Unlocking the tourism potential of Soc Son

A destination with many experiences.

In the early days of January of the Year of the Dragon, tens of thousands of tourists from all over flocked to the Soc Temple National Special Historical Site to participate in the annual Giong Festival. This cultural event attracts a large number of people from all over the country every spring in Soc Son district.

Besides the Soc Temple National Special Monument Area, Soc Son district also has a system of 486 historical and cultural relics and places of worship, with 174 festivals held annually, attracting a large number of visitors from all over the country.

Among these, there are 16 national-ranked relics, 54 relics ranked at the Hanoi city level; and notably, two intangible cultural heritage sites of the world (the Giong Festival at Soc Temple and the mine-pulling festival in Xuan Thu commune).

The Giong Festival at the Soc Temple National Special Historical Site is an attractive cultural and spiritual destination at the beginning of the year in Soc Son district. Photo: Trong Tung

According to Tong Giang Phuc, Head of the Culture and Information Department of Soc Son District, along with cultural and spiritual destinations, the district's tourism products are becoming increasingly diverse in quantity and type. Ecotourism and experiential tourism are flourishing in Soc Son District, such as golf, sports competitions (Ultra Trail running, off-road racing), entertainment, and weekend getaways...

Several tourist routes are gradually taking shape in Soc Son district, such as: the Soc Temple - Non Pagoda - Saint Giong Monument - Viet Phu Thanh Chuong complex; the Soc Temple - Minh Tri Golf Course complex; the Soc Temple - Legend Hill Golf Course complex; Dong Quan Lake (Quang Tien commune) - Ham Lon Lake (Nam Son commune) - Dong Do Lake (Minh Tri commune); Ban Rom and Thien Phu Lam ecological areas…

Statistics over the past three years show that the number of tourists visiting Soc Son district has been steadily increasing. While in 2021 only 15,000 visitors were recorded (partly due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic), this number is estimated to reach 950,000 - 1,000,000 visitors in 2022 and 1,000,000 - 1,200,000 visitors in 2023.

 

In its tourism development plan for the coming period, Soc Son district aims to expand cooperation and link tourism destinations with localities such as: Co Loa historical site (Dong Anh district), Hai Ba Trung temple (Me Linh district), Dai Lai lake tourist area (Vinh Phuc), and Nui Coc lake area (Thai Nguyen) to promote products, exchange information, and exploit markets…

Atypical tourism characteristics

According to the assessment of the Culture and Information Department of Soc Son District, although the number of tourists visiting Soc Son District is increasing, the market is mainly domestic tourists. A large proportion of visitors are local residents, residents of neighboring districts, and residents of Hanoi's inner city. Visitors from other regions and those traveling on organized tours remain limited.

"The tourism characteristics are not yet typical, mainly focusing on sightseeing and religious pilgrimages. This leads to the majority of tourists visiting the district being concentrated in the early months of the year and during the Giong Festival at Soc Son Temple," said Tong Giang Phuc, Head of the Culture and Information Department of Soc Son District.

Statistics show that there are over 637 food and beverage establishments in Soc Son district, but they are all located around Dong Quan Lake, Dong Do Lake, Soc Temple, etc. The district lacks unique local culinary specialties. The products and services offered to tourists are still monotonous.

Many guesthouses and hotels lack sufficient quantity and quality, failing to meet the demands of large numbers of guests. The majority of tourism service businesses are still under construction and development, resulting in rudimentary landscapes and facilities lacking the sophistication and appeal to encourage longer stays or higher spending.

Currently, there are 17 travel service companies and 14 passenger transport businesses in the area. However, inspections have revealed that only a few small-scale, unprofessional travel businesses operate without linking with other tour operators to bring tourists to the district; their business practices are still monotonous and not very effective.

But more worrying is the gradual concretization of the natural landscape by the construction of houses, makeshift homestays, temporary tourist areas... built with environmentally unfriendly materials. This poses a risk of gradually losing the precious natural value of Soc Son district, one of the important factors for developing sustainable tourism.

Focus on developing tourism products.

According to the Master Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Hanoi City until 2020, with a vision to 2030, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1081/QD-TTg, Soc Son district is one of the tourism areas receiving investment and development attention. This is one of the favorable conditions for Soc Son district to concretize its development goals in the tourism sector.

Recognizing the importance of proactive planning, and based on the contents of the general planning of Soc Son district with a long-term vision to 2030 and orientation to 2050, the People's Committee of Soc Son district has directed departments and units to focus on advising and proceeding with the planning of tourism areas, zones, and destinations in the district according to priority order.

In addition, the district is implementing specific planning for areas with potential in natural and human resources; preparing all necessary conditions and information to support investors and attract investment in tourism and tourism services in the district.

According to Ho Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the Soc Son District People's Committee, tourism development has been identified by the locality as an important solution to promote the shift in economic structure towards increasing the proportion of industrial, trade, and service sectors.

To achieve the above objectives, the district has oriented its development towards three groups of tourism products for focused investment. Specifically, these are cultural and spiritual tourism (festival tourism associated with the Giong Festival; spiritual tourism associated with the veneration of Saint Giong); ecotourism, eco-tourism, agricultural ecotourism; and sports and entertainment tourism.

Improving the quality and diversifying tourism products is one of the key solutions identified by Soc Son district to attract tourists and achieve high business efficiency.

Accordingly, in the coming period, the district will focus on developing attractive tourism programs and destinations related to culture, historical relics, traditional festivals, ecological areas, etc. It will also focus on building and improving the quality of tourism products and services, diversifying types and activities of tourism. In particular, it will concentrate on researching, perfecting, and improving the quality of cultural and religious tourism, eco-tourism and weekend getaways, and entertainment tourism.

At the same time, increase investment in building services such as banks and information centers at tourist destinations with development potential; modernize public facilities such as parks, shopping malls, and exhibition centers…

"Not only to meet the demands of tourists, the proposed service modernization solutions are also expected to contribute to the strategy of diversifying tourism products, creating attractiveness for local tourism in the coming years," emphasized Ho Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Soc Son District.

 

The district of Sóc Sơn prioritizes four areas for tourism development: a cultural and weekend resort area around Sóc Temple and the Đồng Quan Lake integrated ecological tourism area; a belt along the Cà Lồ River in the southern part of Sóc Sơn district; hilly areas in the communes of Minh Trí, Minh Phú, Nam Sơn, Hiền Ninh, and Quang Tiến; and the northern area of ​​the district center, including the Núi Đôi area (Sóc Sơn town) and the horse racing track (Tân Minh commune).

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/danh-thuc-tiem-nang-du-lich-soc-son.html