Building airports to develop tourism, or attract tourists to exploit airports? Local authorities blame the low numbers of tourists to their localities on the lack of international air routes. Meanwhile, domestic and international air carriers have not opened air routes to the localities because of the modest numbers of passengers. The story of Da Nang City    Pham Thi Dung, a Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) in Ohio, the US, has experienced the comfortable flights to return to the homeland. She took the Washington – Seoul and then Seoul – Da Nang City direct flights. This proves to be the best choice for her, a 77 year old woman, who does not like long flights with many hops. In the past, the passengers from North America, who wanted to fly to the central region of Vietnam, had to fly to either Hanoi in the north or HCM City in the south before taking other flights to the central region. However, things have got different, as the Da Nang International Airport has opened. It is now the destination of many international air routes, including the ones from Hong Kong, Siem Reap (Cambodia), Incheon (South Korea), developed by domestic and foreign airlines. There are 23 international air routes from Da Nang to regional countries. To date, Da Nang has received 1.54 million tourists, including 169,000 tourists coming by air, an increase of 59 percent over the same period of 2012. These are, in the eyes of analysts, encouraging results, if noting that five years ago, some air routes only existed for one or two years only before they were shut down on the loss. In late March 2013, Dragonair, belonging to Cathay Pacific, opened the Hong Kong – Da Nang air route, turning Da Nang into the second destination of the airline in Vietnam. Patrick Yeung, Managing Director of Dragonair, said he believes the Hong Kong – Da Nang air route will exist. He has noted that the investment in the infrastructure system in Da Nang City is the heaviest in the central region. Vietnam Airlines, the national flag air carrier, opened two direct routes Da Nang – Seoul and Da Nang – Siem Reap at the same time in August. The Da Nang City authorities are conducting negotiations on the opening of direct air routes which link Da Nang with Thailand, Japan and Russia, hoping to receive 3 million passengers in 2013. Still awaiting opportunities According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), it is technically possible to set up the air routes linking Phu Bai airport in Hue City to Laos and the northeast of Asia, and linking the Cam Ranh, Lien Khuong, Phu Quoc and Can Tho airports with all the ASEAN countries and northeast of Asia. The airports have been upgraded over the last several years, now capable to receive 4 million passengers a year. However, the international airports still have not fully exploited because of few international air routes. Air carriers, domestic and foreign, still keep hesitant to open new routes for the fear for loss. Only the air route from the Cam Ranh airport to Russia still exists. The problems of the central provinces and cities nowadays are the same as the problems of Da Nang 10 years ago: the bad infrastructure conditions. Meanwhile, investors still hesitate to pour money into infrastructure because of the modest numbers of passengers. As such, the localities have still been caught in a vicious circle. Chi Mai, VietNamNet Bridge