Each locality has its own mark

Ha Noi, with richness and sophistication in cuisine drawn from thousands of years of culture, is an attractive culinary destination. Famous dishes such as Pho Ly Quoc Su, Cha Ca La Vong, Banh Cuon Thanh Tri... have become symbols of Hanoi cuisine. Culinary streets such as Ta Hien, Ma May, Dong Xuan are also familiar destinations for tourists. Hanoi is mentioned by many newspapers and websites. Travel popular world ranked among the cities with the most attractive cuisine. The city is aiming to exploit its culinary strengths to develop tourism by 2030.

Ho Chi Minh City – one of the country’s major tourist centers, always considers cuisine as a strategic product to attract tourists. Over the years, street food has become an indispensable part of the city’s life. Dishes such as broken rice with pork chop, Saigon bread, and go-go noodles have become culinary symbols of Ho Chi Minh City. Travel companies also design many tour programs to help tourists experience street food in the most intimate and authentic way.

Hai Phong In recent years, it has also been successful in developing culinary tourism with a special "foodtour" product, thanks to the construction of a digital map of cuisine.

According to Mr. Le Cong Nang - General Director of WonderTour Travel Company, to develop culinary tourism, planning culinary areas and creating conditions for quality restaurants to introduce high-class cuisine to tourists is extremely important. In addition, digitizing forms of promoting culinary tourism through modern communication channels such as social networks and mobile applications will also help localities easily access and introduce their specialties to global tourists.

In fact, currently Hue is quite prominent in building a brand to become a culinary capital, enhancing the image of Hue cuisine in the region and the world. At this time, Hue is developing new initiatives such as the project "One Food in Hue". This is a culinary promotion project applying artificial intelligence (AI). This project has built an AI ambassador - O Thuc - the first specialized culinary chatbot in Vietnam. O Thuc not only helps answer questions about Hue cuisine, culture, and tourism but also provides personalized information for visitors.

However, exploiting cuisine for tourism development, aiming for even development among localities across the country is still difficult. Assessing the above issue, Associate Professor Dr. Pham Hong Long - Head of the Faculty of Tourism (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) said: "Promoting culinary strength is currently facing fierce competition, such as Thailand is known as the "kitchen of the world". Rome (Italy) is also considered a culinary paradise... Therefore, localities need to make great efforts to promote their strengths. Wherever tourism is developed, there must be the attention of local authorities, and the same goes for cuisine. When there are policies, there will be the support of businesses and other relevant parties" - Mr. Long shared, at the same time emphasizing that, in parallel, it is necessary to regularly organize culinary festivals to attract tourists to localities, thereby elevating the culinary level of the destination.

According to the National Tourism Administration, any place with unique food and beverage services will leave a good impression on tourists, helping them satisfy their culinary exploration needs, prolong their stay and increase spending. Therefore, in order to develop culinary tourism evenly across the country, each locality needs to choose typical dishes to develop and build a brand associated with tourism development in that area.

In addition, it is necessary to build a food tour, combined with tourism. Agriculture, exploring local specialties, or building street food areas and night food markets at tourist destinations are initiatives that need to be promoted. Encourage travel businesses to cooperate with restaurants and culinary artists. In addition, build a database on culinary tourism and use culinary images in tourism promotion campaigns.

On the other hand, to take advantage of the culinary advantages, the tourism industry also needs a specific and long-term plan to accompany development. Tourism will also be a “useful method” to promote and turn dishes with strong Vietnamese identity into national culinary symbols, similar to the way Japanese Sushi, South Korean Kimchi or Italian Pizza have become global brands.

Looking at the overall picture, Vietnamese cuisine is not inferior to any cuisine in the world. Therefore, in order to exploit the full potential of cuisine towards tourism development, in the coming time, there needs to be a specific development strategy, including planning culinary areas, training human resources, investing in infrastructure, and promoting through modern media channels. The difference and uniqueness of each locality will be the key to attracting tourists and bringing Vietnamese cuisine to a new level on the world tourism map.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Quynh - General Secretary of the Vietnam Chefs Association (Vietnam Tourism Association): Consider cuisine as culture

Cuisine is a strength that contributes to the development of tourism in many countries around the world, including Vietnam. And Vietnamese cuisine has proven its appeal and spread its value globally with many dishes recognized and awarded many prestigious international awards and titles.

Therefore, to turn cuisine into a strength to attract tourists and promote tourism development, it is necessary to consider cuisine as culture to integrate into tourism development. If we separate cuisine and culture or do not pay attention to the development of cuisine, it is a shortcoming. When we know how to combine cuisine and culture, then culinary tourism products will have value and create highlights. We need a national program if we want to promote Vietnamese cuisine. In particular, we must determine which products are the core products to advertise for a period. For example, when we determine that cuisine is culture and cuisine is one of the distinct spearheads of Vietnam, the investment and image must be extensive, not only in Vietnam but also in the world. There must be special programs on cuisine to introduce to international friends, or culinary cultural exchange programs with other countries.

As for localities, the current culinary tourism products only partially meet the needs of tourists and mainly in big cities, most of the tourism products are still small, have not built a strong brand, so tourists also have many difficulties in finding. Therefore, to elevate the value of cuisine into a tourism product, each locality needs to find a highlight in building and promoting tours as well as dishes.

Mr. Tuong Huu Loc - Deputy Director of the Asian Tourism Development Institute: There needs to be a plan for regional cuisine.

Culinary culture is one of the great attractions for Vietnamese tourism. However, localities are still confused in promoting local cuisine. Famous restaurants are available in every province, but to become a popular and famous dish in the world, we still have not had any action to promote it. This is one of the very difficult problems when wanting to develop cuisine, choosing cuisine to attract tourists. Therefore, it is necessary to have a plan for regional cuisine. Localities will choose to promote which market segment. Strong in domestic or foreign tourists. At that time, it is necessary to focus on dishes with culinary certification. That dish is recognized by the locality as a specialty. Along with that, they must tell the story of that dish.

It should also be noted that, for more famous tourist destinations, especially those that attract international tourists, strict checks are required, and certificates of food hygiene and service must be obtained before they can be put into service for tourists. In addition to restaurants and hotels, street vendors must also be regularly inspected and strictly handled when violations occur. Vietnam is considered the kitchen of the world, if food is promoted without a method of managing food hygiene and safety standards, and without a scenario to handle food hygiene and safety risks, it will create very serious consequences.