[Audio] Hai Duong builds tourism brand from unique products

“Returning to the water puppetry art of the Red River Delta” in Bo Duong village, Hong Phong commune (Ninh Giang) is one of the unique tourism products of Hai Duong. Photo: Thanh Chung

8 special tourism products

During the summer vacation, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lieu in Cong Hoa Ward (Chi Linh City) took her children to visit the Hai Duong Provincial Museum. After visiting the exhibition booths for the children to learn about the history of the country and the province, the museum guide took her children to the area to experience traditional crafts and folk games such as making green rice, pottery, playing mandarin squares, catching loach in jars... "Not only the children but also their parents feel excited. The provincial museum has innovated many attractive and useful tourism products and services for young people," said Ms. Lieu.

The provincial museum is just one of the destinations of 8 special tourism products that are being built and developed by the Hai Duong tourism industry to create unique and distinctive products. In addition to the "Chu Dau Ceramic Road - Quintessence of Vietnamese Culture" in Chu Dau village, Thai Tan commune (Nam Sach) connecting with the Hai Duong Provincial Museum (Hai Duong city), Hai Duong's special tourism products include: "Returning to the art of water puppetry in the Red River Delta" in Bo Duong village, Hong Phong commune (Ninh Giang); "Finding the true ecological value of the Red River Delta community" in Co Island, Chi Lang Nam Commune (Thanh Mien); "The Vietnamese examination road" includes Mo Trach Doctoral Village (Binh Giang) connecting with Mao Dien Temple of Literature (Cam Giang) - Temple of the Two-National Champion Mac Dinh Chi (Nam Sach) - Temple of teacher Chu Van An, Temple of Doctor Nguyen Thi Due (Chi Linh City); "Vietnamese countryside resort tourism" in the Huong River area (Thanh Ha); "Resort tourism - meditation/health care" in Thanh Long Lake - Ben Tam Lake area (Chi Linh City); "Dong Giao wood carving - a place where the top talents and souls of Dong craftsmen converge" in Dong Giao village, Luong Dien Commune (Cam Giang); "Culinary culture of Dong people" in An Thanh Commune (Tu Ky).

From 2022 to now, many experiential tours associated with unique tourism products have been organized, welcoming domestic and international visitors. The experiential tour programs have contributed to promoting the culture and people of the Eastern region, leaving many good impressions in the hearts of visitors. During the experiential tour at the lychee garden in Thanh Ha, Ms. Vongdala Pomphithak, wife of the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, was impressed: "Visiting the lychee gardens here, we not only learned about the cultivation experience in Hai Duong but also experienced lychee picking and took wonderful photos."

The model of organizing and managing tourist areas and spots needs to be innovated in a specialized and professional manner to improve service quality and attract tourists. In the photo: International tourists come to visit and experience at Chu Dau Ceramics Joint Stock Company, Thai Tan Commune (Nam Sach). Photo: Thanh Chung

How to exploit effectively?

In addition to organizing many tours to welcome domestic and international tourists, projects on preserving and renovating cultural works and institutions associated with tourism development have been implemented recently. Attention has been paid to investment and development of transport infrastructure to increase convenient access to tourist resource sites. Attracting investors to pay attention to, research and implement the construction of a number of tourism development projects has been promoted.

Among the unique tourism products, many destinations have focused on innovating products and services such as: rowing a boat to pick lychees in Dong Man (Thanh Ha), visiting Co Island, Chi Lang Nam commune and experiencing homestay combined with making rice paper at Hoi Yen craft village (Thanh Mien)...

The construction and development of unique tourism products have contributed to improving the quality of products and services, attracting tourists; contributing to the results of the tourism industry in recent times. In the first 6 months of 2023 alone, the whole province welcomed about 920,000 visitors, an increase of 2.4 times over the same period last year. Of which, there were 23,761 international visitors (an increase of 10.3 times over the same period last year). Tourism revenue is estimated at 391.1 billion VND, an increase of 2.7 times over the same period in 2022.

Working in the tourism industry and having traveled to many places, Mr. Pham Truong Khanh, Director of Thien Phong Construction and Tourism Joint Stock Company (Hai Duong City) said that at destinations, it is necessary to increase supplementary services and effectively exploit community tourism products. The way of doing things and the model of organizing and managing tourist areas and spots need to be innovated in a specialized and professional direction.

According to some experts in the field of culture and tourism, the development of appropriate policy mechanisms to attract large investors to Hai Duong is very necessary. The province continues to exploit cultural, historical and spiritual tourism products associated with experiential eco-tourism. Prioritize the construction and development of agricultural and rural tourism products. Diversify tourism products, build tours and routes to exploit potentials and strengths, attract tourists to Hai Duong regularly, overcome the limitations of seasonal tourism and festivals.

Implement digital transformation in the tourism sector. Link and develop tourism between Hai Duong province and domestic and international localities associated with each specific tourism product in a deep, focused and key direction.

LE HUONG