Nha Trang tourism blends with cultural life

The coastal city of Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa province) is located on the bay of the same name and is recognized as one of the most beautiful bays in the world . For a long time, Nha Trang has become an attractive destination for millions of tourists from near and far, domestic and international.

Nha Trang Beach - Khanh Hoa during the kite flying festival at Nha Trang Sea Festival. Photo: Thanh Ha/VNA

That attraction first of all comes from many beautiful natural landscapes of the sea and islands, such as: Hon Chong, Hon Mun, Hon Tam, Hon Noi, the city center beach, Duong beach, Hon Chong beach, Nhu Tien beach... However, if we think that Nha Trang tourism only relies on the natural beauty of the sea and islands to "keep" tourists, it is really one-sided, because each scenic spot here mostly comes with stories, legends, myths, poems... making the system of scenic spots closely linked to the cultural life of the city.

And above all, the long-standing customs, festivals, and cultural activities associated with the lives of fishermen in the coastal areas here such as: Ho Ba Trao, Ponagar Tower Festival, Cau Ngu Festival, Yen Sao Festival, Ho Bai Choi... along with the gentle, friendly, and hospitable character of Nha Trang people, have contributed significantly to attracting tourists to this place.

Mr. Ho Van Mung, Secretary of Nha Trang City Party Committee once expressed: "Nha Trang people are inherently industrious, hard-working in labor and production, friendly, enthusiastic in family and social relationships, have a leisurely, leisurely attitude, are not busy or noisy, and most of them like a peaceful life, consider "leisure" as precious, are not adventurous and are a bit rich and generous".

As the provincial capital of Khanh Hoa, Nha Trang has an area of over 251km2, with a current population of about 423 thousand people. Compared to other cities in the South Central Coast region, Nha Trang stands out with its mild, pleasant climate, suitable for exploiting tourism potential at all times of the year, including both rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season only lasts for two months, from October to November of the lunar calendar; the rest of the time is the dry season, Nha Trang is always full of sunshine.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham, Director of the Institute of Cultural Studies (under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences), shared: Nature has endowed Nha Trang with advantages in ecological diversity, people have gathered in this land in groups, in waves, in different historical periods and have lived together in harmony with nature, with each other, together creating and maintaining diverse cultural expressions, which are important internal resources for the harmonious and humane development of the city. Nha Trang's internal cultural strength is built by basic cultural forms: Delta culture, river culture, mountain and forest culture and sea and island culture. Each form has extremely diverse forms of expression. This is a rich resource for Nha Trang in economic and social development, expanding domestic and international integration, especially tourism development.

Cham dance at the foot of Ponagar Tower. Photo: Dang Tuan/VNA

From the 20th to the 23rd of the third lunar month every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims from Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Gia Lai provinces... flock to the main tower at the Ponagar Tower Relic Site to offer offerings to Thien Y Thanh Mau Ana. Ponagar Tower is located on Cu Lao hill next to Cai river, in Vinh Phuoc ward, Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province; built in the unique architectural style of the Cham people and has existed for more than 1,200 years.

The Ponagar Tower Festival is a long-standing festival to commemorate the Holy Mother Ana, who is honored by the people as the Mother of the South Central region, through which to pray for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, and a peaceful life for all people.

Mr. Le Van Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Khanh Hoa province, emphasized: Ponagar Tower in Nha Trang is a typical and outstanding cultural heritage of Khanh Hoa province in particular and the whole country in general, ranked as a National Architectural and Artistic Relic in 1979 and Ponagar Tower Festival in Nha Trang was included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012. This is an honor, pride, and also the responsibility of the government and people of Khanh Hoa in preserving, conserving, promoting the value as well as honoring and promoting the beauty and spiritual and religious values of the relic to the people of the South Central region, domestic and international tourists.

For over 20 years, Khanh Hoa province has initiated and maintained the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Sea Festival, held every two years in Nha Trang city. The festival highlights the traditional and contemporary cultural beauty of Nha Trang in particular and Khanh Hoa in general. Every time the festival comes, visitors can immerse themselves in dozens of activities imbued with the colorful culture of the local sea and islands. Festivals such as Cau Ngu, Yen Sao, Ho Ba Trao, basket boat racing, human chess... are performed and recreated, making visitors feel like they are immersed in the hundreds of years of culture of this land.

The combination of rich natural beauty and cultural diversity allows Nha Trang to develop most types of tourism: Ecotourism, cultural tourism, resort tourism, entertainment, sports; discovery and adventure tourism; combined tourism; tourism by geographical areas with sea, mountain, river tourism; urban and village tours. In particular, Nha Trang also has special forms of tourism that are rarely found anywhere else such as: meditation tourism, medical treatment, seabed exploration... With such diversity, tourism has brought in large revenue for Nha Trang. In 2023, the whole Khanh Hoa province welcomed about 7 million visitors, of which the number of visitors to Nha Trang accounted for about 80%, with total revenue from tourism in Nha Trang reaching 23,850 billion VND.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, Deputy Director of the Academy of Politics of Region III, analyzed that Nha Trang has all the elements of sea culture, mountain culture, and midland culture, but sea culture is more profound and has always been a unique value of Nha Trang. It is no coincidence that the Nghinh Ong festival is part of the identity and intangible value of Nha Trang culture. Nha Trang's sea culture is also expressed in its cuisine.

Besides the advantage of sea and island landscapes, Nha Trang also has many other landscapes such as: Co Tien Mountain, San Mountain, Phuong Hoang Mountain, Trai Thuy Mountain, Mot Mountain, Canh Long Mountain located in the heart of the city. Then Thap Ba hot mineral spring, De Islet, Cai River... Each landscape comes with stories, legends, myths, poems... making the system of landscapes closely linked to the cultural life of the city.

Nha Trang has just organized a series of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its construction and development (1924 - 2024). When its name was formed, Nha Trang town had 4 villages: Xuong Huan, Phuong Cau, Van Thanh, Phuong Sai. Over the years, Nha Trang city has been strongly invested in development in many aspects. The Party Committee, government and people of the city have focused on implementing action programs to realize and concretize the guidelines and policies of the Party and State, especially Resolution No. 09-NQ/TW, dated January 28, 2022 of the Politburo "On building and developing Khanh Hoa province to 2030, with a vision to 2045" to build Khanh Hoa province to soon become a centrally-run city; an international sea tourism and service center. In particular, Nha Trang city is identified as a core urban area, one of the three key socio-economic regions of the province.

When proposing to enhance the preservation and promotion of the value of historical and cultural relics in tourism development in Nha Trang city in the coming time, Master Trinh Thi Phuong - Regional Political Academy II said: It is necessary to organize and implement investigations, surveys and experiences to assess the city's tourism potential and strengths in terms of culture, history, people, traditional festivals, scenic spots, destinations, tours, routes, unique and outstanding tourism products... On that basis, build a master plan for tourism development of the 100-year-old city in a unified and synchronous space to create local strengths.

Mr. Ho Van Mung, Secretary of Nha Trang City Party Committee, shared that Nha Trang will continue to promote propaganda and dissemination to raise awareness in order to promote the combined strength of the whole society in the work of caring for, preserving and building the culture and people of Nha Trang city, considering this a top priority responsibility, a regular task of all levels, sectors, socio-political organizations and each citizen of the city. The locality continues to promote and arouse the aspiration to rise up in life and build a rich and beautiful homeland in each citizen, especially the young generation of the city, because will and determination are the driving force to overcome difficulties and find solutions to turn dreams and ambitions into reality.

According to VNA

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