Promoting the strengths of sports tourism

Athletes cross tea hills at the Vietnam Trail Marathon held in Moc Chau district, Son La.

Sports tourism activities are now quite diverse, from cheering on competitions to directly participating in sports activities such as: running, cycling, rowing, mountain climbing...

Many events attract tourists

Since the beginning of 2024, dozens of marathons and half-marathons have been organized, attracting thousands, even tens of thousands of athletes, for example: Mau Son Mount Paths 2024 (Lang Son), Tien Phong Marathon (Phu Yen), VPBank VnExpress Marathon Ho Chi Minh City Midnight 2024 (Ho Chi Minh City), THACO Marathon For Traffic Safety - Dien Bien Phu (Dien Bien)... The races have many innovations to attract athletes and tourists such as organizing races in famous places, areas with beautiful landscapes; organizing night races...

Previously, the concept of sports competitions was unfamiliar, but now it is a spearhead for localities with complex mountainous terrain, but at the same time has beautiful scenery like the northern mountainous provinces. One of the races that made a strong impression was the 2024 Vietnam Ultra Marathon held in Lac village, Chieng Chau commune (Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province) with more than 2,200 athletes from 38 countries.

Chairman of Mai Chau District People's Committee Pham Van Hoan said that the event is an opportunity for Hoa Binh province and Mai Chau district to introduce Mai Chau tourist area to domestic and international friends; thereby, exploiting and promoting the potential and advantages in the tourism sector, contributing to promoting the development of the tourist area in the area.

Athlete Michal Lesniak from Poland (who has won many major races in Europe and Asia) said: "Participating in the Mai Chau race is not only a race, but also an experience of discovering new and interesting lands. Along the running routes, athletes were immersed in the beautiful scenery, directly experiencing the unique and charming features. From exploring the less frequented trails, to experiencing the local culture, Mai Chau brought interesting and unforgettable memories to me and my friends".

Earlier this year, Son La province also successfully organized the Moc Chau trail marathon with a record number of athletes: 4,200 athletes. Not only did the tournament welcome a large number of visitors, but the beautiful images of nature and people of Son La were also widely promoted.

Previously, sports tourism was a small branch of tourism activities, but in recent years, sports tourism has become a new trend, developing at a dizzying speed, especially with the emergence and development of major sports tournaments, attracting a large number of athletes to participate with flexible organization capabilities, typically running tournaments.

Hanoi is a locality with advantages in developing sports tourism, having been the main host of two SEA Games, and hosting many international golf and badminton tournaments. In recent times, the trend of organizing major sports tournaments has been growing.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports Pham Xuan Tai said that Hanoi alone currently has seven major marathon and half-marathon events. Each year, these events attract hundreds of thousands of participants. Son La province, a region famous for its resort tourism, has also surprised by becoming the venue for many important sports events.

Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Son La province Do The Cong said: "In recent years, a number of sports tournaments organized by Son La province in coordination with other units have attracted a large number of athletes from many countries and territories such as the Vietnam Trail Marathon 2024, the VTV Cup Off Road Motorcycle Race 2023; the second stage of the Ho Chi Minh City Television Cup Cycling Race 2024 with the theme "The Country and Rivers Connected - Belief in Victory"... These sports tournaments not only attract tourists but also contribute to promoting the beauty of nature and the attractiveness of the culture of Son La ethnic groups".

Towards sustainable development

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), sports tourism is a type of tourism related to the tourist experience and is one of the fastest growing sectors in the tourism industry, estimated to be worth about 800 billion USD globally.

Realizing this, localities and travel businesses have built clear orientations for the development of sports tourism. Hoa Binh province has promoted its natural advantages and landscapes to develop a series of sports competitions such as: cycling, mountain biking, running, kayaking on the Da River, paragliding, etc. In particular, kayaking on the Da River has now become a brand of the province, loved by many people when athletes and fans are immersed in the majestic natural scenery of the Da River Lake.

Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoa Binh Province, Nguyen Van Toan, said that the organization and hosting of sports tournaments has contributed to the strong development of local tourism. Each tournament is carefully prepared by Hoa Binh Province from facilities to reception, accommodation, cuisine, ensuring security and order for guests in order to leave beautiful images in the hearts of domestic and international friends.

Meanwhile, in addition to major sports tournaments, tourism businesses in Hanoi also combine discovery and experience activities with sports activities. Tours such as: "Quintessence of Trang An - Discovering French architecture in the heart of Hanoi" (Ban Chan Viet Travel Company), "Thang Long - Hanoi Night" (Vietnam Sustainable Tourism Investment and Development Company) ... are all associated with cycling activities. Director of VietFoot Travel Pham Duy Nghia said that this business also expanded cycling activities to the provinces of Ninh Binh, Lao Cai, Son La ... to bring experiences to customers.

Sports tourism is an attractive "two-in-one" trend, contributing significantly to the socio-economic development of the locality. However, reality also shows that, due to its new nature, infrastructure, human resources for sports tourism, and safety issues have not yet met the needs of the market, especially adventure tourism types such as: mountain climbing, paragliding, rowing... Typically, Hanoi once stopped paragliding activities at Bu hill (Chuong My district) due to safety concerns.

General Director of Flamingo Redtours (Hanoi) Nguyen Cong Hoan said: "Sports tourism is a specialized tourism type, so organizing sports tours will be much more difficult. First of all, this type of tourism requires the organizer to have expertise in both travel and certain knowledge about sports such as tournament regulations, registration methods, and consulting for guests to participate in activities suitable for their health." However, in reality, many units organizing tours with sports elements, especially adventure sports, still lack expertise in travel as well as the work of checking and taking care of athletes' health is not guaranteed.

Due to weak infrastructure, most localities and units often focus on organizing long-distance races or cycling races, mountain bike races, etc. because these sports attract a large number of participants, but do not require specific facilities. Meanwhile, many other types of sports have not received due attention, and the room for development has not been exploited.

Vietfoot Travel Director Pham Duy Nghia said that in order to turn sports tourism into a key product of Vietnam tourism, agencies need to conduct thorough research and have a long-term orientation to build and upgrade infrastructure, improve the transportation system, and specialized technical facilities in a professional and modern direction, meeting the requirements of many forms of sports tourism; at the same time, have an early and systematic promotion strategy, as well as dynamism to increase the opportunity to host many international sporting events.

Notably, the recent incident of an athlete participating in the Tay Ho half marathon collapsing near the finish line also warns of safety issues. Sports event organizers need to properly control the "input" health checks as well as take care of the health of athletes throughout the tournament.

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