Exploiting the available advantages in terms of location, terrain, infrastructure and services will open up great opportunities to promote the development of sports tourism, attracting more and more tourists to Hanoi.
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| Athletes compete around Hoan Kiem Lake, within the framework of the 5th Hanoi Open Cycling Race. (Source: Nhan Dan) |
With the advantage of mountainous terrain in the suburbs, many large rivers and lakes, and the inner city area with many beautiful roads and unique heritages, Hanoi has great potential for developing sports tourism. However, it seems that this type of tourism has not been exploited much and is waiting to be "awakened".
Great opportunity for sports tourism
Soc Son is a locality with diverse terrain and beautiful landscapes, attracting many tourists to visit, relax, participate in cycling, jogging, and mountain climbing activities. In recent times, Soc Son district has built a number of beautiful routes to organize mountain biking, jogging, and mountain climbing races such as Dong Quan Lake - Keo Ca Lake - Saint Giong Monument (11 km long), Soc Temple - Saint Giong Monument (5 km long), Dong Quan Lake - Soc Temple (8 km long), Hoa Son Lake - Ham Lon Lake - Keo Ca Lake - Dong Quan Lake (15 km long), Hoa Son Lake - Ham Lon Lake - Saint Giong Monument (10 km long). The district has successfully organized a number of running and mountain racing competitions that have attracted a large number of people and tourists to participate.
In addition, in Soc Son area, there are 2 international standard golf courses in operation: Minh Tri Golf Course and BRG Legendhill Soc Son Golf Course. The Soc Son horse racing track entertainment complex project is being prepared for implementation, when put into operation, it will become an international sports center in the area north of the Red River.
Vice Chairman of Soc Son District People's Committee Do Minh Tuan said: Soc Son possesses a lot of potential and advantages to exploit and develop sports tourism. This is also a tourism product that the district assesses as having a lot of potential to exploit and develop.
Not only Soc Son but also Ba Vi, Chuong My, Son Tay town, Hanoi inner city... have great potential for sports tourism development. Ba Vi district has a semi-mountainous terrain with 7 mountainous communes, especially Ba Vi National Park, with the beauty of mountains and forests, many waterfalls, streams, rivers, lakes, and unique heritages. This area can organize mountain climbing and running competitions and in fact, in recent times, a number of sports competitions have been organized attracting many participants.
Chuong My district has three terrain areas: plains, hills and mountains, surrounded by three rivers: Bui River, Tich River and Day River. Chuong My is also known for Bu Hill, Nam Phuong Tien Commune is a place where paragliding is a favorite activity for young people.
Son Tay town with Dong Mo golf course is considered one of the most beautiful golf courses in Southeast Asia with a harmonious natural landscape. Especially in the inner city of Hanoi with a diverse infrastructure system serving sports activities, meeting international standards, it is a place where major tournaments are regularly held. Moreover, the city center also has many beautiful roads, a rich heritage system, so running competitions to explore the beauty of the capital are often held. The large West Lake area is suitable for dragon boat racing competitions...
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| BRG Legendhill Soc Son Golf Course is one of two international standard golf courses operating in Hanoi. |
Sports tourism is a type of tourism that has a special attraction for sports enthusiasts, while this group is growing in number. Participants not only want to exercise physically but also to interact with the community of similar interests, to experience and explore the tourism at the venue. Sports tourists also have high spending ability, use many services and participate for many days.
In particular, for major tournaments, sports activities not only attract athletes but also their families, friends, and fans. This is identified as a potential tourism market and has attracted the attention of many localities and businesses. Therefore, exploiting the available advantages of location, terrain, infrastructure, and services will open up great opportunities for the capital's tourism industry to promote the development of sports tourism, attracting more and more tourists to Hanoi.
Open up potential development directions
In recent years, the number of sports tournaments appearing in Vietnam has increased, promoting the development of sports tourism activities. Hanoi City is organizing a number of annual sports tournaments that can be connected with tourism activities such as: Hanoi International Badminton Tournament, Hanoi Moi Newspaper Run - For Peace, Hanoi Heritage International Marathon, or a number of international sports events of Asian and Southeast Asian stature, a number of golf tournaments that create a playground for international tourists... Many large-scale tournaments can attract thousands, even tens of thousands of participants.
In addition to those who actively participate in sports events, many travel agencies have also quickly designed tours to sell sports events. Some companies also organize sports tours to explore the beauty of the capital, such as: Vietfoot Travel Company operates cycling tours connecting the inner city with the suburbs of Hanoi "Tinh hoa Trang An - Discovering French architecture in the heart of Hanoi", "Viet Bike Tours experiences a ferry trip and explores Co Loa citadel"; VGreen Sustainable Tourism Club (Hanoi Travel Association) builds a series of tours to explore Hanoi by bicycle "VGreen bike tour - Tinh hoa Trang An"; Vietnam Sustainable Tourism Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (Vietnam STID) builds a bicycle tour "Thang Long - Hanoi Night"...
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| The Hanoi Night Run 2023 was selected by the Hanoi People's Committee as a typical cultural and sports event for the period 2023 - 2025. (Source: VnExpress) |
General Director of Flamingo Redtours Tourism Joint Stock Company Nguyen Cong Hoan said that sports tourism is a specialized product line, so compared to regular tours, the organizer needs to have expertise in both travel and certain knowledge about sports such as tournament regulations, registration methods, etc. to advise customers on activities suitable for their health.
Many tourism experts also believe that in the coming time, localities need to create open procedures for licensing sports tournaments to serve tourism and promote destinations. At the same time, socialize the tournament organization work by encouraging travel companies to form alliances to sell products related to sports tourism. The sports industry should promote events, landscapes, and Vietnamese culture, thereby attracting tourists to Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general.
Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang affirmed that the Department will create maximum conditions as well as open up many opportunities for tourism businesses and sports event organizers to discuss and agree on exploitation methods. From there, Vietnam tourism in general, Hanoi in particular, will continue to be an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists.
Hanoi city has a convenient geographical location, good terrain and infrastructure, beautiful natural landscape, unique culture, rich cuisine, to organize sports tourism activities. Importantly, the potential and advantages need to be "awakened" so that sports tourism can develop in accordance with what it has.
(according to VNA)
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