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| Tourists experience tourism on the Red River. (Photo: Linh Tam) |
(PLVN) - Vietnam has great potential for river tourism, but the organization and infrastructure investment system are still limited, so there needs to be a specific plan and strategy to develop river tourism.
This is the issue discussed at the Workshop "Developing River Tourism in Vietnam: Orientation and Solutions" recently organized by the Institute for Tourism Development Research in Hanoi.
More than 2,360 large and small rivers with historical ups and downs
Vietnam has a rich river network, stretching from the North to the South, creating diverse and unique river tourism routes. More than 2,360 large and small rivers with a total length of about 41,900km are facts showing that Vietnam has many favorable conditions to develop river tourism.
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Thanh Thuy - Head of the Faculty of Tourism (Hanoi University of Culture), Vietnam's river resources are associated with a long-standing cultural and historical tradition, which need to be recognized and evaluated for proper exploitation, serving economic and tourism development. Accordingly, Vietnam is called a country of rivers and there are many localities located in river areas.
In addition, we have many rivers associated with historical stories, creating cultural values for many communities living along the river. We also know that the river is one of the vital trade routes of the Vietnamese people throughout many historical dynasties, so it still preserves many vestiges of Vietnamese history.
According to tourism experts, river tourism has emerged as one of the important types of tourism in the global tourism industry, contributing to diversifying tourism products, enriching tourism types, from eco-tourism, adventure tourism to historical and cultural tourism through experiencing the beauty of nature, ecosystems and riverside cultural heritage systems.
The development of river tourism contributes to promoting investment in infrastructure, such as cruise ports, marinas and surrounding areas. In addition to its economic and cultural contributions, by promoting responsible tourism activities, river tourism can contribute to the conservation of important aquatic ecosystems and the sustainable management of natural resources.
Solving the "problem" of not attracting tourists
At the workshop “Developing river tourism in Vietnam - Orientation and solutions”, delegates pointed out that there are many problems with the development of river tourism in Vietnam today, from theoretical to practical issues that still exist. Despite its great strengths, up to now, river tourism in Vietnam is considered to be developing slowly, not commensurate with its potential. Currently, there are not many river tours being exploited and many tours currently have very few tourists, and may even have to stop exploitation.
Some of the main reasons hindering the development of river tourism can be identified as: Weak waterway transport infrastructure; Limited tourism infrastructure; Environmental pollution; Lack of strategy and planning for synchronous river tourism development; Lack of connection between localities in developing river tourism and limited promotion, advertising and branding.
Besides, the conservation of tourism resource values still has many shortcomings. Many river areas have cultural, historical and ecological values but have not been properly preserved and managed.
Overexploitation of tourism resources without paying attention to environmental protection has led to resource degradation, affecting the potential for sustainable development. In the face of existing difficulties and shortcomings, according to Dr. Le Van Minh - Director of the Vietnam Tourism Development Research Center, there must be immediate solutions to overcome these problems: “The first bottleneck is that we must have plans, strategies, and zoning to determine which river routes we can exploit.
The second thing is that we must invest in building infrastructure and wharves because without this infrastructure, we certainly cannot develop, causing difficulties for tourists as well as business investors to exploit the waterway. Those are two very important issues."
Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research commented: “Currently, there is a great need for a comprehensive development project for river tourism, which can be more broadly called inland waterway tourism, including rivers, lakes, and seas in the inland area, to promote and exploit the great potential and advantages of this type. It is urgent to have a project. On the basis of that project, mechanisms and policies will be proposed to the Government and ministries and branches to create a synchronous mechanism and policy for this type”.
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/danh-thuc-tiem-nang-du-lich-duong-song-tai-viet-nam-post526156.html
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