Promising directions of Dak Lak tourism

When talking about the Central Highlands, people think of the two words culture, associated with the silent history spread across this enduring plateau.

But to understand and experience that culture, the community needs many “catalysts”, the simplest of which is to stimulate tourism . Therefore, building a sustainable tourism strategy for the Central Highlands is an opportunity for the community to approach the unique stories of each land and people here.

Mr. Thai Hong Ha, Director of the Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak, said that with the convergence of 49 ethnic groups and the historical steps the locality has gone through, Dak Lak province has many special advantages to develop tourism, unique stories to tell... And there are 3 development directions that Dak Lak tourism needs to exploit.

The power of heritage tourism

In order for the community to experience the cultural values ​​of the Central Highlands, according to Mr. Thai Hong Ha, Dak Lak tourism needs to have "a large film studio" with many highlights and venues for performing related cultural values.

These are both traditional and modern stops for tourists to stay, rest and explore local cultural values, from eating habits, thinking to clothing and transportation of local people. These are places where cultural values ​​related to the rites and customs of ethnic groups are performed, including cultural heritages that have been recorded such as gong culture.

The music of the Central Highlands, including the many years of the past, with its strong traditional character, to the market art activities that once “lit up the stage”, all need to be respected and protected. The paintings and sculptures of the Central Highlands, from the original color prints to the tomb statues, all need to be preserved and explained appropriately to tourists, so that when they come, they will be understood and remembered.

Dray Nur Waterfall (Krong Ana district) is majestic in the middle of the jungle. Photo: Huyen Dieu

There are also fragrant jars of rice wine, rolls of leaves with legendary grilled meat, and drops of pure roasted coffee... so that each person can experience and enjoy different emotions. One must encounter here the elegant and sophisticated posture of Europeans when lifting a cup of coffee, picking up a piece of bitter chocolate, and also the sincere laughter of the people when inviting a piece of grilled meat with leaves and full of honey flavor...

Thus, in the first development strategy for Dak Lak tourism in the period of innovation and integration, stories about the majestic past in epic songs, resounding gong sounds, exciting stories about traditional dishes, specialties of the North - Central - South regions flocking here following the footsteps of immigrants... are always necessary choices.

Mr. Thai Hong Ha expressed that Dak Lak tourism is gradually shifting, targeting the strength of traditional heritage values ​​and local culture, at each destination, accommodation and activity program. Through that, the locality hopes to retain tourists, and promote its strengths in the depth of cultural experiences.

Welcome to sports tourism

Mr. Vo Dinh Doai, Head of the Department of Sports Management (Dak Lak Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism) shared that in the past three years, the direction of organizing and promoting sports competitions and organizing high-performance sports events has been given great attention by the Dak Lak culture and sports sector. This is related to the direction of change set by the sector's leaders, using sports as a fulcrum to attract quality local community activities and towards tourism.

Especially in the field of sports with specific characteristics, Dak Lak is having changing investment options. Mr. Thai Hong Ha once raised the question: as a locality with unique mountainous terrain, waterfalls and forests, why doesn't Dak Lak research and invest in different and unique types of sports, such as adventure racing and adventure tourism? The participants of these types of sports are not only simply domestic youth, but can also attract many groups of people who love adventure sports abroad to come and experience and explore.

Peaceful by Lak Lake. Photo: Huu Hung

According to Mr. Doai, with this change in thinking, in 2023, Dak Lak was successful with its first off-road racing tournament, attracting many world-class athletes to participate. This is also the first time that the local public has access to unique forms of adventure racing, and better understands the opportunities for exploiting sports tourism. “Each foreign athlete who comes to these special races will bring their relatives and friends, and tourism, Dak Lak's destinations will reach a large number of international tourists, who are willing to spend money to experience new feelings. Exploiting tourism in this direction is a great opportunity for the province,” Mr. Doai commented.

It is easy to see that recently Dak Lak has become a gathering place for many tournaments and sports competitions in the country and the region, such as karate, national volleyball, off-road racing, etc. Mr. Thai Hong Ha shared that in the near future, the ideas of archery, javelin throwing, and obstacle racing will be successfully researched, Dak Lak sports will certainly have a new look, and accordingly, the story of local tourism will also be truly attractive.

Agritourism in the heart of the city

Besides heritage tourism and sports tourism, Dak Lak tourism industry has recently also produced surprising results in agricultural tourism, a type of tourism that is considered new in some provinces with agricultural strengths.

Mr. Thai Hong Ha said that in fact, since 2018, with the cooperation of the agricultural sector, the Dak Lak tourism sector has developed a project to develop agricultural eco-tourism to serve the direction of building new rural areas throughout the area. According to this project, by 2025, the locality will basically shape a number of types of investment in tourism based on agricultural strengths, experiencing specific agricultural products of the area.

Rice fields in Lak district at the foot of the hills hidden in the morning mist.

Specifically, in a large urban area like Buon Ma Thuot, the typical agricultural economic impression is worth exploiting. This urban area, in its modern development, is still associated with impressive destinations associated with traditional village life and has unique agricultural products. Meeting points such as Ako Dhong village, Kotam tourist destination still fully demonstrate the characteristics of agricultural social culture, and the special products such as rice wine, wild honey... exploited here always attract tourists. If these spaces for exchange and discovery are expanded to neighboring areas such as Cu M'gar, Cu Kuin... with destinations such as coffee farms, pepper farms, cocoa gardens... so that tourists can learn more about the knowledge of endemic agricultural products, the identity of Central Highlands tourism in the locality will certainly be effectively exploited.

“We can take tourists to traditional villages, learn with the locals how to farm, harvest coffee or catch stream fish…, then take them to visit specialized agricultural processing factories such as chocolate and cashew nut production; finally take tourists to shopping spots, introduce agricultural products, enjoy the taste of agricultural products… Even the souvenirs for tourists to bring will also be researched and manufactured reasonably, from household items, stationery in the shape of long houses, Central Highlands stone statues, to nuts, fruit images…”, Mr. Thai Hong Ha shared with satisfaction.

In the idea of ​​those participating in Dak Lak tourism activities, a whole different world of local people's lives, associated with special agricultural products, will be designed to truly draw a large association field, both unique and different, and very close to everyone, proving that agricultural tourism is a direction full of potential!

Nguyen Duc

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/tin-noi-bat/202406/nhung-huong-di-trien-vong-cua-du-lich-dak-lak-9b60457/