Hue tourism "takes off" with the strength of cultural heritage

2025 is an important milestone marking the turning point of Thua Thien-Hue becoming a centrally-governed city, bringing many new opportunities to the locality.

This is also the year Thua Thien-Hue hosts the National Tourism Year, promising to create strong growth for the Ancient Capital's tourism industry based on the special strength of cultural heritage.

Ancient capital, new experience

Thua Thien-Hue is a rare place that still preserves a large system of majestic palaces, citadels and tombs; it is also the only locality in Vietnam and Southeast Asia with 8 cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO in many categories.

Many people often remember Hue as an ancient, sad capital, bearing the mark of time. However, in recent years, the locality has made many changes, "changing clothes" in the eyes of tourists by effectively exploiting heritage, creating many new experiences for the "smokeless industry."

The highlight event at Hue Imperial City in 2024 is the opening and welcoming of tourists to visit Kien Trung Palace (on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin) and Thai Hoa Palace (late November) after many years of major restoration and repair.

Along with that, the Hue International Arts Festival Week 2024 with most of the events held in the Hue Imperial City attracted more than 2,500 visitors to visit the relics, an increase of more than 20% over the same period in 2023, bringing in ticket sales revenue of more than 381.5 billion VND (as of November 20, 2024).

When arriving at the complex of relics, many visitors are surprised by many new points.

Visitors admire the Throne - National Treasure in the center of Thai Hoa Palace. (Photo: Do ​​Truong/VNA)

“This is my second time back to Hue. In addition to the restored palaces, I found many interesting digital experiences combined with reality, helping visitors understand more about the royal architecture, history and displayed artifacts. These experiences are very suitable for the trend and are easily accessible to today's youth,” said tourist Trieu Trang, from Hanoi, after experiencing smart check-in through the encrypted NFC chip panels in front of Kien Trung Palace, Hue Imperial City.

In addition to developing various types of heritage tourism, Thua Thien-Hue province's tourism activities in 2024 have many improvements and maintained a positive recovery momentum through a series of festival activities of the 4-season Festival throughout the year; forming and exploiting a set of products under the Hue brand: "Hue - Festival City," "Hue - Culinary Capital," "Hue - Capital of Vietnamese Ao Dai"; opening Hai Van Quan relic site for visitors or putting into operation the Hue-Da Nang tourist train called "Connecting Central Heritage"...

At the same time, the locality focuses on promoting and boosting tourism by participating in the Vietnam local promotion program in the United States and Canada to introduce tourism images, attract investment and promote economic-trade cooperation with partners of the two countries. For the first time, Thua Thien-Hue is in the top 8 most economical tourist destinations in Asia according to Agoda's ranking.

The total number of tourists to Thua Thien-Hue in 2024 is estimated at about 4 million, an increase of 26% compared to 2023; of which, domestic tourists will be about 2.7 million, accounting for about 69% and total revenue from tourists is estimated at VND 8,500 billion.

Although the numbers have had positive changes, they are still limited when compared to big cities like Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi or even localities with later tourism development such as Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh...

Hue tourism managers all acknowledge that although the local tourism products are numerous, they are not of sufficient quality and do not match the potential. High-end services, entertainment areas, and 4-5 star accommodation facilities are still lacking. In particular, objective factors from fluctuations in the aviation industry in the first 6 months of 2024 have reduced the number of flights and visitors to the locality.

"Take off" with the strength of cultural heritage

2025 is the year Hue is determined to accelerate, break through and reach the finish line, striving for the highest results in the goals and targets of the province's 5-year socio-economic development plan (2021-2025).

Hue will focus on prioritizing economic restructuring associated with in-depth growth model innovation on the basis of exploiting local strengths and characteristics; prioritizing the development of advantageous service industries and tourism based on the promotion of heritage and cultural values.

Regarding services and tourism, Hue will develop a variety of services with advantages and high added value; mobilize investment resources to develop tourism, worthy of being a key economic sector with the motto "Unique products - Professional services - Convenient and simple procedures - Competitive prices - Clean and beautiful environment - Safe, civilized and friendly destination."

At the same time, the province promotes the image and affirms the brand "Hue - Ancient capital, new experiences," "Hue - destination of 8 world heritages," "Hue - Capital of festivals," "Hue - Capital of cuisine" and "Hue - Capital of Ao Dai."

Based on the successful foundation of heritage industrialization in 2024, Hue tourism continues to promote its strengths from heritage and culture by expanding the development of heritage tourism types associated with the Complex of Hue Monuments; promoting the socialization of products and services at the Imperial City and relic sites in the area. However, this also poses a problem for Hue about the story of both exploiting and preserving heritage values.

Kien Trung Palace is an attractive destination for tourists when exploring the Hue Imperial Palace. (Photo: Do ​​Truong/VNA)

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thua Thien-Hue Province Nguyen Thanh Binh said that the province has proposed to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to consider adjusting the Law on Heritage and the Law on Public Investment to apply investment forms under the public-private partnership (PPP) method, with a mechanism for cooperation with enterprises with resources to exploit heritage values, bringing products to serve the common development of the locality. However, the concept of conservation and management according to the provisions of law is still a priority issue.

Cultural heritage and tourism are two fields that are closely connected. Especially for a special locality like Hue, heritage has brought great value and uniqueness to Hue tourism and also from the revenue from tourism returning to help the heritage be properly preserved. Thua Thien-Hue has been shaped by the Politburo for development and has followed that shape correctly and reasonably. The road ahead for the province is the requirement for harmonious development between cultural heritage and tourism as well as maximizing their value.

A solution that has been implemented by the province in recent times is to build the image of Hue as a green destination through the operation of bicycle stations, electric cars sightseeing around Hue city, historical sites; forming a tourist spot to reduce plastic waste in Thuy Bieu ward (Hue city).

According to Director of the Department of Tourism of Thua Thien-Hue province Nguyen Van Phuc, one of the solutions and tasks set for the coming time is to promote the implementation of the Green Tourism Action Program for the period 2023-2025 in the direction of "Green, clean, beautiful, civilized, friendly tourist destinations."

The provincial tourism sector strives to attract about 4.8-5 million visitors to Hue by 2025, of which domestic visitors account for 55-60%. Total tourism revenue is expected to be about 68,000 billion VND.

To achieve these figures, the province has proposed many solutions and tasks. In particular, the province will coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize the National Tourism Year 2025; promote the opening of air routes between the province and domestic and foreign markets such as Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Phu Quoc, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea; cooperate with major travel agencies in both traditional, large and new markets; connect cruise tourists, charter tourists by plane and train, etc.

In addition, the locality prioritizes the development of tourism products with distinct advantages such as sea and lagoon tourism; community tourism associated with craft villages; culinary tourism, cultural discovery; spiritual cultural tourism, medical examination and treatment... The province promotes digital transformation, develops in the direction of smart management, experience and promotion; builds a system and digitizes the digital database of the tourism industry.

To overcome the limitations in human resources and infrastructure, Thua Thien-Hue will support to remove difficulties, accompany tourism businesses and focus on training, fostering and developing tourism human resources to meet market demand. Key tourism projects such as Laguna Casino, Minh Vien Lang Co International Resort and Tourism Area... and tourism service areas or infrastructure projects connecting synchronous traffic, associated with tourism development will be concerned by local authorities to remove obstacles, urge to accelerate investment progress, and put into use in the coming time./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/du-lich-hue-cat-canh-bang-the-manh-di-san-van-hoa-post1002179.vnp