“Awakening” the potential of historical tourism

DBP - Dien Bien - the place that marked the great victory event "famous in five continents, shaking the world" with a special national relic in the top 10 ranked relics in the country. In recent years, besides conservation, specialized agencies have made efforts to exploit and develop the values of the relics into tourism products with strong historical characteristics, high attractiveness and competitiveness. Thereby, contributing to "awakening" the historical tourism potential of Dien Bien, gradually turning this historical land into one of the key tourist centers for historical, cultural, ecological, and spiritual tourism in the region...

The Dien Bien Phu battlefield relic complex has 45 component relic sites, located in Dien Bien district, Tuan Giao district and Dien Bien Phu city and has become the pride of the nation, a placeto educate revolutionary traditions for generations of Vietnamese people. Ms. Pham Thanh Thao, Deputy Director of the Provincial Relic Management Board, said: “The Dien Bien Phu Battlefield Relic is identified as an important resource, a potential advantage, a key and outstanding product for tourism development not only in Dien Bien province, the Northwest region in particular and the whole country in general. Recognizing the role and importance of the relic and meeting the increasing needs of tourists when coming to Dien Bien, since its establishment, the Relic Management Board has always focused on implementing: Arranging tour guides to welcome and guide all groups of visitors at the relic; organizing photo exhibitions in the province and outside the province; regularly checking and guiding to improve the knowledge and skills of the tour guide team, implementing the exhibition and promoting the value of the General Vo Nguyen Giap Memorial Site in Muong Phang. In particular, special attention is paid to developing plans and organizing practical experience activities at the relics of the Battlefield Relic. Dien Bien Phu, including: Activities to pay tribute to heroic martyrs; pushing bicycles; cooking rice with Hoang Cam stove; listening to veterans tell stories; experience being a tour guide; Party thematic activities, admitting new party members and union members at historical sites...

During the period of 2020 - 2022, the Relic Management Board organized for 2,717 students to participate in experiential activities at the Dien Bien Phu Battlefield. The experiential activities have spread widely; in which, the experiential program "We are Dien Bien soldiers" has created unforgettable impressions for students, not only supplementing historical knowledge for students but also contributing to educating them about patriotism and national pride. This activity also helps students have practical experiences at the relic, raising awareness and responsibility in preserving, protecting and promoting the value of the Dien Bien Phu Battlefield relics. In particular, the Relic Management Board organized the experiential activity of pushing a bicycle at the A1 hill relic for foreign tourists and received positive and enthusiastic feedback from visitors.

With the desire to attract more and more visitors, the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum has built more products to help increase visitors' experiences. This is a direction that contributes to spreading and promoting the value of artifacts and helping the Museum's conservation work develop in a sustainable direction. On the occasion of the National Day on September 2, in addition to visiting artifacts, visitors had more experiences with 3 outdoor check-in photo spots, including: Taking photos with bicycles and ammunition boxes, taking photos with colorful flower cars and taking photos with traditional costumes of ethnic minorities in the Northwest. Many meaningful messages such as: "Dien Bien - where the battlefield blooms", "Dien Bien - where memories return", "Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum - come to be proud" were also included at check-in spots, contributing to spreading historical and traditional cultural values to a large number of local people and tourists.

With many innovative and creative activities such as: Adding display content, organizing thematic exhibition events, it has helped visitors immerse themselves in the cultural and historical space, adding color to the conservation activities, spreading the value of documents and artifacts to the public. Contributing to attracting and appealing to a large number of visitors of all ages to the museum, spreading historical and traditional cultural values to a large number of local people and tourists.

Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum grows many kinds of flowers to attract tourists.

The Panorama painting at the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum - one of the great works on the subject of war put into operation nearly 3 years ago is a new highlight for Dien Bien tourism. Through visiting the Panorama painting, although the Dien Bien Phu victory has been over for nearly 70 years, some vestiges of the war in reality have faded away, visitors can still imagine and feel part of the Dien Bien Phu campaign - a arduous but also very heroic battle of the previous generation. Therefore, the Dien Bien Phu Historical Victory Museum strives to serve and increase the experience so that visitors can fully experience the grandeur and meaning of this special painting. Thanks to that, visitors have more emotions... Mr. Hoang Trong Nghia, a tourist from Hanoi, shared: "I have been to Dien Bien several times, but this is the first time I brought my whole family to visit Dien Bien, the first time I saw the Panorama painting reflecting the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. The painting helped me see the strength of our army and people, even though our country was facing such difficulties at that time, we still achieved a very glorious victory".

Tourists visit the panorama at the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum.

Reality shows that the exploitation and development of tourism from historical relics still faces many difficulties, if not to say existing and limited. Specifically, the preservation, restoration and promotion of the value of the Dien Bien Phu Battlefield historical relic is not effective, not commensurate with the significance and value of the relic when only 9/45 relic sites have been invested in preservation, restoration and promotion of value. At the relic sites, the facilities are poor, there are no standard service areas; Cultural experiences and services at relic sites are still monotonous, not bringing visitors real experiences and emotions about a historical victory of international stature, not meeting the expectations of domestic and international visitors... To soon realize the goal of making tourism a spearhead economic sector with one of the three focuses being historical tourism, there is still a lot of work to be done, requiring the joint efforts and contributions of resources from specialized agencies, organizations, individuals, and businesses inside and outside the province...

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