Khanh Hoa: Realizing the goal of becoming a cultural-tourism center

Taking advantage of its marine and island resources, unique cultural heritage system and increasingly strong infrastructure investment, Khanh Hoa province is aiming to become a cultural and tourism center of the South Central Coast region.

This is identified as a strategic step towards sustainable development and enhancing the destination brand.

A treasure trove of diverse cultural heritage

Khanh Hoa currently possesses the most diverse cultural heritage treasure in the South Central Coast region, including a system of Cham temples and towers, Hon Chong scenic spot, fishing festival, bird's nest festival, Kate festival and the cultural space of the Cham and Raglai communities.

In addition, traditional craft villages such as agarwood exploitation, pottery making, brocade weaving, fish sauce making... are maintained and developed. Not only diverse in cultural values, this place is also famous for nearly 500km of coastline, more than 200 large and small islands and famous bays such as: Van Phong, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, Vinh Hy, creating favorable conditions for developing types of sea tourism, ecology and island culture.

The beauty of Hon Chong scenic spot in Bac Nha Trang ward (Khanh Hoa). (Photo: Nguyen Thanh/VNA)

Bau Truc pottery village (Ninh Phuoc commune) - one of the oldest pottery villages in Southeast Asia, still retains the traditional manual crafting method, is considered a lively "Cham pottery museum" of the South Central region, attracting a large number of tourists to visit and experience.

Mr. Le Chieu Trung, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, shared: “Each product has its own unique mark, simple but sophisticated. I want to buy a few items to give to friends and display in the store as a way to preserve the unique culture of this land.”

Resolution No. 01-NQ/TU dated July 14, 2025 on double-digit economic growth in the 2025-2030 period, Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee identified service tourism as one of the four pillars of economic growth.

The province aims to welcome 20.5 million visitors by 2030, including 10.5 million international visitors; tourism contributes 15% of GRDP and 20% of total local budget revenue.

To achieve this goal, the province focuses on developing sea and island tourism; conference and seminar tourism; eco-tourism and community tourism; health care resort tourism; cultural and spiritual heritage tourism, associated with environmental protection and preservation of cultural identity.

The harmonious exploitation of cultural resources and sea and island advantages is considered the "key" for Khanh Hoa to affirm its position on the domestic and regional tourism map.

Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Long Bien emphasized that the combination of cultural and natural resources and new development strategies is creating a strong driving force for Khanh Hoa to break through and affirm its brand as a destination rich in identity.

The province aims to develop sustainable tourism, taking culture as the foundation, people as the center and businesses as the driving force; developing tourism in parallel with preserving heritage and creating sustainable livelihoods for local people.

Expanding regional connectivity and international integration

Foreign tourists visit and shop at Nha Trang tourist night market (Khanh Hoa). (Photo: Nguyen Thanh/VNA)

To improve competitiveness, Khanh Hoa restructures its tourism products according to its strengths. For cultural-heritage tourism, the province focuses on preserving the Cham relic system, restoring traditional festivals, expanding folk art performances and connecting heritage chains into thematic tours.

At the same time, the locality has promoted digital transformation in tourism promotion. Many heritage sites have been digitized, multilingual QR code scanning applications have been applied to introduce history and culture, and virtual reality technology has been applied to simulate the space of Cham towers and national treasures to help tourists access them conveniently.

With high-quality sea and island tourism, the province develops 5-star resorts, marinas, Van Phong Bay-Nha Trang-Vinh Hy sightseeing routes and expands marine sports and eco-tourism products. With community tourism, Khanh Hoa supports Cham and Raglai people to preserve traditional occupations, develop homestays and trekking tours in Nui Chua World Biosphere Reserve, Phuoc Binh National Park, and Hon Ba Nature Reserve.

The province has also stepped up investment in transport and service infrastructure; at the same time, it has developed more international flights to Cam Ranh International Airport, completed highways, coastal routes and urban tourism belts to create convenient inter-regional connections.

Khanh Hoa promotes inter-regional cooperation to expand the space for tourism development, in which the Nha Trang-South Central Coast-Central Highlands route is identified as a strategic link. This route connects the localities of Khanh Hoa-Dak Lak-Gia Lai, Khanh Hoa-Dak Lak-Quang Ngai, Khanh Hoa-Dak Lak-Lam Dong, forming a chain of sea-forest-indigenous culture tourism.

Since then, many new products have been created such as the tour “Sea-forest-indigenous culture,” “Nha Trang-Buon Ma Thuot-Central Highlands”… Along with domestic connections, the province has increased international promotion and cooperation to attract traditional tourist markets including: Korea, Russia, China; at the same time, it has strongly exploited potential markets such as: India, the Middle East, Australia and Europe.

With the orientation of tourism development based on indigenous culture, sea and island advantages and synchronous investment in infrastructure, Khanh Hoa is gradually realizing the goal of becoming a cultural-tourism center of the South Central Coast.

Efforts in heritage conservation, product diversification, regional connectivity expansion and international integration not only create momentum for economic growth but also contribute to preserving the unique cultural values of the "land of Agarwood" - Khanh Hoa./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/khanh-hoa-hien-thuc-hoa-muc-tieu-tro-thanh-trung-tam-van-hoa-du-lich-post1080568.vnp