus, process onconstruction of plans and implementation scientifically, in accordance with the schedulesand progress

Forth lesson: The connection and cooperation in the competition

Activities on inter-region and inter-country connection and cooperation in the recentyears have had obvious results for the popularization and promotion of tourism.Connection model of 8 northwestern mountainous provinces, of 3 central provinces (ThuaThien Hue, Da Nang, and Quang Nam) has gradually built the tourism brands of theseregions

As a result, for Ha Giang, connection and cooperation in the competition are essentialtrend for the development of tourism and activities of promotion and propaganda as well.This connection includes both the cooperation and the competition and rather severe Thus,

Ha Giang should have strategies on tourist products, simplifying the procedures for thetourists, competing in prices and brands, etc

Fifth lesson: Taking advantage of the international assistance

The assistance of the World Tourism Organization, leading developing countries intourism helps us to integrate with the region and the world, at the same time offering as alot of valuable practical experience The tourism of Vietnam in general and tourism in HaGiang in particular hence should take advantages of this valuable assistance, both inexperts, consultancy and finance and training

(In the recent years, the Tourism of Vietnam has been supported by the EuropeanCommunity by the projects on human resource development (second period) and thetourism development programs which are liable for the ESRT environment and society(second period) The tourism of Vietnam also receives the assistance of Luxembourgproject on the development of human resources, Spain project on improvement of humanresources for the tourism of Vietnam in the implementation of the tourism developmentstrategies in period 2011-2020, vision to 2030 Experts of the ESRT program presently aresupporting the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism in building the tourismmarketing strategies up to 2020 and action plan of tourism marketing up to 2015

Sixth lesson: Construction of separate images and messages for Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark

Messages here are all things that the tourism of Ha Giang wishes to transmit to thetourists The tourists can see and hear easiest and fastest and most impressive Creating thedifferent tourism images and different tourism products

Seventh lesson: Promotion must be attached to the tourism products and market

Activities on promotion and popularization of tourist attraction must be attached tothe promotion of tourism products in conformity with every market and market segments.Projects on researching and promotion of the tourists in the key tourism markets ofVietnam performed by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism together withmarket researches, construction of products of the locales and businesses have affirmed thecorrectness of this trend Such attachment:

- Maintain the tourism images in the tourists’ mind: tourism slogan, products andimages of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark must have good impression in thetourists’ minds as visiting the park

- Building a tourism image of the Geopark on the way of the international integration:

Ha Giang must take the initiative in organizing events at the regional and internationalrange Such events may be activities related to the tourism or not however the participantscan associate with travelling, then they will become the promoters of tourism images of thepark

- Emphasize the specific cultural factor in the promotion

Cultural factor here can mean: At first, it is the culture of the nation or region In thepromotion, the cultural highlights, differences of the culture and lifestyle, thoughts can beintroduced to the tourists resulting in the tourists’ interest and they want to come to GlobalGeopark Second, the culture is methods of promotion and message of promotion reflectingthe healthy lifestyle that every people love, avoiding offensive images or stimulative andunhealthy factors of desires.

- Develop the values of food culture

The richness and specificity of the local food are advantages thus it is essential tohave specific plans so that food of the region becomes an attractive feature enabling thefurther development of tourism Highland food of Ha Giang is loved by a lot of domesticand international tourists

- Fully develop the role of the community-based tourism This kind of tourism has theremarkable socialization, insignificant investment costs, simple organization suitable to themanagement capacity of households, communities of the upland ethnic minorities; for thisreason, this should be preferentially considered to implement

Chapter 2 REALITY ON THE ATTRACTION OF TOURISTS TO DONG VAN KARST

PLATEAU GLOBAL GEOPARK IN HA GIANG 2.1 Introduction to Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark in Ha Giang 2.1.1 Background

Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark consists of the administrative boundary offour districts of Ha Giang including Quang Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac witharea of more than 2,350km2 Here is the spiritual Northern land of the country of Vietnam

On 03rd October 2010, the Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark is also recognized asmember of the Global Geopark Network This is the first geopark of Vietnam and thesecond geopark in Southeast Asia and is marked by the following milestones:

After more than 10 years of cooperating in research and development in the Northwesternkarst region of Vietnam, in 2001, Scientists of Vietnam and Belgium firstly participated andaccessed to study some karst regions in Bac Kan and Ha Giang, belonging to the Northeast

of Vietnam Approaching Dong Van Karst Plateau, the scientists were really surprisedbecause of the majestic beauty of the nature here, the brilliant colors of the culture of 17ethnic groups and very shortage of domestic water resource for the local inhabitants Then,since 2003 to 2006, Vietnamese and Belgian scientists held many surveys of caves, karstgeological studies, from which to affirm that the traditional agriculture-based economywith the very scarce land and water resources will surely not be able to develop stably andcan not help the inhabitants out of the poverty, as a result, it is essential to find out othermodel of economic development depending on the advantages of Dong Van Karst Plateau

In 2006, the Vietnamese –Belgian Cooperation project on “Strengthening the capacity inresearch and development of the geopark in several Northeastern regions of Vietnam” ofwhich Dong Van Karst plateau is a key area approved by the Councils of Belgian

Universities In 2007 – 2008, a lot of Conferences were held in the Vietnam Institute of

Geosciences and Mineral Resources (VIGMR), Ha Giang town (Ha Giang city) andHanoi Particularly, on 11th and 12th September 2009, in Dong Van town, Dong Van disitrct,

Ha Giang province, People’s Committee of Ha Giang province worked with suchMinistries as Natural Resources and Environment, Culture, Sports and Tourism, ForeignAffairs and National Committee for UNESCO Vietnam organized the Dong Van KarstPlateau Global Geopark in Ha Giang province The conference attracted more than 200member at home and abroad On 19th November 2009, the People’s Committee of HaGiang province promulgated some important decisions including the establishment ofDong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark, strengthening the Construction SteeringCommittee of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark, establishment of the GeoparkManagement Board (directly under Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of HaGiang) With the high determination to successfully build the first geopark of Vietnam in

Ha Giang, especially on 10th December 2009, The People’s Council of Ha Giang provincepromulgated Resolution no 19/NQ-HGND concerning the construction of Dong Van KarstPlateau into the global geopark demonstrating the high decision and consensus of theGovernment and the people in Ha Giang On 27th November 2009, Request profiles on therecognition of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark were submitted by the NationalCommittee of UNESCO Vietnam to the Executive Committee of the Global GeoparkNetwork In April 2010, the delegation of Vietnam combined the People’s Committee of

Ha Giang, National Committee of UNESCO Vietnam and Vietnam Institute of Geosciencesand Mineral Resources entered into the 4th International Conference on Geopark inLangkawi, Malaysia The delegation agreed with the Executive Committee of GlobalGeopark Network on the schedule of verification of Dong Van Karst Plateau GlobalGeopark Since 27th June to 03rd July 2010, the Specialist group of the Global GeoparkNetwork came to Vietnam, worked with the National Committee of UNESCO Vietnam, HaGiang People’s Committee, and Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resourcesfor the real verification of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark Within 01th 05thOctober 2010 in Lesvos, Greece, the 9th Conference of the European Geopark network wastaken place In the Conference, the Advisory Council of the network met and officiallyrecognized Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark as one of 77 members of the Global