The Golden Bridge offers a check-in for tourists visiting the Sun World Bà Nà Hills in Đà Nẵng. The city has been designed as a liveable urban city. — Photo courtesy of Sun Group

Hoài Nam

ĐÀ NẴNG — With stable growth in the economy, infrastructure, urban management, tourism and investment attraction, the central city of Đà Nẵng is challenging to develop into a ‘liveable’ city of regional and global status.

Economist Võ Trí Thành said at a seminar on how to develop Đà Nẵng as a destination and a liveable city in Việt Nam and region, emphasising that the central city had not yet approached the ‘liveable’ standard and it needed much progress to reach the target.

Thành said Đà Nẵng had been known as a favourite destination in Việt Nam but was not yet a ‘worth living’ location in terms of enjoyment, relaxation, and entertainment.

“A ‘liveable’ city requires maximising consumption, commodities, working places while promoting a ‘green’ environment, humanity, safe, smart and sustainable conditions. It means that everything is available to the needs of the people,” Thành said.

“The city should have a favourable business environment, hospitality, good working space condition, and accommodations in comparison to luxury areas such as Dubai and Singapore.” 

Trần Đình Thiên, former Director of the Việt Nam Institute of Economics, said Đà Nẵng had a decade of economic development from 2010-20.

A corner of Golden Hill, a new urban area in the northeast region of Đà Nẵng. The central city expects to attract tourists and investors with its unique tourism conditions, beach economy and hi-tech industries. — Photo courtesy of Trung Nam Group

He said the city increased the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) by eight times as much as in 2010 while making it in the top-ten group in Provincial Competitive Index (PCI) Public Administration Performance Index from 2006-21 and hosting 8.7 million tourists in the successful year of 2019.

Thiên said the city had formed an attractive urban city in central Việt Nam by planning key deep-sea airports, high-tech parks, an innovation centre, a logistics and multi-transport service centre, and a digital and smart urban city.

Lương Hoài Nam, a member of the Việt Nam Tourism Advisory Council, suggested that Đà Nẵng should build a destination for the ‘super rich’ with luxurious services at the airport, and a yacht harbour with docking for long stays.

He said the COVID-19 was a chance for luxury service promotion as ‘rich’ people sought a ‘safe’ location or hidden destination as a safe shelter for their family members.

Nam said Đà Nẵng Airport, which plans to upgrade new terminals and a cargo terminal could handle 40 million passengers if it expands to the east with available area.

He also said visa exemptions should be applied to potential markets such as the European Union, India, Japan and others to boost the post-COVID-19 tourism recovery.

Two giant cranes work at Tiên Sa Port in the city of Đà Nẵng. The seaport system will be much invested to lure businesses to the city. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Trần Nguyễn, head of the business section of Sun Group, said tourism was seen as one of the best income industries in Đà Nẵng before COVID.

“We have been investing in unique entertainment projects and night-time festivals in the mountainous Sun World Bà Nà Hills, Asia Park, Sky36 bar, beach musical fest, carnival, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) shows in offering day and night service for visitors,” Nguyễn said.

She said the 10,000-seat restaurant and vine tunnel in Bà Nà Hills – 1,500m above sea level – would be the favourite choice for nighttime entertainment during weekends and summer vacations.

Nguyện also said Sun Group debuted its airline, Sun Air, offering private jets service for ‘super rich’ people visiting Đà Nẵng and Việt Nam.

She said the InterContinental Đà Nẵng Sun Peninsula Resort – awarded the World’s Leading Luxury Resort in 2014-16 – had been one of the most luxurious accommodations for wealthy tourists.

The resort hosted a three-day vacation for billionaire financier George Soros in 2012.

The Director of the city’s tourism department, Trương Thị Hồng Hạnh, said the entertainment service of Sun Group attracted 60 per cent of tourists visiting the city.

The city’s tourism, which hosted 8.7 million tourists in 2019, was damaged by COVID-19 in 2010-21, but it expects to recover soon with a plan of receiving 3.5 million tourists in 2022.

Tourism made 23.7 per cent of the city’s GRDP in recent years.

Huỳnh Thị Liên Phương, director of the city’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA), said Đà Nẵng had been revving up preparations for pivot projects such as an international finance centre, duty-free zone, nursing home, and international school with a hope that visitors would choose Đà Nẵng as a second home, she said.

Đà Nẵng has been planning to become a ‘smart city’ and the first in Việt Nam to join the ASEAN ‘smart’ city network by 2030 in the form of a world destination and a ‘liveable’ city.

The new Liên Chiểu port will be constructed by the third quarter of 2022 for handling cargo ships with 100,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) and container ships with loading capacities from 6,000 to 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to the city’s IPA.

Tourists enjoy a tour of an islet of Sụng Cỏ at the foot of Hải Vân Mountain in Đà Nẵng. Tourism is one of the key industries contributing to the city's growth. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Đà Nẵng International Airport will handle 28 million passengers and 200,000 tonnes of cargo by 2030.

South Korea’s LG Electronics began construction of its R&D centre – the second in Việt Nam – in Đà Nẵng in 2021, while the city will offer the most favourable conditions for Samsung to expand cooperation and investment in the city and central Việt Nam.

A top resort and a residential project – Mikazuki Japanese Resort & Spa ($168.16 million investment) and Fusion resort & villas Da Nang (nearly $100 million) – were open for hosting visitors in the post-COVID-19 era in the city.  

Peter Meyer, General Director of Fusion resort & villas Đà Nẵng, said: "Fusion Resort & Villas Danang will meet the high demand for lifestyle and relaxation as well as wellness in Việt Nam." — VNS