Festival tourism connects the community

Ritual of the Festival of Lady of the Land of Sam Mountain. Photo: TRUNG HIEU

After the merger, An Giang province has 2 intangible cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO as representative intangible cultural heritages of humanity including: Southern amateur music art, Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam mountain; 10 national treasures; 10 national intangible cultural heritages; 150 ranked historical - cultural relics, scenic spots (3 special national relics, 50 national relics and 97 provincial relics).

Cultural festivals in the province are all traditional, reflecting the spiritual life and customs of the ethnic groups here. The Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain, Nguyen Trung Truc Temple Festival, Bay Nui Ox Racing Festival; Nghinh Ong Kien Hai Festival, Phan Thi Rang Festival (Chi Su); Ky Yen Festival of Binh Thuy Temple along with typical festivals of the Khmer and Cham people... have become important cultural events, attracting the attention of domestic and foreign tourists. Through these festivals, tourists not only witness unique traditional rituals but also have the opportunity to participate in folk cultural activities, helping to connect with indigenous culture.

In recent years, the type of tourism associated with festivals has gradually developed. The way of organizing festivals has been increasingly innovated and professionalized, with many activities to attract tourists. In 2024, the Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain was recognized by UNESCO as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity. This is a unique traditional folk festival, playing a particularly important role in the spiritual and cultural life of the people of An Giang, containing historical and cultural values typical of the Southern cultural flow.

The development of festival tourism brings many positive impacts to the lives of local people. When tourists come to participate in festivals, the demand for accommodation and food increases. Festival tourism also creates opportunities for traditional craft villages to develop strongly. Handicraft products such as: Brocade, traditional musical instruments, regional specialties... have the opportunity to reach more customers.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Hoai, a tourist from Thanh Hoa, said that this year, her family experienced the festival atmosphere and explored tourism services in Chau Doc and neighboring areas. “I got to see the ceremonial costumes carrying the statue of the Lady from the top of Sam Mountain, and burn incense at the Ba Chua Xu Temple. At the same time, I visited famous tourist attractions in Chau Doc, visited Chau Phong Cham village; and enjoyed local specialties such as fish sauce hotpot, sour soup, braised fish, grilled chicken, palm juice... Overall, tourism services are quite good, meeting the needs of tourists. However, the province needs to organize connections between satellite tourist attractions around Chau Doc ward to make tourism products more diverse and attractive, especially night events.”

The traditional festival of Nguyen Trung Truc Communal House is held on the 26th, 27th and 28th of the 8th lunar month every year in Rach Gia ward, welcoming a large number of visitors from all over to pay homage to the spirit of the national hero, honoring the spirit of bravery, resilience and indomitability in the fight against foreign invaders. The unique feature of the festival is the community cohesion expressed through the volunteer spirit of the participating people. The festival contributes to preserving and promoting traditional cultural values associated with socio-economic development; highlighting the role of the people in the activities of the festival; promoting national sovereignty, protecting the country's borders, seas and islands.

Developing tourism through festivals is not only an opportunity to preserve and promote traditional cultural values, but also a sustainable direction for economic development, community connection, and improving people's lives. Therefore, with reasonable investment and effective communication and promotion strategies, An Giang can become an attractive destination for spiritual tourism and festival tourism, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists.

Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism Nguyen Trung Thanh said: “To develop festival tourism, the provincial tourism industry supports localities to diversify and improve the quality of festival tourism products that are typical of the land, creating unique features that are not confused with festivals in other regions. In particular, we pay attention to investing systematically in content, scale, organization time and connection with other destinations in the province, to form attractive tours for tourists. In addition, we do a good job of promoting festivals; connecting travel agencies to organize tours, and increasing services for visitors from all over the country to participate in the festival.”

Loyalty

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/du-lich-le-hoi-ket-noi-cong-dong-a462415.html