Awakening the tourism potential of Soc Son

Destination with many experiences

In the first days of January of the year of the Dragon, tens of thousands of tourists from all over the world flocked to the Soc Temple National Special Relic Site to participate in the annual Gióng Festival. This is a cultural activity that attracts a large number of people from all over the country every spring in Soc Son district.

Besides the Soc Temple National Special Relic Site, Soc Son district also has a system of 486 historical and cultural relics and places of worship, with 174 festivals held annually, attracting a large number of tourists from all over the world.

Of these, 16 are nationally ranked relics, 54 are ranked at Hanoi city level; especially two world intangible cultural heritages (Giong festival at Soc temple and Xuan Thu commune's mine pulling festival).

The Gióng Festival at the Soc Temple National Special Relic Site is an attractive spiritual and cultural destination at the beginning of the year in Soc Son district. Photo: Trọng Tùng

According to Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Soc Son district Tong Giang Phuc, along with spiritual and cultural destinations, the district's tourism products are now increasingly rich in quantity and type. Ecotourism and experiential tourism have been flourishing in Soc Son district such as: golf, sports competitions (Ultra Trail running, off-road racing), entertainment, weekend resorts...

Some tours are gradually taking shape in Soc Son district such as: Soc temple relic cluster - Non pagoda - Saint Giong monument - Viet palace Thanh Chuong; Soc temple relic cluster - Minh Tri golf course; Soc temple relic cluster - Legend Hill golf course; Dong Quan lake (Quang Tien commune) - Ham Lon lake (Nam Son commune) - Dong Do lake (Minh Tri commune); Ban Rom and Thien Phu Lam ecological areas...

Statistics over the past 3 years show that the number of tourists coming to Soc Son district has been increasing day by day. If in 2021 it only reached 15,000 visitors (partly due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic), then by 2022, this number is estimated to reach 950,000 - 1,000,000 visitors and in 2023 it has reached 1,000,000 - 1,200,000 visitors.

In the goal of tourism development in the coming period, Soc Son district aims to expand cooperation and link tourist destination chains with localities such as: Co Loa relic site (Dong Anh district), Hai Ba Trung temple (Me Linh district), Dai Lai lake tourist area (Vinh Phuc), Nui Coc lake area (Thai Nguyen) to promote products, exchange information, exploit markets...

Atypical tourism

According to the assessment of the Department of Culture and Information of Soc Son district, although the number of tourists coming to Soc Son district is increasing, the market is mainly domestic tourists. Tourists are people in the district, residents of neighboring districts, and residents of Hanoi city center account for a large proportion. Visitors from all over the country and tourists traveling on tourist routes are still limited.

“The nature of tourism is not typical, mainly sightseeing and religious pilgrimage. This leads to the number of tourists coming to the district being concentrated mainly in the first months of the year and during the Gióng festival at Sóc Sơn temple,” said Tống Giang Phúc, Head of the Culture and Information Department of Sóc Sơn district.

Statistics show that in Soc Son district, there are currently over 637 food service establishments, but they are all located around Dong Quan lake, Dong Do lake, Soc temple... The district does not have any specialties with unique local cuisine. Products serving tourists are still monotonous.

Many motels and hotels do not guarantee quantity and quality, and cannot meet the needs of large numbers of guests. Most tourist service establishments are still under construction and completion, so the landscape and facilities are still rudimentary, lacking sophistication and attractiveness to retain guests for a long time or to spend more.

There are currently 17 travel service companies and 14 passenger transport companies in the area. However, through inspection, only a few travel companies are small and unprofessional, and have no connection with other tours to bring tourists to the district. The business is still monotonous and not very effective.

But more worryingly, the natural landscape is gradually being concreted by housing projects, spontaneous homestays, temporary tourist areas... springing up with environmentally unfriendly materials. This is a risk of gradually losing the precious natural value of Soc Son district, one of the important factors for sustainable tourism development.

Focus on building tourism products

According to the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Hanoi City to 2020, with a vision to 2030 approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1081/QD-TTg, Soc Son District is one of the tourism areas receiving attention for investment and development. This is one of the favorable conditions for Soc Son District to concretize the orientation and development goals of the tourism sector.

Determining the planning to be one step ahead, based on the contents of the general planning of Soc Son district with a long-term vision to 2030, orientation to 2050, recently, the People's Committee of Soc Son district has directed departments and units to focus on consulting and conducting planning for regions, areas, and tourist spots in the area in order of priority.

Along with that, the district will deploy specific planning for locations with potential for natural resources and human resources; fully prepare conditions and information to support investors and call for investment in tourism exploitation and tourism services in the district.

Vice Chairman of Soc Son District People's Committee Ho Viet Hung said that tourism development is identified by the locality as an important solution to promote economic restructuring towards increasing the proportion of industry, trade and services.

To achieve the above goal, the district has oriented to develop 3 groups of tourism products to focus on investment. Specifically, cultural - spiritual tourism (festival tourism associated with the Gióng festival; spiritual tourism associated with the worship of Saint Gióng); eco-tourism, resort eco-tourism, agricultural eco-tourism and sports and entertainment tourism.

Improving the quality and diversifying tourism products is one of the important solutions identified by Soc Son district to attract tourists and bring high business efficiency.

Accordingly, in the coming time, the district will focus on building attractive tourism programs and destinations for culture, historical relics, traditional festivals, ecological areas, etc. Building and improving the quality of tourism products and services, diversifying tourism types and activities. In particular, focusing on researching, perfecting, and improving the quality of cultural and religious tourism, eco-tourism - weekend relaxation, and entertainment tourism.

At the same time, increase investment in building services such as banks and information centers at tourist destinations with potential for development; modernize public works such as parks, shopping centers, exhibition fairs, etc.

“Not only to meet the demands of tourists, the proposed service modernization solutions are also expected to contribute to the strategy of diversifying tourism products, creating attractiveness for local tourism in the coming years” - Vice Chairman of Soc Son District People's Committee Ho Viet Hung emphasized.

Orientation of 4 priority areas for tourism development in Soc Son district: cultural tourism area, weekend rest area in Soc temple area and Dong Quan lake eco-tourism complex; belt area along Ca Lo river in the south of Soc Son district; hilly area in the communes: Minh Tri, Minh Phu, Nam Son, Hien Ninh and Quang Tien; area north of the district center including: Nui Doi area (Soc Son town), horse racing track (Tan Minh commune).

Source