“From October 2022, the opening of the first two direct flights from two major Indian cities, Mumbai and New Delhi to Da Nang by Vietjet Air, is a favorable premise for exchanging visitor resources between the destinations. The city plans to send working delegations to Middle Eastern destinations (Doha and UAE) to introduce tourism and promote the early reopening of Doha - Da Nang direct flights,” Ms. Truong Thi Hong Hanh - Director of Da Nang Department of Tourism spoke at the Program to prepare for India and Middle East markets on September 17th.
Attending the program were Mr. Subhash P. Gupta - Deputy Chief of Mission · Embassy of India in Hanoi, representatives of 200 hospitality businesses, and a press trip delegation including 15 Indian media agencies to survey tourism products and services in Da Nang and central provinces.
At the Program, tourism, culture, and culinary experts exchanged information on the psychology and tastes of Indian and Middle Eastern tourists. At the same time, they shared information about the plan to open direct flights from the major Indian cities of Mumbai and New Delhi to Da Nang.
Ms. Truong Thi Hong Hanh - Director of Da Nang Department of Tourism speaking
Accordingly, the Mumbai - Da Nang route with the frequency of 3 flights/week and the New Delhi - Da Nang route with a frequency of 4 flights/week by Vietjet Air will be opened from October 17th and October 18th, respectively. Vietjet Air will begin operating 3 new routes to Da Nang from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad on November 28th, November 29th, and December 1st, 2022, respectively, with a frequency of 4 flights/week each.
It is expected that the opening of direct flights from major Indian cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai to Da Nang operated by Vietjet Air will open up opportunities to attract Indian tourists to Da Nang. In addition, the Middle East market, especially the 9 key countries in the “Developing relations between Viet Nam and nations in the Middle East - Africa for the 2016 - 2025 period” Project, is one of the strategic markets in tourism cooperation and development of Viet Nam in general and Da Nang in particular. In 2018, Qatar Airways officially opened and operated the direct route Doha (Qatar) - Da Nang, contributing to attracting Middle Eastern tourists to explore Da Nang and opening up opportunities to connect to 150 destinations in the Qatar Airways network.
In order to attract Indian and Middle Eastern tourists to Da Nang in the coming time, Da Nang Department of Tourism, together with Da Nang Travel Association, Da Nang Tourism Development Fund, tourist attractions, travel agencies, and airlines in Da Nang, deploy to build luxury tourism products and services such as wedding tourism, resort packages, etc.
According to Mr. Cao Tri Dung - Chairman of Da Nang Travel Association, in order to carefully prepare for the upcoming Indian and Middle Eastern tourist markets, close and effective coordination is needed between travel agencies, airlines, and service providers as well as visa support and immigration management. In particular, travel businesses need to prepare necessary conditions to be ready to serve Indian and Middle Eastern tourists upon their visits to Da Nang..
The World Tourism Organization forecast that the number of Indian tourists would reach about 50 million by 2020. This makes India an attractive market that many countries aim to exploit, including Viet Nam.
