In addition to 21 World Heritage Sites, Vietnam has more than 40,000 monuments and landscapes, of which more than 3,000 monuments are rated national values and more than 5,000 sites are rated provincial values. Many of them are attractive tourist destinations.
Remarking on the importance of heritages to tourism development, Mai Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hanoi, said Hanoi has the most World Heritages like Ca Tru singing, Van Mieu- Quoc Tu Giam Stone Stele, Thang Long Royal Citadel and Giong Festival. Tourism development is necessary to bring heritage values to domestic and international people. Only by developing tourism, can these valuable heritages be preserved and maintained.
Local tourism authorities have organised many conferences and seminars on tourism connectivity to create unique tourism products to visitors. Typical connectivity programmes include “Travel to the roots” between Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho provinces; “Central heritage itinerary" between Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam, “Tourism triangle” between Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh. However, these connection programmes are not very effective.
Ha Quang Long, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ninh province said Vietnam quickly agrees on policies but measures and methods for implementation are one of disadvantages of localities in coordination programme. Hence, many programmes are only good to policymaking. It is necessary to turn common perceptions into specific actions.
In addition, connecting heritages in the central region shows that provinces and cities in the region have many similar tourism products. All localities have sea festivals and exploit World Heritages and their tourism products are not uniquely attractive to tourists. Le Huu Loc, Chairman of People's Committee of Binh Dinh province, said each locality should create its own unique tourism products in addition to common tourism products of the region. For example, Binh Duong province will develop cultural tourism, historical tourism and ecological tourism to create more unique tourism products.
In a recent meeting in preparation for National Tourism Year 2015 - Thanh Hoa province, themed "Connecting Legacies," tourism connection became a hot topic of discussion. However, according to tourism authorities, it is very difficult to connect two World Heritage Sites in Ninh Binh province and Thanh Hoa province: Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex and Ho Dynasty Citadel. Duong Thi Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Binh province, said, connecting heritages in Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces is still not good because of infrastructure difficulties.
Bui Van Manh, Deputy Director of the Management Board for Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, said connecting heritages is a very important topic but we need very clear programmes to connect near heritages. Traffic system is very important in linking heritages because it brings tourists to heritage sites and encourages investors to build hotels, restaurants and recreational centres to serve visitors. Therefore, a good and convenient traffic system must be formed to connect heritages.
Connecting the World Heritages to create well-branded unique tourist products is essential to develop national tourism in general and local tourism in particular. Thus, the tourism industry must regard heritages as the nucleus and the core of other related activities, including tourism.
Local tourism authorities have organised many conferences and seminars on tourism connectivity to create unique tourism products to visitors. Typical connectivity programmes include “Travel to the roots” between Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho provinces; “Central heritage itinerary" between Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang and Quang Nam, “Tourism triangle” between Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh. However, these connection programmes are not very effective.
Ha Quang Long, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ninh province said Vietnam quickly agrees on policies but measures and methods for implementation are one of disadvantages of localities in coordination programme. Hence, many programmes are only good to policymaking. It is necessary to turn common perceptions into specific actions.
In addition, connecting heritages in the central region shows that provinces and cities in the region have many similar tourism products. All localities have sea festivals and exploit World Heritages and their tourism products are not uniquely attractive to tourists. Le Huu Loc, Chairman of People's Committee of Binh Dinh province, said each locality should create its own unique tourism products in addition to common tourism products of the region. For example, Binh Duong province will develop cultural tourism, historical tourism and ecological tourism to create more unique tourism products.
In a recent meeting in preparation for National Tourism Year 2015 - Thanh Hoa province, themed "Connecting Legacies," tourism connection became a hot topic of discussion. However, according to tourism authorities, it is very difficult to connect two World Heritage Sites in Ninh Binh province and Thanh Hoa province: Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex and Ho Dynasty Citadel. Duong Thi Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Binh province, said, connecting heritages in Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces is still not good because of infrastructure difficulties.
Bui Van Manh, Deputy Director of the Management Board for Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, said connecting heritages is a very important topic but we need very clear programmes to connect near heritages. Traffic system is very important in linking heritages because it brings tourists to heritage sites and encourages investors to build hotels, restaurants and recreational centres to serve visitors. Therefore, a good and convenient traffic system must be formed to connect heritages.
Connecting the World Heritages to create well-branded unique tourist products is essential to develop national tourism in general and local tourism in particular. Thus, the tourism industry must regard heritages as the nucleus and the core of other related activities, including tourism.
