Unlocking the 'gold mine' of cultural heritage.

Along with the rest of the country, Thai Nguyen province is gradually transforming its rich cultural heritage into a crucial resource for development. Beyond preserving community memories, this heritage has become a driving force behind the development of the tourism industry. Conversely, through tourism, traditional cultural values ​​have more opportunities to be preserved, practiced, and disseminated more widely in contemporary life.

The Thai Hai Ethnic Village Ecological Stilt House Conservation Area (Tan Cuong commune) is a typical model in linking the preservation of traditional cultural values ​​with community tourism development. Photo: Kim Ngan

Transforming cultural advantages into tourism products.

Thai Nguyen province possesses a valuable "treasure trove" for developing cultural tourism, community tourism, and the creative economy . The province currently has nearly 1,200 historical and cultural relics; including 3 special national relics, 67 national relics, and 323 provincial relics; along with 336 festivals and 709 intangible cultural heritage items, including 45 nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage items.

In the process of integration and development, culture is increasingly affirmed as an important endogenous resource. The cultural identity of ethnic minorities is respected, preserved, and promoted through various socio-economic activities, especially tourism. This creates additional livelihoods for the people, expands cultural exchange, and contributes to enhancing the status of the locality.

In recent years, many localities, organizations, businesses, and communities in the province have proactively introduced the beautiful traditional culture of their homeland and ethnic group to tourists.

As a result, heritage exists not only in inventory records or exhibition spaces, but is also vividly present in daily life. Each story about customs and traditions, each folk song or traditional ritual, shared by the people themselves, contributes to making heritage more accessible and appealing.

Without needing luxurious resorts or bustling cities, many tourists visiting Thai Nguyen are still impressed by the local culture. It's the traditional stilt houses peeking through the mist, the sounds of the zither blending with the folk songs, and stories about the origins of the ethnic group told by the locals themselves. It is this authenticity that creates the unique appeal of cultural and community-based tourism.

The harvest festival is one of the unique and beautiful traditional cultural features of the ethnic groups in Thai Nguyen.

Then singing is one of the typical cultural heritages of the Tay and Nung ethnic groups in the Viet Bac region. Besides that, there are also the Cau Mua festival of the San Chi people, Soong Co singing of the San Diu people, Tac Xinh dance of the San Chay people, the coming-of-age ceremony of the Tay, Nung, and San Diu ethnic groups, and the Fire-jumping New Year of the Dao people. Each heritage is a unique cultural story, reflecting the rich spiritual life of the ethnic communities.

These values ​​are gradually becoming distinctive local tourism products. With their unique identity and inherent characteristics, these types of heritage sites attract tourists.

By participating in weaving, basketry, preparing traditional dishes, or immersing themselves in folk songs and dances, tourists not only visit but also directly experience the cultural life of the local community. This is also what makes cultural tourism different from many other types of tourism.

To let heritage live on with the community.

Exploiting heritage values ​​for tourism development is only truly sustainable when it goes hand in hand with conservation and the active participation of the community. This is the core value of heritage economics.

Instead of being merely preserved in conservation spaces, heritage is being brought back into life, becoming part of economic, cultural, and social activities. Because if it is only preserved without an environment for practice, transmission, and connection with the community, many cultural values ​​will gradually fade away over time.

The Ba Be Long Tong Festival attracts a large number of tourists.

In the development of heritage tourism, local communities play a central role. They are both custodians of the culture and direct promoters of local values ​​to tourists through stories about their history, customs, and daily life.

Experiences such as farming, tea picking, fishing, and preparing traditional dishes are becoming attractive highlights of community-based tourism.

Thanks to the development of tourism linked to cultural preservation, many once quiet villages have become widely known destinations. Tourist spots such as Ban Quyen (Phu Dinh), Pac Ngoi, Bo Lu, Coc Toc, and Con Poong (Ba Be) are increasingly attracting large numbers of tourists to explore the local cultural life.

This change not only creates additional income for the people but also helps to rekindle pride in traditional cultural values.

In particular, the Thai Hai Ethnic Village Ecological Reserve (Tan Cuong) has become a prime example of linking cultural preservation with tourism development.

By recreating the cultural life of the Tay ethnic group through rituals, customs, costumes, cuisine, and traditional stilt house spaces, Thai Hai has built its own brand on the Vietnamese tourism map. The success of this model shows that when heritage is exploited in the right way, cultural values ​​can be completely transformed into resources for sustainable development.

The harvest festival is one of the unique and beautiful traditional cultural features of the ethnic groups in Thai Nguyen.

The development of tourism also opens up opportunities for reinvestment in heritage. Many historical sites, festivals, and traditional cultural forms are being preserved, restored, promoted, and passed on to younger generations. This is clear evidence of the reciprocal relationship between preservation and development, between safeguarding cultural values ​​and effectively exploiting the economic potential of heritage.

More importantly, the heritage economy is contributing to changing community perceptions. People are increasingly recognizing that heritage is not only a spiritual asset left by their ancestors but also a resource that can create jobs, increase income, and open up opportunities for long-term development. When communities truly become the subjects of preservation, exploitation, and benefit from heritage, cultural values ​​will have better conditions for sustainable preservation.

Each heritage site is therefore both a relic of the past and an emotional touchpoint in the journey of discovery for tourists. Heritage economics is the process of exploiting cultural values ​​to serve tourism development, while simultaneously reviving the vitality of culture in modern life. It is also a way for values ​​accumulated over many generations to continue to be preserved, spread, and contribute practically to the development of the locality.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/du-lich-thai-nguyen/202606/danh-thuc-mo-vang-tu-di-san-van-hoa-54a6b62/