Ba Na Hills in Danang Province
NEW direct flights connecting Bangkok with Danang will likely boost the business travel landscape in central Vietnam, claim industry insiders.
Bangkok Airways launched four-times weekly flights between Danang and Bangkok in May, which was quickly followed by Vietnam Airlines’ launch of an identical route with the same frequency last month.
Jack Bartholomew, Khiri Travel’s director for Indochina, said: “(The new services) will certainly be good for business and international leisure travellers wanting to explore central Vietnam and the north.”
Vietnam’s third largest city and major Vietnamese port, Danang, welcomed 659,000 tourists, including more than 6,820 Thais, between January and May 2016 – a 25.9 per cent increase year-on-year. It is also the gateway to the popular tourist destinations of Hoi An and Hue.
Tinh Huynh, founder of Danang-based travel consultants, Green Age, hopes the new flights will lead to more investment in developing central Vietnam as a travel destination.
“International travellers don’t have to go to Ho Chi Minh City now so it opens up this part of the country more,” he said, urging the authorities to roll out stronger marketing strategies to capitalise on the new services.
