Hanoi needs specialized tours to turn ao dai into a tourism "ambassador"

Honoring Ao Dai with Hanoi's cultural heritage

In order to convey the message of Vietnam tourism in general and Hanoi tourism in particular, gradually turning the image of the Ao Dai from a "cultural ambassador" into a "tourism ambassador", from November 6 to 9, at the Hanoi Museum, the 2025 Hanoi Ao Dai Festival will take place, an annual tourism product of Hanoi in the fall.

Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Nguyen Tran Quang said that this is the 5th time Hanoi tourism has organized the Hanoi Ao Dai Festival. Through this activity, Hanoi City conveys the message of Hanoi tourism "Safe - friendly - quality - attractive destination" every autumn in Hanoi. At the same time, it creates opportunities for exchange and cooperation between Hanoi businesses and domestic and international businesses.

*Ao Dai performance at the press conference about the Hanoi Ao Dai Festival 2025. Photo: Hoai Nam*

To promote the image of Vietnamese Ao Dai to tourists, during the 2025 Hanoi Ao Dai Festival, the capital's tourism will organize many major events with the image of Ao Dai as a highlight. Specifically, the opening ceremony on the evening of November 6 with the theme "Hanoi Ao Dai - Shining the quintessence of heritage" is a combination of music , light and Ao Dai collections of 30 designers in the three regions of North - Central - South such as: Che Quyet Tien, Thao Giang, Quang Hoa, Quyen Nguyen, Duc Hung, Cao Minh Tien...

As a designer who regularly participates in the Ao Dai festival, Miss Ngoc Han brings dozens of Ao Dai designs in her latest collection called "Lien Hoa Khoa Bang". Each Ao Dai in the collection is a vivid painting, where the lotus color shines amidst the thousand-year-old Vietnamese soul, woven with shimmering silk and delicate chiffon, creating a rich visual layer like the thousand-year-old history of Vietnamese culture.

Not only is it an inspiring journey to find the cultural and historical values of the nation, through the designs of the ao dai collection called "Color of Time" by designer Luu Quynh Lan, owner of the ao dai brand OZ Design House, it carries a strong traditional style combined with the quintessence of Hanoi culture. Through the skillful hands of artisans, the ao dai collection "Color of Time" has "breathed" traditional breath into each five-panel dress, straight dress combined with a headdress to create the elegance and charm of Hanoi women. "The Hanoi ao dai festival has helped young designers have more opportunities to develop, globalizing Vietnamese ao dai. That is the goal and strategy that designers are hoping for" - Ms. Luu Quynh Lan shared.

*Ao Dai performance at the Hanoi Ao Dai Festival 2024. Photo: Hoai Nam*

Head of the Association of Craft Villages - Ancient Villages - Cultural Villages (Hanoi Tourism Association) Nguyen Van Su informed that to promote the beauty of Hanoi's ao dai, during the festival, designers and artisans of craft villages organized exhibition spaces, displaying and introducing ao dai, tourism products and services, and craft villages. "The event created opportunities for people and tourists to admire the ao dai works of artisans of traditional craft villages such as Trach Xa Silk Village, Van Phuc..." - artisan Nguyen Van Su added.

Aiming at unique tourism products

Talking about the benefits that the Ao Dai Festival brings to the tourism industry, Dr. Nguyen Thu Thuy (Hanoi National University) said that the Ao Dai has a great advantage in promoting the image of Vietnamese tourism to international tourists who love experiential activities. However, to do this, it is necessary for related industries such as trade and services to participate strongly.

As a participant in the festival since its first season, designer La Hang is concerned that if the ao dai is to become a typical tourism product, it must be used regularly in daily life, not just appearing at festivals or events. If the image of the ao dai is built to appear regularly from the environment of agencies, offices to schools, tourist attractions, commercial activities, and services, it will create a special impression on visitors.

From the perspective of a tourism business, Director of Travelogy Vietnam Co., Ltd. Vu Van Tuyen said that Hanoi needs to have a tourism product associated with ao dai. Accordingly, tourists will be able to visit traditional craft villages such as Trach Xa ao dai sewing village, Quat Dong embroidery village, Van Phuc silk village... or streets with ao dai sewing profession such as Cau Go, Luong Van Can to learn more about the local materials that make up the traditional Vietnamese ao dai. In addition, the tourism industry needs to develop a program to explain to tourists stories about the history of ao dai, the differences in the ao dai sewing profession of Hanoi such as the typical hand-sewing technique.

*Ao dai performance at the press conference of Hanoi Ao Dai Festival 2025. Photo: Hoai Nam*

At the same time, tourists can experience some stages and when they return, they will be given ao dai made according to their measurements. Thus, ao dai not only becomes a tourist souvenir but also a cultural "ambassador" that brings deep emotions, impressions and beautiful memories of the country and people of Vietnam in the hearts of tourists. "With ao dai, the tourism industry can build specialized tours, tourists who buy tours can participate in experiential activities such as dyeing fabric, decorating with stones. After making, they will receive products that they themselves participated in the production process. This brings many practical benefits to tourism in attracting spending customers" - Mr. Vu Van Tuyen suggested.

Agreeing with this opinion, Chairman of the Vietnamese Village Communal House Club Nguyen Duc Binh shared that in order to build ao dai tours in the coming time at the cultural centers of the old town and craft villages, it is necessary to organize exhibition spaces and information about the meaning and history of ao dai. In addition, tourism businesses should connect with tailors and ao dai designers to organize photo tour services at tourist destinations with spaces suitable for ao dai such as Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, houses in Hanoi's Old Quarter... so that tourists can experience ao dai culture.

Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh assessed that the Hanoi Ao Dai Festival opens a new direction, contributing significantly to making Vietnam tourism in general and Hanoi in particular a favorite destination, the top choice of many domestic and international tourists. For the festival to become a tourism product, it is necessary to have the cooperation of many agencies and units in the process of supporting businesses to build tours featuring Hanoi Ao Dai.

Regarding the support for businesses to build Hanoi Ao Dai tours, Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism Dang Huong Giang said that Hanoi tourism has officially put into operation a new tourist route "Discovering the South Thang Long Heritage Road", focusing on exploiting the strengths of cultural heritage and craft villages in the southern suburbs of Hanoi. "These localities preserve many craft villages related to Ao Dai such as the lotus silk craft (Hong Son commune); Trach Xa Ao Dai sewing village (Tram Long commune) with the traditional Ao Dai sewing craft with a history of more than 1,000 years" - Ms. Dang Huong Giang emphasized.

Source: Economic & Urban Newspaper

Source: http://sodulich.hanoi.gov.vn/ha-noi-can-tour-chuyen-biet-de-ao-dai-thanh-dai-su-du-lich.html