Once the leading tourist destination in central Vietnam, the city of Hue is now falling behind its neighbors due to failure to diversify its tourism products.

According to Dinh Manh Thang, chairman of the provincial Tourism Association, the tourist industry of Hue has been staying at one place for the past 10 years, which he considered a waste of the city’s huge potentialities.

Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam and is now the capital city of Thua Thien-Hue, located on the central coast.

“Hue’s tourism is at the bottom among cities and provinces in the central region of Vietnam. When tourists come to the region, they prefer other destinations to Hue,” Thang said.

In 2015, Hue welcomed just over 3.2 million visitors, a four percent drop from the previous year’s figure, according to the data presented by councilor Tran Duy Tien at a meeting of the People’s Council of Thua Thien-Hue Province.

This number is humble when compared to that of Da Nang City, a rising neighbor that welcomed 4.6 million visitors last year, a 20.5 percent increase from the previous year.

Other provinces such as Quang Binh, Quang Nam, and Quang Tri all experienced rises in the numbers of domestic and foreign tourists, Tien said.

Addressing the lack of diversity in Hue’s tourism, Nguyen Hang Quy, president at HG Hue Travel Agency, said his clients frequently complain that there is nothing to see in Hue, and that it gets boring on their second night of stay, without any place to go shopping.

“Hue mostly promotes heritage tourism, which means the majority of profit comes from entrance ticket sales and hotel service,” Quy added.

“With this kind of tourism, tourists stay for a very short time, have nothing much to spend on, and usually never come back for a second visit, whereas if we promote resort tourism, they can extend their stay and pay more for extra services,” he further explained.

A representative from a major tour operator said there is currently a shift from Hue to Hoi An, an old town in neighboring Quang Nam Province, of foreign tourists when it comes to deciding which place to stay longer for their three-day visit.

Le Xuan Phuong, president of DMZ Tourist JSC, urged the establishment of an advisory panel which consists of experts, business representatives, and local authorities to come up with solutions for improving Hue’s tourist industry.

“This has to be for real and taken seriously, as they have hosted many events to welcome feedback and suggestions from businesses, but never actually got to put them into practice or even respond to the proposals,” Phuong stressed.

Meanwhile, Duong Thi Cong Ly, chief representative of Vietnam-Hanoi Tourist Company in Hue, attributed the ineffectiveness of Hue’s tourism promotion to unsuitable target markets.

“The key factor here is choosing the right target market and developing tourism products accordingly,” Ly said, adding, “doing so may narrow our customers, but would be more sustainable than focusing on Asian tourists like how we’re doing at the moment.”

Risto Honkanen, a Finnish visitor to Hue, reflected on his experience during his stay in the city, “Hue’s tourism products lack diversity. After visiting a couple of places, there’s not much else to do in the city to pass the time. Night services are almost non-existent, so there’s really nowhere to go.”

Nguyen Van Cao, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the province is appealing to the central government to allow it to establish a separate department in charge of tourism to better monitor the key industry.

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