Ha Long is currently the largest provincial city in the country with 33 administrative units. In particular, ethnic minorities (EM) mainly live in 11 mountainous communes, highlands where there are majestic nature and diverse cultures. Identifying this as an advantage for highland communes to develop tourism , improve people's lives, in recent times, the city has focused on investing, determined to create a boom for mountainous tourism, thereby building Ha Long into a four-season destination with a complete experience.
Every year, on the 1st of February of the lunar calendar, the Thanh Y Dao people of Bang Ca commune, Ha Long city eagerly participate in the traditional Bang Ca village festival. The festival is an occasion for the whole village to gather, meet and pray for a good and lucky new year. This year, the people of Bang Ca commune seem to be more joyful when welcoming more visitors, and the festival activities are also organized more richly and diversely.
Along with traditional activities such as worshiping ceremonies, introducing embroidery art, displaying OCOP booths, organizing folk games, the Village Festival also has a stage performance of the Dao Thanh Y's Coming of Age Ceremony and the Tay's New Rice Celebration - two newly recognized intangible cultural heritages of Quang Ninh province.
Meritorious Artisan Ly Van Ut, who is knowledgeable about traditional culture, spiritual rituals, and culture of the Thanh Y Dao people, shared: We, the elders in the village, have been very concerned about how to preserve the Thanh Y Dao culture, how to pass it on to the younger generation? For example, with the Dao people's initiation ceremony, which has 16 performances, we discussed shortening it to only 9 performances to put on stage, ensuring that the reenactment is both economical and effective.
This year is the first year that Bang Ca Village Festival has been organized at the city level. The event is not only a festival for the people in the commune but has expanded to become an event to introduce and promote the culture of ethnic minority communities in Ha Long City. Communes such as Tan Dan, Ky Thuong, Hoa Binh ... each commune actively participated with booths introducing OCOP specialties and typical cultural and tourism values.
Mr. Ban Sinh Lam, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Tan Dan Commune Party Committee, said: Currently, the commune has a model of visiting the ancient lim forest of Mr. Trieu Tai Cao's family that is attracting tourists. In the future, we will research to advise superiors to build it into a tourist destination, and at the same time propose to competent authorities to expand the Bang Ca Village Festival to highland communes, including Tan Dan.
Also in March, Ky Thuong Commune, Ha Long City held the 2025 Ky Thuong Cherry Blossom Festival. This is the first time the festival has been held with the expectation of exploiting the strengths of landscape tourism, combined with preserving the culture of the Thanh Phan Dao people. The highlight of the festival is the cherry blossom tree planting activity.
According to Mr. Bui Van Quang, Director of Agrico Technology Joint Stock Company, the unit implementing the cherry blossom planting project in Ky Thuong, the cherry blossom variety planted in Ky Thuong is from Okinawa (Japan). Currently, about 1,000 trees have been planted in Ky Thuong and are adapting and growing well. It is expected that in 2 to 3 years when the trees mature, they will create a unique landscape, attracting tourists to Ky Thuong.
To develop tourism associated with landscape exploitation, Ha Long City has approved 2 detailed plans with a total planned area of 30.6 hectares for planting landscape forests and cherry blossom trees in Ky Thuong Commune. In addition, the city also directed Agrico Company to continue research to extend the blooming period, thereby creating a unique spring tourism product for Ky Thuong, supplementing and diversifying the existing tourism products of Ha Long.
In recent years, Ha Long's mountainous tourism has recorded many positive changes. First, the traffic infrastructure has been invested synchronously and smoothly, creating connections between Bai Chay tourist center and highland communes. Key traffic projects such as renovating and upgrading provincial road 342 in Ha Long city - from Km13-Km37+500; the route from the city center to Dong Lam - Ky Thuong; the route connecting provincial road 342 to National Highway 279 through Son Duong commune center... have been invested in, contributing to strengthening regional connectivity, creating favorable conditions for the socio-economic life of Ha Long's mountainous communes as well as tourism to flourish.
Convenient transportation helps awaken natural resources in mountainous areas. Thanks to that, many community tourism and agricultural tourism models have been boldly implemented by the people, typically the Am Vap Farm tourism model in Ky Thuong commune, eco-tourism in Tan Dan, Son Duong and some eco-tourism models combining forests and gardens in Thong Nhat...
Developing tourism in the highland communes of Ha Long will contribute to creating sustainable livelihoods, motivating people to protect forests, protect landscapes as well as preserve culture... At the same time, unleashing resources, helping Ha Long form a diverse and unique tourism product system, contributing to reaching the target of welcoming 11.5 million visitors in 2025 and further forming community tourism areas and forest tourism.
Dao Linh
Source
Comment (0)