Lang Son Tourism: Turning potential into development advantages

Turn potential into advantage

Lang Son is considered to have many advantages for tourism development. Located in a strategic position with a long border adjacent to China, with a convenient road and railway traffic system connecting with provinces and cities in the country and internationally, it is an important gateway connecting China with ASEAN countries. Lang Son also owns a system of more than 330 famous relics and landscapes along with a unique culture, imbued with the identity of 7 main ethnic groups (Nung, Tay, Kinh, Dao, Hoa, San Chay, Mong), creating diverse tourism development potential.

The province's natural tourism resources are diverse and rich with famous landscapes, caves, rivers, lakes, typical ecosystems, and temperate climate; many typical tourism resources such as: Nhi Tam Thanh scenic relic site, To Thi mountain - Mac Dynasty citadel; landscape, climate of Mau Son mountain, Huu Lien and Yen Thinh community ecotourism, etc. Many revolutionary relics are associated with the times of repelling invaders throughout the process of building and defending the nation such as: Chi Lang Pass, Bac Son uprising historical relic site, Road 4 victory historical relic site, etc. And especially, Lang Son provincial geopark was formed in December 2021, aiming to build a global geopark recognized by UNESCO with many potentials and values in geology, geomorphology, and natural landscapes.

With the aspiration to become an inspiring economic sector with a diverse, creative and sustainable strategy, Lang Son province advocates developing tourism not only within the scope of shopping and dining but also focusing on investment and building tourism programs associated with organizing a series of unique cultural, sports and tourism events and unique inter-route tours.

Recently, tours associated with border areas connect tourist destinations, historical and cultural relics, and scenic spots on the border such as: Lang Son city route to Dong Dang, Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh; Lang Son city route to Bang Tuong (China) in a day with a passport; shopping at the commercial tourist destination of Tan Thanh border gate market (Van Lang)...

Linking and cooperating in tourism development with the neighboring country (China) is identified as one of the main solutions that the province has been focusing on implementing to promote the development of border tourism. The province has put into operation 2 international tourist routes including: Lang Son - Huu Nghi International Border Gate - Nanning (Guangxi, China) (this is part of the trans-Asia tourist route); Lang Son - Huu Nghi International Border Gate - Nanning - Dong Hung - Mong Cai - Tra Co - Lang Son.

Implementing the Memorandum of Cooperation, over the past 2 years, cultural, sports and tourism activities on the occasion of holidays, New Year and traditional anniversaries of both sides have been enhanced with nearly 50 cooperation events. The introduction and promotion activities have contributed to attracting tourists to Vietnam and tourists from Vietnam to China, promoting the effective exploitation of border tourism products between the two sides.

Mr. Luu Ba Mac, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (DOCST), said: The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has coordinated with relevant units to advise the Provincial People's Committee to carry out tasks to promote border tourism cooperation such as: Strengthening cooperation in managing cross-border tourism activities; removing difficulties and obstacles to create favorable conditions for travel agencies and tourists to cross the border; promoting tourism promotion, digital transformation; building specific border tourism products, especially cooperating to build the Tan Thanh (Vietnam) - Po Chai (China) cross-border tourism cooperation area with many types of diverse, quality and attractive services, advising to increase the time for tourists to use travel passes to 2 days, 1 night (currently traveling in a day) ... to promote border tourism to develop commensurate with potential advantages, contributing to the socio-economic development of the province.

Application of science and technology in tourism development

Identifying tourism as one of the service industries that bring in a lot of revenue for the province, one of the solutions that Lang Son is focusing on to promote tourism growth is developing smart tourism. The province has actively built programs and plans to develop tourism, including solutions to take advantage of the strengths of the 4.0 technology revolution to accelerate tourism development. Departments and branches in Lang Son have coordinated with VNPT Lang Son to deploy the construction of a tourism information portal and smart tourism applications on mobile devices in the province.

The implementation of the smart tourism model cooperation agreement is a solution to build an integrated tourism data warehouse, tourism information portal, tourism application on mobile devices, digital tourism map, accommodation management system, tourism information support means, free public wifi for tourists at tourist attractions..., meeting the needs of tourists when coming to Lang Son.

Lang Son tourism information portal with a comprehensive electronic information page with the domain name http://langsontourism.com.vn and a smart tourism application on mobile devices with the App: Lang Son Tourism has been integrated with many features and put into trial operation since March 4, 2019.

In order to further enhance the application of information technology in management and tourism development activities in the province, the Provincial People's Committee continues to build and develop the smart tourism system of Lang Son province in the period of 2021-2025.

Smart tourism is part of the content of the Project to build a smart city in Lang Son province in the period of 2021 - 2025, using information and communication technology to form a tourism ecosystem between 3 subjects: tourists, government, businesses, aiming to build a high-quality tourism industry.

Lang Son province's smart tourism system is integrated with many features with basic components: Tourism information portal, tourism application on mobile devices, tourism map, public wifi system, accommodation system, tourism data analysis system integrated with new technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, 3600 photos will bring new experiences to tourists. Accordingly, tourists can easily interact on smart devices such as tablets, smartphones to look up and experience the travel itinerary; especially tourist locations and information are integrated with digital maps to help tourists easily find the desired locations; book hotel and restaurant services easily, helping to save time and costs for tourists.

This is also an "extended arm" that helps tourism businesses overcome the limitations of space and time when promoting products, creating chain links, developing complete tourism services, and expanding business opportunities. The application of information technology in tourism development has contributed to the formation of a smart tourism ecosystem, promoting sustainable tourism development, which is a new direction for the tourism industry in Lang Son province. Thereby, bringing Lang Son tourism closer to domestic and foreign investors and tourists.

Thien Hoa

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/du-lich-lang-son-bien-tiem-nang-thanh-loi-the-phat-trien-2442608.html