Ba Vi charts a new course in green tourism

THE HANOI TIMES — Located in the northwest of Hanoi, Ba Vi District is a captivating blend of natural beauty and cultural richness with lush forests, rivers, caves, and diverse ethnic heritage while offering a refreshing escape, with much of this "green pearl" unexplored.

A recent initiative "Ba Vi: Green Journey, Green Destination" co-organized by the Hanoi Department of Tourism and the People's Committee of Ba Vi District aims to showcase Ba Vi’s natural beauty and cultural richness to promote it as a must-visit destination for both domestic and international travelers.

The event gathering 50 travel agencies for a special survey trip is expected to spotlight the area’s unique charm and mobilize the collective strengths for further development of the district's tourism.

Small, fragmented investment

The survey trip gave delegates the opportunity to experience the three-kilometer Ngoc Hoa Stream trekking route, positioned at an elevation of 400 meters. This route is considered one of the most beautiful in Ba Vi National Park, featuring a stream that winds through a bamboo forest with diverse flora.

The delegation also visited the church ruins, which used to be an orphanage during the French colonial period, where 400 children were raised in the 1930s, at an elevation of 800m.

Other stops included popular tourist attractions such as the Ao Vua tourist area, the Amour Resort Ba Vi, the Ba Vi Resort, the Doi Quan Boutique Mansion in Ba Vi, and wellness services in a natural setting.

Ba Vi has long been regarded as the green lung of Hanoi, where pristine natural beauty, indigenous cultural depth, and significant wellness and ecotourism potential converge.

Among those, the Ba Vi National Park is where subtropical and temperate climates meet, boasting a diverse forest ecosystem and providing an ideal setting for wellness activities, trekking, camping, cloud hunting, and viewing the tree marigold.

Ba Vi is also a sacred land, home to the Thuong (Upper) Temple, which is devoted to the Mountain God of Tan Vien – one of the Four Immortals in Vietnamese religious beliefs. Other notable sites include the K9 – Da Chong Relic Site, which is associated with President Ho Chi Minh, and various resistance war relics. Moreover, the district is home to the Dao and Muong ethnic communities, who have unique traditional festivals, handicrafts, and cuisines.

However, according to local experts and businesses, Ba Vi's tourism industry has not really taken off due to insufficient infrastructure and human resources, the lack of distinctive tourism products, the shortage of major investors and cooperation, and the absence of a consistent, methodical development strategy.

Consequently, the number of visitors on weekends is though fairly large, they stay for a short time due to few activities. 

"Ba Vi's enormous tourism potential has not yet been fully realized. Without redesign, re-planning, and enhanced investment in financial and human resources, its tourism will not be able to break through,” said Nguyen Manh Than, Chairman of the Hanoi Tourism Association, who has invested in large tourist areas in northern Vietnam covering Ba Vi, such as Ao Vua, Dao Ngoc Xanh, and Dam Long.

Local investor and the Ba Vi Tourism Association's Chairman Ngo Van Phuc said: “Ba Vi is a special land with great potential for tourism development, but investment remains small and fragmented.”

Tourism firms in Ba Vi currently find it difficult to reach customers nationwide, so they hope to collaborate with travel agencies and large businesses to create a sustainable tourism value chain.

Positioning Ba Vi as a green, identity-rich, and distinctive destination

As Hanoi's tourism sector shifts towards green, smart and sustainable travel, it prompts a question how can Ba Vi works to become a distinctive destination?

Tran Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism, said Hanoi aims to develop green, smart, and sustainable tourism while preserving and promoting the cultural values of the local community.

Sharing this view, Captour President Thai Thi Thanh Lan said that it's necessary to develop Ba Vi into a green and sustainable destination with quality products and services that are environmentally and socially responsible, meeting tourists' growing demand.

To promote tourism, the media is identified as the 'soft fuse', a decisive factor in awakening the area's potential and building its destination brand. 

In the case of Ba Vi, the media must evoke emotions, create a unique identity, and form destination recognition in the minds of tourists with the city's long-term strategies that methodically and professionally rebuild Ba Vi’s image rather than pursuing short-term campaigns.

"Ba Vi - Green Symphony of the Capital" could be an evocative brand, conjuring images of green forests, early morning mist, sacred temples and indigenous culture, all blending with a slow, healthy pace of life with communication focus on three main themes: healing nature, green tourism, and community culture. 

Social media campaigns with specific hashtags such as #BaViSlowLiving, #ProtectGreenForest or #LiveWithNature can produce ripple effects. Investment in short-form, emotional and viral content on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube becomes important is cooperation with television and newspapers to produce a series of in-depth articles, reality shows, and short films with titles such as Check in Vietnam, Beautiful Vietnam, and The Legend of Mountain God.

Alongside communication, it is vital to develop tourism products simultaneously. The experts pointed out that Ba Vi needs to develop a chain of ecological, cultural, community-based, spiritual tourism products, night trekking tours, organic agri-tourism, wellness retreats, and the Living With The Dao Ethnic tour.

In particular, an official media channel for Ba Vi tourism is needed with a professional, regularly updated, multilingual website and fan page. At the same time, community communication training should be provided to encourage locals to become tourism ambassadors and tell stories about their hometown in a natural, emotional, and trustworthy manner.

If the right steps are taken, with concerted participation from administrative agencies, businesses, individuals, and the press, Ba Vi could become a place where every visitor wants to return to slow down and enjoy natural landscape in relaxing atmosphere.