Hai Phong: Turning heritage into development resources

Hải Phòng: Biến di sản thành nguồn lực phát triển - Ảnh 1. — Water procession at Con Son Pagoda. Photo: Hai Phong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism

During September 27-28, Con Son - Kiep Bac relic site (Tran Hung Dao ward, Hai Phong), part of the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son - Kiep Bac relic and scenic complex, welcomed about 65,000 visitors, many times higher than the same period in 2024. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Lien - Head of the Management Board of Con Son - Kiep Bac relic site, this number shows the special attraction of the world heritage even though it has not yet entered the main festival day of the Con Son - Kiep Bac Autumn Festival in 2025.

In addition to the world heritage, Hai Phong also has 9 special national relics and relic clusters, 257 national relics, 722 city-level relics and 33 national treasures. Not only rich in tangible heritage, Hai Phong also has 2 intangible heritages recognized by UNESCO: The practice of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship (Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) and Ca Tru Singing (Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Protection) along with 24 national intangible heritages, more than 1,200 traditional festivals and many craft villages.

Ms. Tran Thi Hoang Mai - Director of the City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: In recent years, Hai Phong has paid attention to and focused on preserving and promoting the value of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The city has devoted large resources to restoring and embellishing historical and cultural relics. From 2021 to now, the city has provided nearly 38 billion VND in public funding, mobilized more than 146 billion VND from social sources to restore 70 relics, and spent over 3,000 billion VND to restore and invest in infrastructure and traffic connections at the relics.

With the motto of turning relics and heritage into human resources, creating economic value, the city has approved the policy of exploiting heritage values with specific projects, plans and programs. Many creative programs, leaving their own mark, have been implemented such as: TV stage, "Lighting up the Theater", promoting Cat Ba Heritage on CNN, applying digital technology at Hang Kenh communal house... All have brought positive effects. Thanks to that, the routes and tourist destinations associated with heritage are increasingly attractive. Many specialized products have been formed such as: "Famous people of Vietnam", "Truc Lam Zen sect", "Vietnamese path of examinations", spiritual tourism, craft village tourism...

In addition, the festival system takes place all year round, from the Spring festival at historical relics, Summer with the Red Flamboyant Festival, Do Son Buffalo Fighting, Cat Ba Sea Festival; to Autumn with the Con Son - Kiep Bac relic and Winter with the Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem festival, has contributed to making Hai Phong a vibrant and unique destination.

Despite many achievements, the exploitation of heritage values is still not commensurate with the potential. Ms. Mai commented: Currently, heritage conservation work is sometimes lacking in synchronization. Tourism infrastructure and services are still limited; tourism products associated with heritage are not really rich and unique. Human resources for tourism and culture are not really systematic and professional.

The city's tourism industry hopes to organize more international events at heritage sites, develop night tourism and live theater; mobilize diverse resources through public-private partnerships, establish a Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund, and take advantage of international support funds. At the same time, the city focuses on training professional human resources and promoting multi-channel communication to bring the image of heritage sites closer to the community and international tourists.

Taking advantage of two world heritage sites and a unique system of relics, Hai Phong is facing a great opportunity to turn heritage into a resource for sustainable development, creating a driving force for breakthroughs in the new era.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/hai-phong-bien-di-san-thanh-nguon-luc-phat-trien-20251003101622602.htm