Promoting values of cultural heritages in tourism development

On December 22, 2023, Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 34 on promoting the values of cultural heritages in conjunction with sustainable tourism development in Khanh Hoa Province until 2025, with a vision towards 2030. After nearly a year of implementing the resolution, initial positive results have been achieved.

Gradually putting the resolution into practice

According to Plan No. 5703, dated July 13, 2024, regarding the implementation of Resolution No. 34 issued by Nha Trang City People's Committee, the city will invest in and preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritages of significant value to create attractive cultural tourism products for tourists; contribute to socio-economic development and improvement of quality of life for the people; foster education on historical traditions, patriotism and national pride. In 2025, Nha Trang City aims for 70% of its communes and wards to have traditional music clubs, especially Bai Choi, Whale worship ceremony, and folk songs. The city also plans to renovate and restore 11 provincially recognized monuments that are showing signs of severe deterioration. Additionally, efforts will be made to implement the tasks stated in the projects “development of community, cultural, and historical tourism in Nha Trang City,” “development of community tourism with a green and sustainable approach in Bich Dam, Vinh Nguyen Ward.” The city will also assess and select potential monuments for tourism development. By 2027, the city will create a cultural heritage database system using digital technology; organize exhibitions and displays of cultural artifacts and antiquities. By 2030, based on the preserved and promoted cultural heritages, the city will introduce new tourism products with distinctive features to make Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa an attractive destination for both domestic and international tourists.

Local people and tourists experiencing a cultural activity at Ponagar Temple

In 2025, Khanh Son District will restore a significant traditional festival of the Raglai, aligning it with tourism development. The district aims for 50% of the local villages in the areas of ethnic communities and mountainous areas to have traditional music groups and will host a lithophone festival in Khanh Son. In 2030, the district plans to build an exhibition gallery for cultural artifacts and antiquities, serving as a new tourism product and a way to preserve the cultural characteristics of ethnic minorities.

Works to be implemented

Khanh Hoa Province has a convergence of mountain, plain, sea, and island cultural features. The typical monuments in Khanh Hoa include Hoa Diem archaeological site, Ponagar Temple, Dien Khanh ancient citadel, Ba Vu Mausoleum, Ninh Hoa administrative headquarters, C235 Ship memorial site, the complex of memorial sites dedicated to scientist Alexandre Yersin, and the sovereignty stelae of Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago on Song Tu Tay and Nam Yet islands. In the province, there are many traditional festivals that are still organized annually by local people such as festivals at village communal houses, Salangane Nest Festival, Whale Worship Festival, Ponagar Temple Festival, and Grave-Leaving Ceremony of Raglai people. Additionally, Khanh Hoa people are also practicing various forms of folk performing art traditional opera, Bai Choi, Ba Trao singing, and Raglai epic singing as well as playing traditional musical instruments such as lithophones, gongs, ma la, and chapi. All of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the province can potentially become tourism products.

According to Nguyen Van Nhuan, in the time to come, authorities at all levels, sectors and localities need to strengthen the leadership and direction of the Party committees and authorities in preserving and promoting cultural heritage values in connection with tourism development. It is important to actively encourage the public to get involved in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage values; build an environment and cultural life which is rich in traditional culture. Significant historical, cultural and scenic sites of the province with outstanding values should be selected for documentation to propose national recognition. Valuable relics and antiques need to be proposed recognition as national treasures.

It is also necessary to develop plans to preserve the cultural characteristics of the communities and ethnic groups; maintain and pass down intangible cultural heritage values among generations through oral tradition, vocational training, performances, and other forms; integrate the teaching of local cultural heritages into schools using appropriate methods and formats; preserve and promote outstanding and distinctive cultural heritage values in connection with sustainable tourism development; regularly organize contests on historical figures and important events associated with different stages of the province's development and the role and significance of cultural heritages in the province’s socio-economic development; strengthen public contribution and call for investment from businesses and other legal sources to prioritize projects of promoting traditional cultural heritage values.

Giang Dinh
Translated by H.N