Developing tourism from cultural heritage

In the center of Tua Chua town, Tua Chua district, every Saturday night there is a special night market, imbued with the cultural colors of the highlands, attracting many tourists to visit and experience. When the last rays of the day gradually fade behind the mountains, it is also the time when Tua Chua night market is bustling to open. The figures of adults and children blend into the colorful space of ethnic groups with the bustling sounds of instruments and songs. At this market, the rocky plateau of Tua Chua wants to let visitors experience the most unique cultural features of the ethnic groups here. To make the market more exciting, every week, communes, towns and schools in the district take turns coming up with ideas, practicing and performing unique art programs. Mr. Nguyen Van Manh, Director of the Cultural - Radio - Television Center of Tua Chua district said: “To promote and introduce the image, Tua Chua district has a policy that each commune will prepare a performance program every Saturday night, self-choreographed and staged according to the cultural characteristics of their own ethnic group, without overlapping or duplicating the culture of other ethnic groups. It is also an opportunity for ethnic groups to introduce their own culture to the community. Not only that, right at the center of the night market is a food stall, serving many traditional and special dishes, including thang co hotpot, mountain goat, fragrant corn wine... attracting hundreds of people and tourists to gather and enjoy. Thanks to that, after more than a year of operation, Tua Chua night market has gradually become a typical product of the district, with great appeal and attraction not only to local people but also to tourists from near and far”.

Considering community tourism development as a new direction contributing to the economic and social development of remote, isolated and border communes; in recent years, Nam Po district has focused on preserving and promoting traditional cultural heritages of ethnic groups and turning them into attractive tourism products. Not only encouraging Thai, Mong, Dao and other ethnic groups in the area to preserve good traditional cultural values, the district has also built outstanding and attractive cultural tourism spots. For example, in Phin Ho commune, where 6 ethnic groups live together. The Mong, Thai, Xa Phang and some other ethnic groups have unique traditional cultural features, attracting anyone who comes here. Not only that, Phin Ho commune has the advantage of being located right next to National Highway 4H, convenient for traffic. With that strength, in the past 2 years, Phin Ho has been invested by Nam Po district to become one of the outstanding tourist destinations, such as: Phin Ho market on weekends, Phin Ho night market on Saturday nights... Phin Ho is also the place to host many major cultural events of the district, such as: Thai ethnic cultural festival; Nam Po district ethnic cultural festival... Through these activities, many typical cultural features of Phin Ho in particular, Nam Po in general are widely promoted, attracting tourists from near and far to visit and experience...

However, it must also be recognized that turning cultural heritages into unique and exclusive tourism products of the province still faces many difficulties. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hiep, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: “Currently, the living environment, cultural spaces and many customs of ethnic groups in some localities are affected by the negative aspects of the integration process, the negative aspects of the market economy and the scientific and technological revolution, causing many difficulties in preserving and conserving traditional cultures of ethnic groups. In addition, the work of preserving and developing ethnic cultures has achieved positive results, but only the preservation and preservation of good cultural values of ethnic groups has not created many outstanding products in tourism development”.

To turn cultural values into unique tourism products of the province, it is necessary to have the participation and cooperation of all levels, sectors and localities. According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hiep, in the coming time, the province needs to actively advise and propose policies to encourage, support and attract investment resources to build a type of community tourism that meets standards associated with typical local cultural products to serve tourists, while creating jobs for people. In addition, it is also necessary to maintain, expand the scale, innovate the content and form of organizing festivals, festivals, competitions, festivals... from the province to the grassroots periodically and annually to create a series of activities associated with commemorative events, holidays and New Year. Along with that, it is necessary to guide and coordinate with the authorities of districts, towns and cities in the province to survey, assess the potential, select locations to build a community tourism culture on the basis of exploiting traditional cultural values; Cooperate with travel agencies and tourism companies to create tours connecting sightseeing, experiences, and cultural identity exploration...

Source