Da Nang: Number of visitors increases with flights

To attract tourists to Da Nang, the city, tourism industry and
related units are making efforts to promote cooperation
with domestic and foreign airlines. Photo: Diep Nhu

The continuous operation of new routes has contributed to affirming Da Nang’s role as a “gateway” to the Central region. From flights bringing passengers from nearby markets, they have become an extended arm, aiming to attract tourists from more distant markets.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai An, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Tourism, said that up to now, there are 20 flights to Da Nang, including 5 domestic flights: Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Lat, Hai Phong, Can Tho and 15 regular international flights: Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Taipei - Taichung - Kaohsiung (Taiwan - China), Macau (China), Hong Kong (China), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Incheon - Busan - Daegu - Cheongju (Korea), Narita (Japan), Manila (Philippines). Accordingly, in the first 9 months of 2024, the average frequency is 115 flights/day (64 domestic flights and 51 international flights) to Da Nang. On September 24, the city welcomed the first flight of Malaysia Airlines operating the Kuala Lumpur - Da Nang route.

With a flight network spanning Asia, Europe, and Oceania to nearly 1,000 destinations in more than 170 countries and territories, the city's tourism industry expects Malaysia Airlines to be a bridge to help Da Nang expand its tourism market to attractive destinations around the world.

On the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Da Nang operated by Malaysia Airlines, Mr. Amir Azaman (from Malaysia) shared that Da Nang has many landscapes, attractions and is close to world cultural heritages... so tourists are very interested in the destination. Having a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Da Nang has created favorable conditions for tourists between the two countries to travel for tourism, vacation as well as other trade activities. This also helps increase the travel options of tourists as well as the source of visitors for the two countries.

It is known that this October, Vietjet Air is expected to launch a flight route from Amedabad (India) to Da Nang; in addition, Indonesian airline Citilink Airlines has planned to operate the first direct charter flights from Jakarta (Indonesia) to Da Nang city by the end of 2024. The airline will coordinate with travel companies in Da Nang and Central Vietnam to open a flight route with a frequency of 2 flights/week, thereby opening up opportunities to connect to key customer markets.

In addition to policies to attract domestic tourists, to increase potential tourists from the international market, in the coming time, the city's tourism industry will continue to promote the opening of direct international flights to Da Nang from markets such as China, Japan (Nagoya, Osaka), Australia. The city also focuses on expanding and exploiting the markets of tourists from the US, the Middle East, Uzbekistan, Southeast Asia, etc.

Regarding the Chinese market, the Department of Tourism is coordinating with relevant parties to support the restoration of flights from mainland China to Da Nang. The restoration of the network of regular and charter flights from major cities in China to Da Nang will be carried out as soon as possible.

The tourism industry will implement a plan to promote and connect flight routes to attract visitors in 2025; organize conferences to promote international flights; coordinate with aviation management agencies (Da Nang International Airport, Da Nang International Terminal Investment and Operation Joint Stock Company), airlines, and tourism businesses to organize conferences to promote international flights to discuss in-depth solutions to restore, maintain, and promote international flights to Da Nang.

The Department of Tourism continues to advise the city on policies to attract and increase international flights to Da Nang; coordinate with airlines and tourism businesses to promote the reopening of charter flights from China (Chengdu, Hangzhou, Guangzhou), Indonesia (Jakarta, Bali), Japan (Nagoya, Osaka), Australia (Sydney, Melbourne), Qatar (Doha) ... to Da Nang.

To effectively introduce and exploit domestic and international visitors, the city has also directed the tourism industry to strengthen solutions, including promoting cooperation in tourism development, especially innovating communication work, emphasizing innovation of destinations and new, unique products and services, suitable to the trends and tastes of each tourist market.

It is expected that in 2024, the total number of visitors staying in Da Nang will reach 10.3 million, an increase of nearly 40% compared to 2023 (international visitors are estimated to reach 4.2 million, an increase of 2.1 times). By 2025, the target is to strive for the total number of visitors staying in the city to reach more than 10.5 million, an increase of 6% compared to 2024, of which international visitors are estimated to reach 4.3 million, an increase of 11%, and domestic visitors are estimated to reach more than 6.2 million.

Ms. Truong Thi Hong Hanh, Director of Da Nang Department of Tourism, informed that currently, international destinations are facing strong competition such as Thailand, China, due to cheap prices, open visa policies, government support in cash for airlines to open routes, giving cash vouchers to tourists... Thereby, the trend of shifting some traditional tourist markets to new destinations is a reality that has been and is happening. Shifting the international tourist market is one of the problems for the tourism industry and businesses in the industry to evaluate more comprehensively to have long-term solutions.
* Diep Nhu, Danang Electronic Newspaper - baodanang.vn 
Keywords: Danang,flight,flight path,