HANOI: Vietnam’s cultural tourism, with the promotion of the values of heritage sites and culinary culture, has been increasingly attractive for not only foreign tourists to the southeast Asian nation but also Vietnamese youngsters who wish to spread the national culture to international friends, according to a Vietnam News Agency (VNA) report.
Ha Van Sieu, Vice Director of the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT), said that the diversity in culture, ethnicity, lifestyle, and the fusion of Eastern and Western culinary cultures have led to a diversity of unique Vietnamese dishes and drinks, satisfying various tastes of foodies. Street food and traditional dishes are also becoming a strength of Vietnam, bringing unique experiences to tourists, he added.
Heritage sites
Besides, Vietnam is home to a treasure of 32 UNESCO-honoured world heritage sites, including five cultural and 24 intangible cultural and documentary heritage, not to mention the more than 40,000 relic sites across the country.
A large
number of traditional crafts, unique skills, and a system of festivals and craft villages have also made up a huge resource for cultural tourism development, the VNAT official said.
Statistics from the World Food Tourism Association (WFTA) showed that 81 percent of foreign visitors are keen on exploring the local cuisine. They are willing to spend 25-35 percent of their budget on food and beverage expenses during their trips. Many famous Vietnamese dishes such as pho (noodle), banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich), bun cha (rice vermicelli with grilled pork), and banh cuon (steamed rice roll) have been honoured on many prestigious international media channels and become “ambassadors” of Vietnamese tourism.
International recognitions
The VNAT official said that over the years, Vietnamese tourism has been highly evaluated with many international prizes. Last year, Vietnam was honoured by the World Tourism Awards as Asia’s leading heritage, cultural and culinary destination.
Sieu underlined that by understanding the
values of the local culture, tourists will continue to return to Vietnam.
Vu Van Tuyen, Director of Travelogy Vietnam, said that the cultural identity of regions, ethnic groups, and nations is what creates the attraction for tourists. Visiting cultural heritage sites in Vietnam is the second most popular activity among the international tourists, after resort tourism, he noted, stressing the need to connect heritage sites to build new routes for visitors.
He cited Ha Long Bay in northern Quang Nam province and Hue city in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue as examples of effective exploitation of heritage sites for tourism development. Last year, the Hue Monuments Complex, recognised as a World Cultural Heritage in 1993, received 2.28 million visitors, including 1.03 million foreigners, while Ha Long Bay, a World Natural Heritage since 1994, welcomed nearly 2.7 million visitors.
Meanwhile, other heritage sites such as Hoi An city in Quang Nam and the Trang An Landscape Complex in Ninh Binh received 4 m
illion and 6.6 million visitors in the year, respectively.
Art programmes
Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA), said that art programmes that tell stories of culture and history of localities, regions and the nation across the country have become attractive among visitors.
A highlight in the panorama of cultural tourism development is the rising trend of engaging in the preservation and spreading of the beauty of cultural values of the nation and people of Vietnam through tourism among Vietnamese youngsters.
Many new tourism models have been created by the youth, opening new doors to the world, bringing the national traditional culture and the image of Vietnam to international friends.
Outstanding models include Khanh So ECO in Khanh Hoa, green tourism in Ho Chi Minh City, tourism linkage in Tuyen Quang, and the introduction of traditional culture through TikTok in Lao Cai.
Sieu said that he is extremely impressed by the capacity of the youth in maintaining and promoting natio
nal traditional values through tourism activities. It is their patriotism and endless creativity that have led to their unique ways to introduce Vietnamese tourism and turn out unique tourism products, bringing new vitality to cultural tourism, Sieu added.
Source : Emirates News Agency
