Ponagar tower seen from Cai river, Nha Trang. (Photo: Tien Minh / VNA) Khanh Hoa has long been identified as one of the major island and service tourism centers of the country, a land with a long and unique history of marine culture and history of Vietnam. Many interesting landscapes, beautiful and natural beaches are evenly distributed in the three bays of Van Phong, Cam Ranh, Nha Trang and on the islands creating its own identity. Island Tourism , becoming a brand known to visitors from far and wide. However, Khanh Hoa also has the potential to build new and equally interesting tourism products, becoming “breakfast meals”, “snacks” for the whole vacation, tourist’s visit, Next to “main course” is island tourism. Potential for community tourism Not only has many famous sights about the sea and islands, Khanh Hoa is also a place to keep many long-standing cultural traditions, unique architectural works such as the legendary Ponagar Tower with a history of thousands of years, Dien ancient citadel Khanh, famous scientific research institutions such as: Institute of Oceanography, Pasteur Institute Nha Trang – associated with memorials about the life and career of scientist Alexandre Yersin. Khanh Hoa is a culturally diverse locality with many customs and folk festivals such as: The Fisherman Festival, the Thap Ba Festival, the Raglai’s Grave Festival has been recognized as an Intangible Heritage. National level… Rural and upland areas with ethnic minorities have been preserved, preserved and brought into play almost intact with traditional costumes, activities, culinary culture, festivals, music, folk songs, folk dance and the way of producing some handicrafts have created specific cultural values. In addition, the natural ecosystem of rivers, streams, rapids and lagoons creates an interesting and wild natural landscape. Mr. Tran Viet Trung – Director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Tourism affirmed that the province has favorable conditions to develop tourism in association with the community – tourism is developed on the basis of cultural values. of the community, managed, exploited and benefited by the residential community. In recent years, Khanh Hoa tourism has developed quite strongly, the number of tourists and revenue increased quite high in the period 2016-2019 when the total number of guests staying was over 23 million, of which international tourists reached 9, 55 million turns. Tourism revenue in the period 2016-2019 of Khanh Hoa increased more than 26% per year. Particularly, 2019 is the “golden age” of Khanh Hoa tourism, tourism revenue reaches 27,100 billion VND, contributing to the total product in the province (GRDP) reached over 12%. However, according to estimates, Khanh Hoa only receives about 10,000 visitors / year from the exploitation of the community based tourism, revenue from services and community tourism is estimated at only 30 billion VND / year; attract not many labors in rural areas and villages to participate in tourism services in the community. Although any local government also highly values ​​the prospects and effectiveness of the community tourism , such as contributing to creating stable jobs for local workers and shifting leisure time to professions, opening up services for tourism development … but for a long time, districts, towns, cities the city has not had the orientation and proper investment to develop this field. It can be determined that the CBT in Khanh Hoa develops not commensurate with its potentials and advantages, lacks investment, and the tourism product is monotonous, and lacks really new and attractive products. Along with that is limited service quality, weak tourism infrastructure, insufficient and weak tourism human resources, coordination between levels, sectors and localities in tourism management and development. This area lacks coherence and uniformity; Awareness about community based tourism development is not high … Another important reason is that the investment attraction and financial support for the CBT are still limited, not meeting the requirements of this type of tourism development. New idea for community based tourism Currently, the number of tour operators in Khanh Hoa province taking visitors to the community tourism destinations is too small, only 4-5 businesses. Recently, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, a tourist from Ward 8, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, said: “My whole family has come to Nha Trang for a trip, the past few days have joined the tour to enjoy the bay. Nha Trang beach, mud bath, enjoying all kinds of fresh seafood My family wants to learn something more at sea, but I have not heard of, nor do I know a tourist destination associated with the community in the area. mountains for example. ” With the view of developing the community based tourism together with the protection of natural resources and the environment, conservation and promotion of national cultural values, Khanh Hoa is diversifying new tourism forms and products. to attract tourists and prolong the stay of tourists. The province promotes the values ​​of rural and mountainous areas, giving priority to ecotourism, history, traditional craft villages …; build a number of policies to support community tourism development in the province. Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh – Deputy Director of Khanh Hoa Tourism Department said: “We are collecting opinions from agencies, units and individuals on the content to form a number of mechanisms and policies. support the development of community tourism in the province; conduct field surveys and collect opinions of local authorities on the construction of community tourism spots in the province. ” In the short term, Khanh Hoa tourism is expected to prioritize and focus on supporting investment and development in 4 localities: Ninh Hoa town, Dien Khanh district, two mountainous districts of Khanh Vinh and Khanh Son – places where tourist destinations are located. active community calendar. Thereby, the province hopes to improve its ability to attract and well serve the needs of tourists, create highlights, a number of pilot models of community tourism in the area in the period of 2021-2025. Hat-stacking profession in Khanh Hoa. (Source: Khanh Hoa Newspaper) The necessary policies in this plan are to support the construction and development of tourism products and services to attract the participation of the residential community. Some specific initial support items such as installation of signs, signposts to guide the way to community tourism attractions; renovate toilets, support equipment for homestay establishments to serve tourists; support male and female Raglai traditional costumes for the performing arts team in mountainous areas, support the entertainment team to promote and perform the Bai Hut performance of the local coastal area … In addition, Khanh Hoa also supports the training and fostering of knowledge and skills to serve tourists for individuals and households in the community to participate in providing tourism, relaxation and sightseeing services. It is expected that Khanh Hoa province will invest more than 13 billion VND from the state budget to implement these policies. According to the management representative’s assessment People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa province Some mountainous and coastal districts in the province have successfully built a number of community-based tourism models, but the spread is not high, not known by provincial tourists, mainly from visitors. neighboring districts. Every year, the People’s Committees of districts have not allocated a separate budget for tourism promotion and promotion, so the implementation of propaganda and promotion in the locality is still difficult. Therefore, the Provincial People’s Committee is considering a solution to support funding for each district to implement the above request. Khanh Hoa is already a destination for island tourism but as Mr. Nguyen Duc Chi – Chairman of Crystal Bay Group shares a destination with many different ecosystems that will provide visitors with different experiences, enrich their itinerary. It is also a way to create a special attraction, attracting tourists when coming to Khanh Hoa./.

Mr. Nguyen Phi Hong Nguyen, owner of a travel business in Nha Trang city, said: “With only 2 million, tourists can stay up to 3 days 2 nights, using sea and island tours as well as services. 4 – 5 star accommodation is equal to the price of 3 stars in previous years. Affordable price, good service quality and natural beauty are the right conditions for tourists to come to Nha Trang this summer “. This year, Khanh Hoa province does not hold a regular sea festival, instead, there are 114 cultural, art, tourism and sports activities with the theme “Safe destination – Nha Trang called”. from mid-April, ending on New Year’s Day 2022, with 4 groups operating at 4 times including: April 30 – May 1 in association with Am Chua Festival and Ponagar Tower Festival in 2021, Nha Trang summer calendar from June to July, National Day September 2 and New Year festival 2022. In the middle of this April, activities of “Legendary Journey of Motherland of Thien YA Na” will help visitors discover the cultural features of the land of Tram Huong such as: Am Chua Festival, Festival Ponagar tower, contest “Check in Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa”, street food, art performance program “Legend of Thien Y Ana” … Khanh Hoa tourism industry organizes many activities to attract domestic tourists. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ha – Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Khanh Hoa province said that this is the first time the locality has built the activities of the year into a series of events with themes, delineate space and time for tourists. come to learn and experience: “4 groups of activities at times, along with regular events, the total is up to more than 100 activities. All activities together with stimulus packages of tourism units create a very good resonance for Khanh Hoa tourism in 2021 will be more prosperous ”. In the first quarter of this year, the number of visitors to Khanh Hoa province was only 200,000, equal to 1/4 of the same period last year. However, this time, tourists started to increase, Khanh Hoa province strives to welcome about 200,000 visitors in April, to contribute to reach 5 million visitors this year. Mr. Tran Viet Trung – Director of Khanh Hoa Department of Tourism said, Khanh Hoa tourism is focusing mainly on attracting domestic tourists, the peak time from April to September. The tourism industry will promote linkage. to stimulate demand, connect with travel businesses in other localities, promote digital advertising to attract tourists: “Domestic tourists really want to learn about culture, lifestyle, children. people in Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa The tourism industry has also launched safe tourism, built a list of safe business tourism establishments, we went to inspect, check, and guide real units. show serious “. A famtrip group surveyed bringing domestic tourists to Nha Trang. Currently, Khanh Hoa province is ready funding and manpower to vaccinate Covid-19 for people aged 18 and over. Expectedly, there will be about 970 thousand people vaccinated with a cost of about 250 billion. Khanh Hoa is also one of six localities that are welcoming Vietnamese people to enter, isolate in tourist and resort areas. Mr. Dinh Van Thieu – Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee said, implementing the goal of both effective disease prevention and economic recovery and development; Khanh Hoa prioritizes investment in reviving the service-tourism industry and promoting and promoting, ready to welcome international tourist markets when it meets the necessary conditions. “Activities still have to implement 5K in epidemic prevention, first of all masks and medical declarations. According to the requirements and situation of each time, there will be an appropriate organization for the province’s requirements. Khanh Hoa has also submitted a document to the Government to ask for fireworks, to use the fireworks that have been prepared in the New Year’s celebration but have not yet been used “- Mr. Dinh Van Thieu said.