The Han River banks in Da Nang are decorated for hosting street festivals during weekend and summer vacations. Major airlines and airport services will flock to the city at the Routes Asia in early June. VNS Photo Le Lam

The Routes Asia Development Forum will be held in Da Nang City on June 4-9, with the participation of airlines in Asia and Europe, including British Airways, Lufthansa Group, Qantas Airways Limited, Air New Zealand, Air India, Indigo, Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Malaysia Airlines.

Over 200 airports and air service businesses will participate in the event.

The event, which will be co-organised for the first time by the city, IPP Travel Retail and Informa Routes, will prelude a series of investment, tourism and aviation network building, connecting Da Nang with regional and global air transport routes post-COVID-19.

Vice Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, Ho Ky Minh, said Routes Asia would mark the waking-up of tourism in the city and central region and discussions of new investment opportunities in Da Nang.

Minh said the event would highlight the Invest Da Nang Forum – an annual investment promotion and introduction of possible investment projects in the city on June 25.

He said the city would be busy with a series of inaugurations and commencement of crucial investment projects such as the University Village, the Long Thanh plastic manufacturing plant, a logistics and IT projects in Da Nang IT Park and Expanded Hoa Khanh Industrial Park.

The vice chairman also said the Da Nang-Mikazuki Japanese Spa & Resort project – the first Japanese style designed five-start resort and entertainment centre in Da Nang Bay – was officially put into operation in early June.

The 22-storey project, which covers 12.3ha, was built by Mikazuki Group from Japan with a total investment of more than US$100 million, offering a 294-room resort, a hot spring and water park and an ecological garden area.

Minh said Routes Asia would play as a platform for airlines, airports and tourism authorities to exchange plans and discussions in seeking positive recovery tourism cooperation and new air routes service in the post-pandemic time with 19 business-to-business meetings at the Routes Asia.

An exhibition on air service, aviation and aerospace industries, and a seminar on Viet Nam case study will be held at the city’s Exhibition and Events Centre on June 6-8.

Da Nang was booming with 48 international air routes with 462 flights per week, while 11 domestic routes operated with 665 flights per week before COVID-19 disrupted or suspended most travel routes.

Nine airlines have planned to reoperate their regular flights on 10 air routes connecting Da Nang with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan and India.

Singapore Airlines and Thai VietJet were the two first airlines operating the post-COVID-19 flights from Da Nang to Singapore and Bangkok from March.

Da Nang International Airport is designed to handle 28 million passengers and 200,000 tonnes of cargo by 2030.

Tourism surge

Meanwhile, neighbouring Quang Nam Province – the host of the National Tourism Year 2022, has begun its promotion programmes for summer vacations and year-end events.

The province inked cooperation agreements with two budged airlines – VietJet Air and Bamboo Airways – for 2022-26 while boosting promotion programmes with 17 local travel agencies for luring tourists to destinations in Quang Nam between June and September.

Director of the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department, Nguyen Thanh Hong said the province had hosted 1.5 million tourists since early this year, and room bookings at major hotels and resorts reached 80 per cent.

Da Nang’s accommodation service also hit 75 to 80 per cent – the highest percentage in the two-year COVID-19 deadlock – at weekends, while the four and five-star hotel and resort segment attained 30 to 35 per cent.

The central city has been boosted as a favourite destination for MICE and golf events with its pristine beaches and beach-front resort system.

Two sports events – the International Manulife Da Nang Marathon and VNG Ironman 70.3 Viet Nam – attracted 8,500 participants.

More than 4,000 visitors flocked to the city for conferences and meetings between January and May. — VNS