Linking for sustainable development

With similarities in nature, history and culture, in recent years, the 6 Viet Bac provinces have actively cooperated, linked and developed tourism to exploit the natural landscape values and cultural heritage values of the provinces in the region to introduce to domestic and international tourists.

LOCATED entirely in the midland and mountainous region of the North, the Viet Bac region has a total natural area of over 37.2 km2, a population of over 4.5 million people, a land bearing many historical imprints, natural tourism resources, diverse culture, rich traditional cultural values of ethnic groups, preserved from generation to generation. With many advantages, at different levels, the provinces in the region have identified tourism development as an important economic sector, a breakthrough for economic and social development in each locality.

Mr. Le Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Tuyen Quang province, shared that in the past, the cooperation and association activities for tourism development among the provinces were still modest, not creating the strength to promote tourism development in each locality, tourism activities were still in the style of "each doing their own thing", making the connection of tours still fragmented, the formation and creation of new tourism products were still vague. Perhaps that is why, despite possessing particularly attractive tourism resources, tourism in the provinces of the Viet Bac War Zone was still less attractive to tourists.

With the push of "Through the Viet Bac Heritage Sites" in 2009, first held in Ha Giang province, it has partly cleared the bottleneck in tourism development of 6 Viet Bac provinces. And after many years of rotating organization in the provinces in the region, the program "Through the Viet Bac Heritage Sites" has contributed to realizing the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030, Viet Bac is identified as one of the 7 tourist regions of the country, approved in Decision No. 2473/QD-TTg, dated December 30, 2011 of the Prime Minister.

Art program at the opening ceremony of the Heritage Region of 6 Viet Bac provinces in 2022 in Ha Giang.

Tourism in the Viet Bac region is growing rapidly. According to statistics, in the period 2009 - 2015, the total investment in the tourism sector from various sources is estimated at over 20,000 billion VND; after only 5 years, the total number of visitors to the Viet Bac provinces reached over 6.5 million; total revenue from tourism reached over 4,500 billion VND; in the 6 provinces, there are nearly 1,100 accommodation establishments, of which 250 establishments meet 1-4 star standards.

In addition, the traffic infrastructure has been invested, connecting localities such as National Highway 3 Thai Nguyen - Bac Kan, National Highway 3 Thai Nguyen - Cho Moi, National Highway 4 Cao Bang - Lang Son, National Highway 279 Lang Son - Cao Bang - Bac Kan - Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway... Tourism programs such as "Through the Viet Bac heritage sites" are organized annually, the tour "One journey - Two destinations" as well as promotional activities to position the tourism image of the "Viet Bac War Zone" region to be more and more attractive to tourists.

Dong Dang (Lang Son) - Tra Linh (Cao Bang) Expressway (photo 1); Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway Project (phase 1 - photo 2);
An overpass on the Thai Nguyen - Bac Kan highway (photo 3)

Mr. Le Duc Nhan, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, said: “We rarely have the opportunity to learn about and explore tourist destinations in the northern provinces of the country, so my family decided to choose a tour to the source, combining learning about historical sites such as ATK Dinh Hoa of Thai Nguyen, Tan Trao of Tuyen Quang, Pac Bo of Cao Bang, and learning more about the traditional cultural life of the people here. This is truly a very meaningful trip for my family.”

Tourists visit and experience tourist attractions in Tuyen Quang.

With their own potential and strengths, at different levels, the localities in the Viet Bac War Zone have all determined to develop tourism into an important economic sector to develop the local economy and society. In particular, after Resolution 08, dated January 16, 2017 of the Politburo on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector, the Provincial Party Committees have issued Resolutions on tourism development, aiming to develop the tourism industry in each locality commensurate with its potential and strengths, contributing to bringing tourism development in the whole region to a new level.

To concretize the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, many regulations and projects have been issued and implemented by the province. In particular, Resolution No. 29 of the Provincial Party Executive Committee (term XVII) on developing tourism into an important economic sector of the province has contributed to orienting and synchronously developing tourism in the province in accordance with the Planning and strategy for Vietnam's tourism development to 2030 and the Planning of Tuyen Quang province for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050; Project for tourism development in Tuyen Quang province to 2025 and orientation to 2030; Project for typical tourism products in Tuyen Quang province for the period 2023 - 2030; Project to renovate Thanh Tuyen Festival in the period 2022 - 2030... After the resolutions, projects and plans were issued, most sectors and localities specified the tasks into the programs and plans of the sectors and localities; linking tourism development with cultural and human development, helping Tuyen Quang tourism overcome difficulties, meeting the needs of integration and sustainable development.

Tuyen Quang develops types of tourism such as historical tourism, eco-tourism, resort tourism and spiritual tourism.

To realize the aspiration of developing tourism commensurate with the potential and strengths, truly becoming an important and spearhead economic sector of each province, the program "Through the Viet Bac heritage sites" is organized annually by the host provinces with their own ways of organizing and promoting, with specific plans and programs connecting the series of events of the province and of the provinces in the region, creating a positive effect in propaganda and promotion work; the content is elaborately staged to show the cultural characteristics and strengths of regional tourism of the provinces and the Viet Bac region.

Opening Program Through the Viet Bac Heritage Sites 2021 in Thai Nguyen.

Display and exhibition activities are focused on through booths introducing products, tourism publications, tourism programs, information, images of routes and tourist destinations to promote and introduce to visitors and investors. Products from craft villages, cooperatives, enterprises, production facilities, and tourism services are rich in variety, sophisticated in workmanship, and diverse in design; food booths promote and introduce local culinary culture, attracting a large number of visitors.

In particular, in 2022, for the first time, 3 inter-route tours of 6 Viet Bac provinces were launched in the program "Through the Viet Bac heritage sites". The tours were selected based on the typical imprints of each locality to introduce to tourists and connect the points through a consistent theme such as: "Journey connecting UNESCO heritage of Ha Giang - Cao Bang - Lang Son Karst Plateau Global Geopark"; "The legend of Gam River and the Viet Bac revolutionary heritage road" and the tour "From Tan Trao Revolutionary Base to Vi Xuyen Border Front". It can be said that these are the first 3 specialized tourism products that 6 provinces in the Viet Bac region have coordinated to implement, contributing to affirming the common brand of tourism of 6 Viet Bac provinces to domestic and foreign tourists.

The announcement ceremony of the tourism products linking the 6 provinces of Viet Bac includes: "Journey connecting UNESCO heritage of the Global Geopark of Ha Giang - Cao Bang - Lang Son"; "The legend of Gam River and the Viet Bac revolutionary heritage road" and the tour "From Tan Trao Revolutionary Base to Vi Xuyen Border Front".

Ms. Chau Thanh Nga, Director of Co Son Nu Trading and Tourism Company Limited (Tuyen Quang) said that in the past, the company mainly deployed day tours for students to visit, study and learn about history or experience the traditional cultural activities of local people. Now, thanks to promoting regional tourism development links, tourism products are more diverse, increasing the experience for tourists, extending the length of stay, and the number of customers booking tours of the company is increasing. The company also strengthens its links with businesses in the provinces in the Viet Bac region to bring tourists the best experiences at each point in the journey.

At the workshop "Potential, resources and current status of tourism development linkages in the Viet Bac War Zone provinces" held in Tuyen Quang province in April 2023, Comrade Tran Thanh Man, Politburo member, Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly affirmed that the 6 provinces of the Viet Bac War Zone have a particularly important strategic position in military, economic, political and social aspects. He said that localities need to deeply assess the potential and advantages and determine the goals of building and positioning regional tourism brands, promoting cooperation in tourism development, attracting investment and building unique and interconnected tourism products. At the same time, determine a new approach in building regional linkages; comprehensively recognize the difficulties and challenges, clearly identify bottlenecks that need to be cleared.

Workshop "Potential, resources and current status of tourism development linkage in the provinces of the Viet Bac War Zone" held in Tuyen Quang province in April 2023.

The 14th "Through the Viet Bac Heritage Sites" tourism program in 2023 held in Tuyen Quang province is one of the important events to further specify the orientations and directions in linking regional tourism development.

Within the framework of the 14th "Through the Viet Bac Heritage Sites" tourism program and Thanh Tuyen Festival 2023, from September 20 to 27, a series of attractive activities were jointly organized by Tuyen Quang and the Viet Bac provinces such as: Festival of Community Cultural Tourism Villages of 6 Viet Bac provinces to introduce the potential of community tourism, creating conditions for people in the community cultural tourism villages to expand exchanges, share experiences and skills in tourism activities. On the other hand, this is also an opportunity for the provinces to build, consolidate, exploit, collect and restore traditional festivals; at the same time, look for core elements for cultural and artistic activities to serve tourism development and local events.

Community tourism, cultural identity… of Viet Bac provinces.

In particular, the program "Cinema - Connecting heritage and tourism in Tuyen Quang" connects businesses and cinema to Tuyen Quang. The delegation with members of the Department of Cinema, Vietnam Cinema Association, Vietnam Film Institute, Cultural Counselors of embassies of some countries developing cinema, directors, screenwriters... will survey cultural heritages, scenic spots... in Son Duong, Chiem Hoa, Na Hang, Lam Binh districts. Thereby, select suitable settings for the production of movies, television, documentaries...

Historical relics and tourist attractions of Tuyen Quang.

The program "Displaying and introducing the quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine" and Hanoi Beer Festival are where visitors can enjoy culinary flavors imbued with famous regional identities, prepared by the talented and skillful hands of famous chefs and culinary artisans.

Coming to the 2023 Tuyen Quang Provincial Trade and Tourism Fair, people and tourists from all over can easily choose quality rural agricultural products, hundreds of OCOP products from all localities.

Mr. Le Thanh Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Tuyen Quang province, added that according to the tourism development cooperation plan in 2023, the 6 localities will continue to coordinate in promoting and providing information to support each other on the time and content of festivals, important cultural events, etc. Coordinate well in organizing activities to link, promote and promote tourism in the region, domestically and internationally.

With the trend of developing cultural tourism, green tourism associated with tourism development with conservation, promoting heritage values and national cultural identity, promoting regional linkages, bringing positive experiences to tourists, the magical heritage areas of Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Ha Giang will certainly continue to be the top choice of tourists.