Opportunity to explore the natural beauty and long-standing cultural values of the Port City

Chú thích ảnh

Domestic and international tourists visit and relax at Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong City. Photo: An Dang/VNA

City of rivers

According to Dr. Tran Thi Hoang Mai, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hai Phong, the city has a dense river network, the largest river density in the North, rivers surround each neighborhood and village. Therefore, Hai Phong is called the city of rivers, the city of bridges. These rivers not only carry many cultural and historical values but also play an important role in the socio -economic development of the city. There are more than 50 large and small rivers in the area, of which 16 are main rivers, the most famous of which are Bach Dang River, Cam River, Lach Tray River, Van Uc River and Thai Binh River.

The rivers in Hai Phong have long been “witnesses” of history. Long ago, female general Le Chan chose the fertile alluvial land along the banks of the Cam River to reclaim and establish An Bien, the predecessor of today’s Hai Phong city. The Cam River is a symbol of the harmony between the past, present and the bright future of the city. The three river landscape corridors: Cam River, Lach Tray River and Van Uc River will be the corridors for economic and service development, and at the same time, the focus of Hai Phong river tourism development.

Bach Dang River is the most legendary, sacred and heroic river in Vietnam, associated with three famous battles.

Dr. Tran Thi Hoang Mai shared that currently there are no river tours, only passenger transport by river and some spontaneous tourism activities. The main reason hindering the development of Hai Phong river tourism is the poor waterway transport infrastructure. This is the biggest barrier to the development of river tourism. Hai Phong's ports and wharves are general and cargo ports, there are no international marinas, no cruise ship ports, and there are no wharves at many destinations. Currently, Vingroup has invested in Vu Yen marina, but the scale is still small and mainly serves Vinhomes residents. Some routes have not been dredged regularly, leading to sedimentation, affecting the circulation of tourist vehicles. Therefore, it is impossible to develop river tourism with the current status of waterway transport infrastructure.

Next, the city does not have a strategy, planning and plan for the development of river tourism in a synchronous manner. The development of river tourism in Hai Phong has not been given due importance; there are no plans or projects to develop this type of tourism. Current river tourism activities are very small, sporadic, spontaneous and fragmented, leading to ineffective exploitation, poor services, and no attraction for tourists.

Another reason is that the city has not invested properly in the river landscape for tourism development. There is no artistic lighting system along the river, there is still a lot of garbage and duckweed on the river, the riverside landscape is still dirty and dusty in some places. There have not been developed places to experience culture, history, beliefs, community activities, ecology, and riverside entertainment. River tourism not only takes place on the river but also along the river, planning and developing places to explore and experience will create attraction for tourists.

Opportunity to explore natural beauty and cultural values

Many experts in the tourism sector and travel businesses in the city share the same opinion that, to maximize the potential of river tourism, Hai Phong can focus on a number of directions, in which the city builds unique tourism products, designs tourist routes combining visits to historical sites, traditional craft villages, and experiences of riverside cuisine to attract tourists.

The city improves infrastructure and waterway transport, invests in marinas and high-quality cruise ships, ensuring safety and comfort for tourists. At the same time, it focuses on promoting and linking tourism, strengthening communication about river tourism on many platforms, combining with neighboring provinces and cities to create an attractive tourism chain.

In addition, the city needs to preserve the landscape and environment, keep rivers clean, protect riverside ecosystems to create a green, clean and sustainable landscape; increase cultural activities, events, organize riverside festivals, perform art on boats or at the riverside to bring unique experiences.

From a business perspective, Mr. Hoang Tuan Anh, Director of V24 Solutions Limited Liability Company, said that in the world, river tourism has become a popular and successful form in many cities such as Bangkok (Thailand), Paris (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands) or the tourist route along the Nile River (Egypt).

In Vietnam, despite having a dense river system closely linked to people's lives, river tourism is still in its potential form and has not been effectively exploited. In particular, Hai Phong - a large seaport city in the North with a rich system of inner-city and inter-provincial rivers, can play a central role in developing this type if there is a suitable cooperation mechanism, especially the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

According to Mr. Hoang Tuan Anh, the solution to develop Hai Phong river tourism is based on the public-private partnership model, in which in the short term (2025 - 2030), the city needs to investigate and survey the potential of rivers and tourist demand; organize conferences and seminars on solutions to promote the potential and strengths of Hai Phong river tourism and river tourism services; master plan for Hai Phong river tourism (linked with riverside urban planning); issue a legal framework to support PPP investment in developing infrastructure for wharves, stops, and riverside tourism services. The city will pilot inner-city routes such as the Cam River route (Hai Phong port - Vu Yen Island - Bach Dang Giang) to gain experience and replicate; pilot investment in developing entertainment service models (bars, floating restaurants, floating ecological islands) on the Cam, Tam Bac, Lach Tray rivers... Vision to 2045, the city will expand inter-regional connections through the inter-provincial river system; At the same time, survey and plan routes; develop supporting infrastructure; build tourism products and brands; cooperate with regions and provinces; build the brand "Green tourism of Northern rivers" and apply digital technology, smart tourism, electronic ticket systems, and itinerary maps.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai Hoa, Vice Principal of Hai Phong College of Tourism, is interested in the issue of training high-quality human resources. To effectively exploit this potential and develop sustainably, training high-quality human resources to meet the specific requirements of the industry is a key factor. According to her, the synchronous implementation of solutions from program innovation, improving lecturer capacity, strengthening business cooperation to investing in facilities and applying technology is an urgent requirement to improve the quality of training, contributing to providing sufficient and good human resources for the breakthrough development of river tourism in the city in the coming time.

Possessing rare advantages along with thorough investment from waterway infrastructure to experiential activities, it is expected that river tourism will not only help Hai Phong exploit its unique landscape and cultural values but also create great momentum for the smokeless industry of the Port City.

In 2025, Hai Phong city aims to welcome 10 million tourists, including 1.5 million international visitors, achieving total revenue of 12,400 billion VND. In the first quarter of 2025, Hai Phong tourism welcomed over 1.8 million visitors.