'Gateway' to showcase the nation's traditional culture to the world

Tourist attractions and historical sites in Hue attract a large number of visitors. (Photo: Van Dung/VNA)

With outstanding global values, the Complex of Hue Monuments, My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An Ancient Town act as a "gateway" to showcase the beauty of traditional national culture to the world and are considered a "gold mine" of Central Vietnam tourism.

Heritage 'showing off'

Every day, thousands of tourists come to the Complex of Hue Monuments, My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An Ancient Town. The attraction of these three world cultural heritages to tourists lies in the combination and blending of tangible and intangible heritage, traditional culture and modern technology that is being increasingly applied to highlight the value of the heritage.

Reenacting royal court rituals through dramatization is one of the unique tourism products successfully implemented by the Hue Monuments Conservation Center recently, including: the Grand Court Ceremony, the Changing of the Guard Ceremony, the Ban Soc Ceremony, the Raising of the Neu Ceremony, the Lowering of the Neu Ceremony and the Opening of the Spring Seal, the Truyen Lo Ceremony, and the performance of royal court music at the Duyet Thi Duong Theater...

Especially the special 3D Mapping light shows at night on the architectural surface of Ngo Mon and Kien Trung Palace relics in some major cultural events. This new way helps to recreate the ancient royal cultural picture, vividly conveying historical messages, thereby bringing tangible and intangible cultural heritages to life, closer to domestic and international tourists.

David Raum, a tourist from Germany, expressed his impression when attending the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Ngo Mon Gate. With a duration of about 30 minutes, the combination of royal court music played throughout the ceremony, creating a lively and authentic atmosphere for viewers to understand more about an important ceremony in the ancient capital.

"Programs like this are very interesting and engaging, bringing viewers back to history and touching the emotions of visitors when they come to visit this heritage site," David Raum excitedly shared.

Hue Festival is a cultural and tourism brand that has been painstakingly built by Hue city over many years. This is a large-scale cultural event where people meet, exchange and introduce and promote traditional Vietnamese culture in general and Hue royal culture in particular, with art troupes from many countries and territories around the world. The regular organization and constant innovation of this festival program has gradually turned Hue into a typical national and international Festival city of Vietnam, a place to showcase the beauty of the heritages that the city possesses.

Tourists visit My Son Temple Complex. (Photo: Doan Huu Trung/VNA)

For Hoi An Ancient Town, besides the festivals that have created its brand such as Hoi An Full Moon Night, Lantern Festival, Hoi An-Japan Cultural Exchange Festival... it is the daily life of the people in the heart of the ancient town's heritage and traditional craft villages that create a strong attraction for tourists.

Many prestigious foreign travel magazines in recent years have continuously voted Hoi An with titles such as: one of the ten best tourist cities, most favorite city in the world, most attractive tourist destination in Asia, dream destination in the world... In 2025, Hoi An ancient town is expected to welcome about 5 million visitors to visit and stay.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Binh - Secretary of Hoi An Ward Party Committee, said that being continuously selected as a favorite destination has affirmed the brand of Hoi An tourism. This is thanks to Hoi An having a rich tourism ecosystem from relics, people, culture, islands, sports activities, new experiences. Hoi An is currently a member of UNESCO's Global Creative Cities Network.

The way people do tourism here is always innovative every day such as creating handicraft products, doing organic farming for tourists to experience, resorts always take care to bring out new products to serve tourists so the rate of visitors returning to visit is high.

It can be said that world cultural heritages are always favorite destinations chosen by international tourists as a gateway to experience the culture and history of each country.

For My Son Temple Complex, if in 1996, there were an average of 20 international visitors per day, now the temple complex welcomes 1,500-2,000 visitors from many countries each day, the number of visitors increases by 10-15% annually.

Domestic and foreign tourists visit My Son Temple Complex. Photo: (Minh Duc/VNA)

Tourist Gerardo De La Sierra, from Mexico, shared that three world cultural heritage sites are located quite close to each other. In the morning, visitors can visit the Complex of Hue Monuments, in the afternoon explore the My Son Temple Complex and in the evening experience Hoi An Ancient Town at night.

In particular, My Son Temple Complex, although heavily damaged by war and no longer intact, contains many mysterious stories, containing the worldview, philosophy of life, and cultural customs of the ancient Cham people thousands of years ago, attracting tourists who want to come and learn and explore.

According to Deputy Director in charge of the My Son World Cultural Heritage Management Board Nguyen Cong Khiet, in the coming time, the unit plans to expand the space to demonstrate the Bau Truc pottery production process (inscribed by UNESCO on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding) and Cham brocade weaving to serve tourists.

At the same time, the unit also researched the use of 3D Mapping technology to recreate a space of the religious path, offering mass of ancient Cham kings and monks at the ancient tower at night, thereby creating a unique tourism product, keeping tourists staying here.

"Gold mine" of tourism

Da Nang City and Hue City are two major tourist centers of Vietnam, in which heritage tourism is a prominent pillar, a unique advantage, contributing to the sustainable growth of the "smokeless industry."

With convenient transportation conditions today, tourists can easily choose a suitable itinerary to visit these three world heritages.

In recent years, the restoration and renovation of many palaces and tombs have been completed, giving the Complex of Hue Monuments a majestic appearance, thereby attracting more and more tourists to explore and learn about history.

In 2024, the relic sites welcomed more than 2.7 million visitors, achieving the largest revenue ever of more than 422 billion VND.

In 2025, Hue city will host the National Tourism Year 2025 with dozens of major cultural events of national and international significance, focusing on the Spring Festival "Spring of the Ancient Capital", Summer Festival "Shining Imperial City", Autumn Festival "Hue in Autumn" and Winter Festival "Hue Winter" following the orientation of the 4-season Festival. Hue city's tourism industry is expected to welcome more than 5 million visitors to visit and stay, with estimated revenue of 12,000 billion VND.

Recently, the Hue City Party Committee issued a Resolution on tourism development and tourism services in Hue City for the period 2025-2030, with a vision to 2045, with the goal of making tourism a truly spearhead economic sector, contributing positively and effectively to the implementation of the annual economic growth target of 10% or more.

Hue City strives to attract 10-12 million visitors by 2030, an increase of 18-20% per year, of which international visitors account for 45-50%; total revenue from tourism reaches about 30,000 billion VND, an increase of 20-22% per year; the proportion of the tourism industry accounts for about 15% of the city's GRDP. The average spending level is about 2.5-3 million VND/visitor; the average length of stay is 2.5 days/visitor.

Foreign tourists explore Hue city. (Photo: Do Truong/VNA)

In addition to many tasks and solutions, the city will focus on developing cultural tourism products, associated with preserving and promoting the heritage values of the ancient capital of Hue; prioritizing the implementation and reorganization of service activities at the Hue Imperial City and some relic sites in a professional manner both day and night.

For Da Nang city, when the space is expanded, the resonance of heritage tourism resources with types of high-class entertainment, recreation and resort tourism along with synchronous infrastructure, promises to enter an era of strong development, becoming a tourist center of regional and international stature.

In the first eight months of 2025, the total number of visitors staying in Da Nang is estimated to reach 12.8 million, an increase of 20.8% over the same period in 2024. In 2025, the city aims to welcome more than 17.3 million visitors, of which international visitors will reach 7.6 million, domestic visitors will reach 9.7 million, with revenue of more than VND 29,000 billion.

Mr. Cao Tri Dung, interim Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association, said Da Nang and Hue are important "gateways" to welcome international visitors to Vietnam.

One of the attractions of these two cities is that they possess very unique world cultural heritages. There are few destinations located next to each other within a radius of 100km or less that have 3 outstanding world cultural heritages, creating a great attraction for most international tourist markets. These three heritages have their own cultural features, complementing each other, forming a tourist route of discovery from the historic ancient capital to the ancient trading port and a mysterious valley worshiping ancient gods.

“Over the past years, Da Nang and Hue cities have formed a joint group to strongly implement activities to create common products, locate customer sources and effectively implement tourism promotion programs. It can be said that this is one of the local joint groups to successfully develop tourism nationwide," Mr. Cao Tri Dung shared.

The attraction of the Complex of Hue Monuments, Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary is clear evidence that if cultural heritage is respected, preserved and creatively exploited, it will be a rich and valuable resource for the sustainable development of the tourism industry, contributing to promoting the national image and bringing the quintessence of Vietnamese culture to the world./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/cua-ngo-pho-dien-van-hoa-truyen-thong-cua-dan-toc-ra-the-gioi-post1062051.vnp