Tourism industry to make more use of general aviation

Helicopters, seaplanes and hot-air balloons are used in tourism activities in other countries, but in Vietnam, a lack of a legal framework and programme development have stalled their use.

Though the service fees are high, international travel firms said that the products are not hard to sell, and that in order to develop high-end tourism, the general aviation development is a must.

A senior executive of Saigontourist, one of the best known travel firms, said to promote tourism development, Vietnam needs to pay more attention to high-end services with hovercrafts, helicopters and balloons, especially in localities attractive to travelers, such as provinces from Khanh Hoa to Quang Binh in the central region.

The travel firm has asked the government to give support to service providers by offering preferential taxes and loans to help them satisfy diverse travelers'’ demands.

The Vietnam Helicopter Corporation (VNH) specializes in providing excursion tours with helicopters. Hai Au Aviation which provides tours with seaplanes is also a well known name. It is now the only seaplane airline in Ha Long.

Analysts said that pioneers in the field are meeting difficulties, partially because of the lack of a development programming and legal framework.

In July 2015, after launching excursion tour to Da Nang City with modern Airbus Helicopters EC-130T2, VNH planned to provide the service in other localities as well, including Quang Binh, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Ha Long Bay and Phu Quoc Island, over the next three years.

However, to date, Da Nang City remains the only destination for VNH’s excursion tours with helicopters.

Hai Au has recently announced it was incurring heavy loss as it could only use one-third of the capacity of its three modern seaplanes. After one year of operation, the company can only develop one route Hanoi-Ha Long Bay, while the plans to launch services in HCM City, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Can Tho, An Giang, Con Dao and Phu Quoc Islands remain on paper.

A Hai Au representative complained that businesses have to follow complicated procedures to get approval from the Ministries of Transport and National Defence for the opening of new air routes.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in April 2015 authorised the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to grant a business licence to the Globaltrans Air JSC in order to operate as a general aviation service provider, the fourth in Vietnam.

Thanh Lich / vietnamnet