Unleashing tourism potential in Nga Son

In April, we had the opportunity to visit the Mai An Tiem temple relic located in Nga Phu commune (Nga Son). The sacred temple leans against Mai An Tiem mountain, in front of the temple is a long rice field, on both sides are high mountains shaped like winding dragons. The temple with its open, peaceful space is a stop for tourists to burn incense and enjoy the scenery.

Unleashing tourism potential in Nga Son Mai An Tiem Festival 2023.

The old mandarin Dang Van Thiet, who has been taking care of the temple for more than 20 years, guided us to offer incense and visit the Mai An Tiem temple relic site. The first days of April are also the time when Nga Son district is actively preparing for the Mai An Tiem festival in 2024 at the district level, which will take place on April 19 and 20 (ie March 11 and 12 of the lunar calendar). The festival not only honors the great contributions, heroic spirit, and diligence in labor and production of Saint Mai An Tiem. It also arouses the beauty of traditional culture, imbued with national cultural identity among the people. The festival is also an opportunity to promote tourism development activities, attract tourists, and contribute to introducing and promoting the beauty of the land and people of Nga Son to domestic and foreign friends. Raising awareness and responsibility of the community for the work of preserving and promoting cultural heritage values, developing economy - culture and society in Nga Son district.

Comrade Nguyen Thi Minh, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Nga Son district, said: Nga Son is a district rich in historical and cultural traditions, with many potential strengths in tourism development. Nga Son countryside converges many famous scenic spots and historical relics associated with legendary stories such as the story of Mai An Tiem and the red watermelon; Tu Thuc met Giang Huong; Tien pagoda of Buddha's land in the mortal world, the beautiful scenery of Dong Vua lake; Thach Tuyen pagoda; Bach Tuong pagoda. Along the banks of Hoat river along Tam Diep mountain range, there are also many interesting landscapes such as Luc Van cave, Truc Son cave, Than Phu gate, Bia Than mountain, La Vong mountain. According to documents, this place has long been home to many historians and scholars such as Phan Su Manh, Truong Han Sieu, Nguyen Trai, Le Quy Don, Cao Ba Quat; kings and lords such as Le Thanh Tong, Tran Nhan Tong, Lord Trinh Sam and even the crown prince of Laos... who visited the scenery, or wrote poems on the mountain. Nga Son land also converges historical relics such as: Ba Dinh War Zone; Tran Hung Dao Temple; Trieu Quang Phuc Temple; Le Thi Hoa Temple; Trinh Minh Temple; Mai Anh Tuan Temple,... attracting tourists to the locality.

The whole district has 285 relics, 49 of which are ranked (including 7 national relics, 42 provincial relics, 8 revolutionary historical relics); 24 traditional festivals associated with history, culture, and landscapes have been recognized, including the Mai An Tiem festival organized annually by the district. Along with relics and festivals, Nga Son is also known for many craft villages and typical products such as handicraft products made of mats and sedge; famous culinary products such as eel salad, Nga Son sticky rice wine, mountain goat fermented with rice husks; Van Hoa melon products, cordyceps wine; Mai An Tiem watermelon; shrimp paste, Bach Cau shrimp paste. Many valuable cultural and religious works such as Han Son Pagoda (Nga Dien); Tien Pagoda (Nga An); Bach Tuong Pagoda (Nga Giap) ... are also attractive spiritual destinations for tourists. With its own unique cultural, historical, craft and culinary values, it has created a colorful tourism picture, an important resource for Nga Son to exploit and develop tourism.

In recent years, with the attention and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Council, the Provincial People's Committee, the cultural sector, the state management of tourism and cultural heritage of Nga Son district has been paid attention to, led, directed and achieved many important results. Many revolutionary historical relics, festivals, traditional craft villages have been and are being promoted, meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of the people, gradually becoming complete and attractive tourism products, attracting more and more tourists. The district has built a cluster of photo panels to introduce key relics in the area; directed the completion and acceptance of the project to install lighting systems, renovate barriers and walkways to ensure safety for tourists to Tu Thuc cave (Nga Thien commune); promoted socialization of investment in tourism development. In 2023, the number of tourists coming to Nga Son district is estimated at more than 67,880 (mainly visitors to scenic spots, festivals, spirituality, cuisine, etc.); total tourism revenue is estimated at 4 billion 250 million VND. In the first 2 months of 2024, Nga Son is estimated to welcome more than 11,540 visitors.

In order for tourism to develop commensurate with its potential and strengths, Nga Son district is developing a tourism development project for the period 2024-2025 and a vision to 2030. This is an important basis for determining the direction of tourism development in the district; at the same time, calling for investment in key relic sites in the area; building a brand of typical local tourism products, developing types of spiritual and cultural tourism, historical tourism, returning to the source, and craft village tourism in the district; improving the quality and quantity of tourism services to meet the needs of tourists. Thereby, contributing to job creation, increasing income for workers from tourism activities, promoting local socio-economic development.

Article and photos: Ngoc Huan

Source