Promoting the value of UNESCO titles to serve sustainable development Ninh Binh is a model but there is still much to do

The international conference on promoting the value of UNESCO titles for sustainable development in Vietnam held in Ninh Binh was a great success. Through the conference, Vietnam's position in the region and the world was affirmed as a country with great potential and opportunities for sustainable development, improving the quality of life, meeting social needs, ensuring the conservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritages and traditional values for sustainable development. The organization of the conference in Ninh Binh also contributed to promoting and introducing the province's potential, strengths, and World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex; affirming that Ninh Binh province has been, is and will develop tourism in the direction of green growth, harmonizing conservation and sustainable development.

At the conference, in the discussion sessions, Comrade Tong Quang Thin, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized: Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex is a priceless gift that nature has bestowed upon the province, a source of pride not only for the people of Ninh Binh but also for Vietnam. In order to protect invaluable resources, preserve cultural identity, and serve sustainable development, in recent years, Ninh Binh province has done a good job in managing and preserving heritage values such as: Strictly implementing the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage, Decision No. 230/QD-TTg dated February 4, 2016 of the Prime Minister on approving the Master Plan for the construction of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex in Ninh Binh province; Decree No. 109/2017/NDCP dated September 21, 2017 of the Government on regulations on the management of world cultural and natural heritages in Vietnam; Strictly implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee and issue provincial legal documents to implement the legal documents of higher levels and implement the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee.

After 9 years since being recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 2014, Trang An has always been assessed to ensure harmony between conservation and development. In particular, responsible tourism is chosen as a development model with the participation of 3 pillars: State, enterprises and residential communities. Ninh Binh province also recognizes the importance of sustainable development in the period of integration, globalization and the challenges of climate change and other social issues, thereby determining the perspective of sustainable development based on the potential and strengths of the province, especially in terms of the system of cultural and natural heritages and UNESCO titles.

In particular, Ninh Binh province is always proud to receive recognition and affirmation from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO, at the 50th Anniversary of the Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Vietnam held in Ninh Binh on September 6, 2022: "... The World Cultural and Natural Heritage Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex has successfully combined economic development and sustainable tourism while still respecting nature. This place has become a model, a success story in maintaining a balanced relationship between development and heritage conservation...".

However, Ninh Binh province also clearly identified a number of difficulties and challenges that Trang An Heritage must face in order to develop sustainably and become an attractive destination for regional and international tourists. That is the harmonious solution between heritage conservation and socio-economic development, especially tourism activities, which is still a matter of urgency. The number of tourists visiting tourist areas and spots in the Heritage area is increasing rapidly, leading to high demand for tourist accommodation, especially in areas with natural landscapes and interspersed residential areas. The type of spontaneous homestay accommodation is increasing rapidly, mainly concentrated in the core area of the Heritage.

Along with that, land management, construction activities, tourism accommodation business, and use of tourism resources in the heritage area are not strict, and there are long-term violations that have not been thoroughly handled. Scientific research, especially research on culture and biodiversity, is still limited, and there are no in-depth, comprehensive research projects on heritage values. Investment and restoration of historical and cultural relics and protection of the landscape and environment are not commensurate with the position and stature of the heritage. Investment projects on tourism infrastructure in the Heritage area are still slow to be implemented. Tourism products in the Heritage area are still overlapping and monotonous, lacking in-depth tourism programs on archaeology, exploring the Heritage associated with the values and cultural and historical traditions of the ancient capital of Hoa Lu.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Le Thanh Binh, former Director, Head of the Diplomatic Academy, currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Association, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of International Studies, University of Foreign Languages, University of Da Nang, who has many years of research and study on UNESCO titles in Vietnam and Ninh Binh province, Ninh Binh is considered a miniature Vietnam with diverse landscapes of forests, mountains, rivers, seas, nature reserves, national parks, world biosphere reserves, national tourist areas and world cultural heritages. This place is famous for many scenic spots and heritages, including the Trang An World Heritage Complex, the Kim Son - Con Noi Coastal Biosphere Reserve, the Ramsar World Site - Van Long Lagoon...

In particular, Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex consists of 3 components that make up the "Outstanding Universal Value": geological, geomorphological and landscape values, Hoa Lu special-use primeval forest values and historical and cultural values. Since Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex was recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 2014, Ninh Binh has set out a clear strategy to promote the title of UNESCO-recognized heritage, first of all serving the goal of sustainable tourism development.

After nearly 3 years of being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with synchronous solutions, Ninh Binh tourism has strongly recovered. In 2022, the whole province welcomed more than 3.7 million visitors, including 101,000 international visitors. In the first 6 months of 2023, the number of visitors to Ninh Binh reached 4.53 million, 2.5 times higher than the same period last year, including 224,000 international visitors. Ninh Binh continues to be assessed by many prestigious travel media websites such as TripAdvisor, Telegraph, Business Insider, The Travel and Forbes magazine as a safe and attractive destination. Recently, Ninh Binh was also honored in the annual award organized by Booking.com to honor destinations and accommodations around the world, when it was ranked in the top 10 friendliest destinations in the world, contributing to the promotion of sustainable tourism.

With such incentives, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thanh Binh believes that Ninh Binh province should have a long-term strategy for promoting the image, history and local culture (including heritage, scenic spots, tourism, etc.), linked to the overall strategy for sustainable local development for appropriate and timely coordination. Like learning from Italy and other countries, Ninh Binh can choose some beautiful villages with attractive cultural histories, culinary specialties, sports and martial arts, etc. to build into "ancient towns", thereby attracting tourists from all over the world.

Along with that, Ninh Binh should learn from the experiences of localities and countries that have gone before to apply modern communication technology, digitize some stages and tasks, for example, strengthen information and communication on electronic newspapers, the Internet, link with domestic and foreign media units to promote local cultural heritage, especially heritage honored by UNESCO, national heritage... with new, rich and attractive technology platforms, thereby practically promoting the beauty of the homeland...

It can be said that the image and tourism brand of the tourist areas and destinations in Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex in Ninh Binh are increasingly affirmed. The UNESCO Heritage title has truly played a role as the nucleus, the center promoting tourism development in the whole province, affirming the position of Ninh Binh tourism in the domestic and international tourism market.

Activities to promote Heritage values associated with green growth tourism development in Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex have been carried out quite well, demonstrated through the participation of local communities in livelihood activities related to tourism services, promoting the values of Heritage.

In the coming time, Ninh Binh province is determined to implement synchronous, scientific and effective solutions to continue maintaining the achieved results, perfecting models, mechanisms and policies in implementing the work of preserving and promoting heritage values, UNESCO titles associated with sustainable development, realizing the goal of rapid and sustainable development according to the province's consistent orientation.

My Hanh

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