Thinking about heritage economy in Quang Ninh

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Tourists visit Cua Ong Temple during the spring festival early this year.

In recent years, tourism services associated with heritage sites in the area have been constantly developing and have achieved important results. In 2024, Quang Ninh welcomed a record number of tourists of up to 19 million, including 3.8 million foreign visitors. This year's target continues to be raised with an expected number of 20 million visitors, of which international visitors play a significant role, expected to welcome 4.5 million international visitors and strive to achieve revenue of 50,000 billion VND.

However, through assessment, it is shown that the length of stay of visitors to Quang Ninh is still short. Many entertainment and shopping products and services lack appeal, uniqueness, and need to be revised and supplemented. This is one of the limitations that makes the harmonization of interests in the development of heritage economy in Quang Ninh not as effective as expected.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thuong Lang, Institute of International Trade and Economics (National Economics University), participated in   The workshop on heritage economy held in Van Don at the end of 2024 stated that Quang Ninh needs to have a strategy with a long-term vision to build specific policies for specific types of heritage economy associated with the potentials and advantages of the province. The province also needs to choose the type of heritage economy suitable for each locality and each community to focus on investment and development. At the same time, it is necessary to closely link the development of festival economy with the preservation of community cultural heritage; promote linkages and cooperation between the cultural sector and related sectors and take the host community as the center to develop the heritage economy...

Ha Long Bay has been an attractive destination for domestic and international tourists in Quang Ninh for many years.

The connection and cooperation of many related sectors and units, and the role of the people as the main subject in developing the heritage economy were highly valued by many experts participating in the above workshop. Prof. Dr. Dinh Xuan Dung, former Vice Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Culture and Arts, emphasized the role of the people - the main subject in developing the heritage economy, saying: It is necessary to do well in all three stages, in which people must clearly and deeply understand their heritages to be proud of and know how to exploit that heritage. In terms of the government, it is necessary to train them to fully develop their potential and have the ability to participate in investing in developing the local heritage economy. The fields and departments also need to coordinate closely to create the overall strength of the local heritage economy, in which the people are an indispensable element.

Agreeing with the viewpoint that heritage economic development needs to be linked to the interests of the people,   Dr. Nguyen Van Anh, Deputy Director in charge of the Center for Research and Development of Cultural Resources, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said: One of the very important ways is that they must share benefits as well as responsibilities. When people work on heritage economics, money - economy will be the magic to preserve, not morality or anything else. If people feel that they are valuable, they are respected, placed in the right position and benefit from preserving heritage, then there is no need for too much propaganda, they will be self-aware and responsible for protecting heritage.

Tung Lam is a rare enterprise investing in cultural heritage in Quang Ninh. In the photo: A resort of the enterprise in Yen Tu Nuong Village.

Particularly in the field of spiritual cultural tourism, Quang Ninh has had a relatively good strategy in conservation and exploitation in recent years. First is the research and assessment of heritage values, at the same time mobilizing huge social resources for investment in restoration and embellishment of relics as well as the system of transport infrastructure and services at the relics. Therefore, in less than 10 years, the relics of Quang Ninh have had a completely different appearance, not only sustainable but also expanded spaciously and impressively. Many relics have become attractive destinations for tourists.

There are businesses that have invested heavily, up to thousands of billions of VND in heritage tourism, typically Tung Lam Development Joint Stock Company. In Yen Tu, the business has invested in Truc Lam Cultural Center with dozens of construction items, both creating a unique and different entertainment and experience space at the foot of the sacred mountain and meeting the needs of relaxation from budget to high-end guests. The unit's experience products are also designed with a focus on the natural, cultural and historical values ​​of this Buddhist land. Local people can both develop their economy when working for the business and have an additional livelihood from services serving the millions of visitors coming here every year...

On the contrary, it must be seen that Tung Lam is still an individual enterprise. In fact, many large relics in the province are still waiting for a methodical, individual investment with its own identity from the cultural values ​​of the heritage. Explaining this, Dr. Nguyen Van Anh commented:   Investing in heritage is a very difficult issue. The difficulty lies in the fact that in order to exploit it, one must first protect the heritage, invest in research and evaluate the value of the heritage. The second difficulty is that investing in heritage requires long-term perseverance and the ability to make profits cannot be as fast as other fields, so attracting businesses is relatively difficult. Therefore, the government also needs to have appropriate policies for them and cannot simply apply them like other businesses.

Koi Bridge is located in the Sunworld Ha Long amusement park complex on the shore of the world natural heritage Ha Long Bay.

One of the biggest advantages of Quang Ninh is the World Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay. Over the years, Ha Long Bay has always been an attractive destination for domestic and international tourists to Quang Ninh, including business travelers and world billionaires... Along with that, the province and businesses have focused on developing accommodation, dining, sightseeing, resting, research, discovery, conference and seminar services. The province is particularly interested in exploiting the flow of super-luxury tourists to Ha Long Bay, which is a direction to serve the requirements of sustainable development of heritage tourism.

Recently, Quang Ninh has also taken many positive actions in expanding tourism exploitation of neighboring sea and island routes such as Bai Tu Long Bay, the islands of Van Don, Co To, Mong Cai, Hai Ha, Dam Ha... promising to create a breakthrough for heritage tourism in the province in the near future.

In fact, compared to many localities in the country, except for large economic and cultural centers such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh has also made quite clear and encouraging marks in developing the heritage economy from the local advantages. The future development orientation is also relatively bright. However, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, the development of the heritage economy in Quang Ninh is still not commensurate with the stature of the province.

He believes that with the position and role of shouldering the national mission in tourism development set for Quang Ninh, if only following common mechanisms and policies, it will be binding and not encouraging development. Therefore, Quang Ninh needs to be given more autonomy, self-determination, self-action and self-responsibility, more worthy of national and international stature in order to seize opportunities and create stronger breakthroughs in heritage economic development.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/nghi-ve-kinh-te-di-san-o-quang-ninh-3358033.html