Referring to Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa tourism, one often thinks of sea and island tourism...
Referring to Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa tourism, one often thinks of sea and island tourism. In fact, Khanh Hoa also has great intangible cultural heritage potentials, which have not been effectively promoted.
Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa has been long known as a “City by the beach”, a “Sunny deck” or “Basket of fresh colorful flowers by the Eastern Sea”.
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| Ponagar Temple Festival, one of national intangible cultural heritages. |
The land is blessed with a rich and varied array of intangible culture, which gives the region a bountiful resource base for cultural heritage tourism.
If properly managed, the income from tourism practice will help promote the preservation of intangible heritage resources, create more jobs as well as raise public awareness of heritage values.
Many ancient religious, historical and cultural works have remained in Khanh Hoa Province. Religious festivals include fishing worship, Bo ma rituals of Raglai people, Ponagar Temple Festival featuring Vietnamese and Cham cultural exchange and many more.
Spiritual musical performances include telling Raglai epics, hat van, bai choi, mua bong with sacred rituals, etc.
Besides, Khanh Hoa has been known for salangane nest products as well as craft communities such as Ninh Ha Mat Village (Ninh Hoa Town), Lu Cam Pottery Village (Nha Trang City) and Phu Loc Bronze Casting Village (Dien Khanh District).
Particularly, banh canh cha ca, bun ca and Ninh Hoa fermented pork rolls are tasty must-try specialties for visitors to Khanh Hoa Province.
According to Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, Da Nang Socio-economic Development Institute, intangible cultural tourism has developed in various forms. But not much success has been gained due to some challenges, including the lack of cooperation between craft villages and travel operators.
In addition, many traditional festivals are due to take place in off-peak seasons. Besides, some festivals seem to lose their real significance, souls and meanings as they are put on stage, instead of in a real life.
Andrei Vochin, a Russian tourist says, "I would like to learn traditional culture from local festivals, folk games and handicraft."
It has proved the vital role of intangible cultural heritages in tourism development. The most important festival needs to be chosen among many others to focus investment on.
Together with cultural heritage preservation, the improvement in infrastructures and tourism facilities and promotion of craft village-based tourism are required to boost the local tourism, so that Khanh Hoa will be a popular tourist destination of both marine and cultural significance.
N.T
