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Procession of the Hue Nam Temple festival. Photo: P. Thanh |
In this picture, the cultural and sports sectors are not merely areas "serving spiritual life," but are being rightfully positioned as a pillar of development, a "soft growth engine" for the heritage city. This shift is not a slogan, but a requirement of reality. The treasure trove of documentary heritage, festivals, traditional crafts, cuisine, etc., will remain stagnant if only preserved as "historical capital." But if connected, digitized, narrated, and creatively developed, it will become a significant economic , cultural, and tourism resource, nurturing livelihoods, enriching identity, and elevating Hue's image on the regional and global map.
Therefore, 2026 is not simply a milestone. It is the time when the culture and sports sector needs to "reposition itself" and accelerate with new management thinking and new approaches: Shifting from "pure preservation" to "preservation linked with creativity and digital transformation." From there, each heritage site will not only be a memory of the past but also become a tangible resource for the future, creating jobs, increasing urban attractiveness, and most importantly, making heritage vibrant in contemporary life.
Based on practical experience, Hue is shaping a clear and distinctive position: "The city of festivals - digital heritage - culinary capital - leading cultural, resort, and sports destination in Central Vietnam," with strategic breakthroughs based on four pillars: culture, heritage, tourism, and sports. For the culture and sports sectors, this is the "framework" for reorganizing development space: a festival-heritage-creativity space connected to the Perfume River, the Imperial Citadel, the ancient town, ancient villages, garden houses, craft villages, and the system of sea, lagoons, and mountains; festival axes, pedestrian streets, and night streets need to be designed synchronously to form a "living heritage experience chain" - where every step of the visitor is a cultural slice, each stop a story of Hue told with subtlety.
In the digital age, the culture and sports sectors must be at the forefront of the digital transformation of heritage: building a digital database of Hue's heritage, developing VR/AR, light shows, digital tourist maps, multilingual storytelling QR codes… putting "Hue in the palm of the hand of tourists" – convenient, modern, yet still preserving the tranquil and profound spirit of the ancient capital. At the same time, a more flexible institutional mindset is needed with a "heritage sandbox" – a testing ground for businesses, research institutes, and startups to participate in creating products and organizing events within heritage spaces, based on strict standards to protect original values.
If heritage is "static," then events are "dynamic." The period from 2026 to 2030 requires Hue to shift strongly from a sightseeing tourism model to "event, festival, and experiential tourism." Here, the culture and sports sectors play a leading role: transforming heritage into world-class event products, connecting culture, sports, and tourism to create a year-round event ecosystem, reducing seasonality. Simultaneously, the goal is to gradually put Hue on the Southeast Asian event map through international activities and major sporting events.
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Hue's ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) - one of the "symbols" of the culture of the ancient capital. Photo: Nhat Minh |
Importantly, the event is not just a "festival." It is a new "growth engine," projected to significantly increase visitor numbers, activate accommodation, food and beverage, transportation, and the night-time economy, create jobs in event organization, tourism, media, and logistics, and enhance social participation, aiming for financial self-sufficiency in commercial events. But for this engine to function properly, the culture and sports sector must play the role of "conductor": planning a four-season event system, developing criteria for artistic, technical, and safety quality, and evaluating content to ensure cultural identity; promoting social participation and public-private partnerships; applying digital technologies such as e-tickets, international livestreaming, VR/AR, 3D mapping, and moving towards the "Hue Event App" platform; and coordinating inter-sectoral efforts to control noise, waste, and safety, establishing "green event" standards that reflect Hue's elegant character.
And when it comes to the image of Hue, it's impossible not to mention the ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) and performing arts – cultural symbols powerful enough to define the city's brand. For the period 2026-2030, the city has set key infrastructure and institutional projects: completing the Ba Trieu Square and Gymnasium; building a standard-compliant Sports Training and Competition Center; completing the International Conference Center to expand MICE tourism; and especially focusing on the Hue Ao Dai Museum and professional ao dai fashion shows to serve tourists – as a way to transform the brand "Hue – The Capital of Vietnamese Ao Dai" into a sustainable cultural and tourism product. Once these institutions are established, the culture and sports sectors will have a "material foundation" to improve the quality of their activities, increase their hosting capacity, and create a modern, livable cultural city.
In all breakthroughs, people remain the decisive pillar. Heritage only truly comes alive when people preserve, understand, and create alongside it. In reality, while the workforce in the city's cultural and heritage sector is large, the proportion of those with formal, specialized training remains limited; new skills such as heritage digitization, cultural communication, and international event organization still need to be strengthened. In the intangible cultural heritage sector, the risk of a "breakdown in the transmission of skills" is even more worrying, as many elderly artisans lack proper training for their successors. Therefore, entering 2026, the culture and sports sector needs to consider human resource development as a strategic task: training management staff in the direction of integrated conservation planning and international conventions; providing technical and professional training for museums, historical sites, and libraries in a modern and digitized direction; and fostering a creative workforce in cultural tourism focused on "telling heritage stories." At the same time, we should build a mechanism for "passing on skills and expertise" so that the community of artisans can become true "teachers".
A valuable aspect is that this orientation has been placed within the city's overall vision and strongly suggested in the Political Report of the 17th Congress of the Hue City Party Committee: Culture and sports are considered fundamental driving forces, identity, and advantages; at the same time, it frankly acknowledges the limitations in infrastructure, the lack of facilities, and the fact that the exploitation of cultural values has sometimes not been commensurate with its potential. From this, it sets out the task of investing in institutions, improving the quality of festivals, arts, and sports activities, developing the cultural industry, smart tourism, and aiming towards the goal of becoming a UNESCO Creative City. For the culture and sports sector, this serves as both a "guiding principle" and a reminder: Moving into 2026, we cannot act on inertia; we need a specific action program, clear standards, and a close coordination mechanism between the State, businesses, and the community to transform the document into reality.
On the threshold of 2026, it can be said that the culture and sports sector of Hue City is facing both challenges and opportunities. The challenges stem from the increasingly high demands for organizational quality, professionalism, digital transformation, and the preservation of cultural identity within the market environment; the opportunities arise from Hue's unique heritage, a long-established festival brand, a strong desire for distinctive development, and a growing vision for a "heritage - green - smart" urban development.
The key to success in this new phase is unwavering commitment to Hue's unique path: breakthrough without compromise, modernity without losing its essence, integration without assimilation. The breakthrough in culture and sports should not be measured solely by the number of festivals or tournaments, but by bringing heritage to life, benefiting the community, making the city more civilized, safe, and friendly, and ensuring that every Hue citizen feels proud to live in a city that cherishes the past to build the future.
Dr. Phan Thanh Hai
Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/do-thi-di-san-truoc-nguong-cua-2026-161310.html
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