Bestowed with an array of world and national cultural heritages, the northern midland province of Phu Tho is looking for breakthrough measures to capitalise on its strength to become a must-visit destination for both domestic and international tourists.
According to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the province is currently home to 1,372 historical and cultural sites, including Hung Kings Temple special relic site, and three UNESCO intangible cultural heritages of the worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings, Xoan folk singing, and ca tru-ceremonial singing.
Xuan Son National Park, which boasts diverse ecosystems, untouched natural beauty, and cultural identities of ethnic people, is a fascinating tourism magnet. It is among 13 national parks in Viet Nam that protect large habitats of natural ecosystems.
In addition, Thanh Thuy hot mineral water mine, Tam Giang pagoda, Mother Au Co Temple, and Ao Chau lagoon all together create conditions for the province to branch out various kinds of tourism products like eco-tourism, historical-cultural tourism, and resort tourism.
Grasping local tourism potential, the tourism sector integrated the “Xoan singing in ancient village” into its cultural heritage tours, and the outcomes were incredible as to local tourism destinations like Hung Lo communal house and Lai Len shrine in Viet Tri city, Do Nghia communal house in Lam Thao district has become popular to domestic and foreign visitors.
Besides ancient Xoan singing, visitors will have a chance to have a look at historical and cultural relic sites built during the time of Hung Kings.
Director of the province’s centre for tourism promotion Phung Thi Hoa Le said that thanks to the availability of the tours, more tourists are coming to the locality. The centre welcomes an average 2 million visitors each year, nearly 8,000 of them come to explore the Vietnamese folk music.
Various travel companies have developed tours featuring Xoan singing like Vietrantour, Saigontourist and Golden tour, she said.
The centre also designs new tourism products to attract more tourists and introduce to travel agencies. Now, Gia Thanh conical hat village in Phu Ninh district, Dich Qua tea hills in Thanh Son district, Tam Giang temple in Viet Tri city, Dao Xa communal house in Thanh Thuy district and Du Yen temple are ready to welcome tourists.
In addition, the province is working to promote products linking local tourism sites like Hung King Temple-Hung Vuong Museum-Hung Lo communal house in Viet Tri city, Xuan Son National Park-Thanh Thuy hot mineral water spring, and Mother Au Co temple- Ao Chau lagoon tourism site. It has joined hands with neighbouring provinces of Lao Cai and Yen Bai to branch out spiritual tours along Hong River.
Signing cooperation programmes with foreign travel companies in the Republic of Korea, Indonesia and India, and partnership in tourism programmes with localities across the country are significant moves to popularize local tourism sites.
This year, the tourism sector of the province eyes to welcome 580,000 visitors, up 5.4 percent from the yearly plan, and expects to earn 3.8 trillion VND (159.6 million USD).