Ninh Binh pioneers in realizing heritage economy

Heritage economy and heritage resources are still quite new in theory and management science, but in practice, the development of heritage economy has been formed and developed in the process of exploiting and promoting the value of heritages for a long time. Ninh Binh with its massive, rich, dense, diverse cultural heritage reserves in terms of types and ages has been and is being preserved and promoted by the people, creating a strong internal resource for the development of the local heritage economy.

The World Cultural and Natural Heritage Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex plays a core role in Ninh Binh realizing the heritage economy . Photo: Minh Duong

Outstanding potential

Ninh Binh province is endowed by nature with many majestic and charming landscapes with diverse terrain: There are mountains, rivers, lakes, plains, and seas, bearing all the nuances of miniature Vietnam's terrain, creating unique, beautiful, and unique natural wonders; has a connecting and transitional position of 3 economic regions: Red River Delta - North Central and Central Coast - Northern midland and mountainous region; is also the place of connection and intersection between the Red River basin and the Ma River, "Southern gateway of the "Red River Civilization" - "The first cultural cradle of the Vietnamese people".

This place, which has been marked for tens of thousands of years, our ancient ancestors from prehistoric times chose as their place of residence, flexibly adapting to changes in the living environment, creating a unique cultural form in prehistoric times, as a premise for the establishment of the Dai Co Viet state during the Dinh - Le period and the early Ly dynasty. All the unique elements of nature, culture and history have been preserved, protected and passed down through generations by the Hoa Lu people to crystallize into a World Cultural and Natural Heritage Trang An with outstanding global values, recognized by UNESCO in June 2014. Trang An was recognized as the first dual heritage in Vietnam and Southeast Asia because of its special, globally outstanding values ​​in geology, geomorphology, natural landscape, containing a massive, complete and rich archive of documents about prehistoric mankind, demonstrating how to adapt to environmental changes over the past tens of thousands of years.

The ancient capital of Hoa Lu - the place that marked three dynasties: Dinh dynasty, Tien Le dynasty and Ly dynasty. Photo: Contributor

Over the past decade, with the drastic, determined, responsible participation and methodical, creative, appropriate and effective approach of the government, along with the consensus and active participation of the people and business community of Ninh Binh, Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex has been assessed by Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO, as one of the most typical exemplary models in the world in successfully combining economic development and sustainable tourism while still being able to respect nature, ensuring harmony between the interests of the people, the state and businesses. At the same time, it has become a symbol of Vietnam's responsible commitment to implementing the UNESCO convention on the protection of the world's natural and cultural heritage.

Speaking at the 10th Anniversary of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex being recognized by UNESCO, Ms. Simona Mirela Miculescu, President of the 42nd UNESCO General Conference, affirmed: Thanks to the multi-stakeholder approach and creative cooperation, Trang An has become a model in the dynamic context of sustainable development, a model where local communities are not only beneficiaries, but also protagonists participating in creating indigenous products and heritage tourism activities, which is a manifestation of balanced development between sustainable tourism development and heritage conservation.

Transforming heritage into assets

Identifying cultural heritage as the potential, strength, and competitive advantage of the province, the transformation of heritage values ​​into economic assets and the development of heritage economy has been highly valued by Ninh Binh province and has achieved some positive results. Notable among them is the development of heritage tourism which has been effectively and carefully exploited. Many relics and scenic spots have become places for sightseeing, tourism, and spiritual cultural activities such as the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, Bai Dinh Pagoda, Am Tien Cave, Tam Coc - Bich Dong, Phat Diem Stone Church, Doi Ngang Palace, etc.

Ninh Binh tourism is among the top 10 provinces with the highest number of visitors in the country. Photo: Nguyen Thom

The rapid development of the tourism industry creates many new jobs for workers, generates revenue for people and businesses, and stimulates demand for traditional craft villages. Since the time after the COVID-19 pandemic, Ninh Binh tourism has flourished, especially domestic tourism has grown exceptionally, affirming its position as a regional and national tourism center when continuously receiving many prestigious awards from international organizations and websites, notably: Top 10 most attractive experiences in 2024; Top 10 friendliest destinations in the world; Top 10 wonders of the world for those who do not like crowds; influential destinations in the world...

In 2024, the whole province is estimated to welcome over 8.7 million visitors, an increase of 26.5% over the same period, exceeding the annual plan by 16%; tourism revenue reaches nearly VND 8,900 billion, an increase of 35.9% over 2023, exceeding the annual plan by 7.8%, setting a new milestone of welcoming 1.5 million international visitors. In the first 3 months of 2025, the whole province is estimated to welcome 4.4 million visitors, an increase of 13% over the same period last year. Of which, domestic visitors welcome 3.9 million visitors; international visitors welcome over 516 thousand visitors. Revenue is estimated at over VND 5.1 trillion, an increase of 39% over the same period last year. With this growth rate, Ninh Binh has become a bright spot on the tourism map of Vietnam and the world, in the group of 10 provinces with the highest number of visitors in the country.

It can be seen that since being recognized as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex has played a core role, a typical model of capitalizing heritage into assets, attracting millions of visitors every year to visit, research and study. The World Cultural and Natural Heritage Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex has made an important contribution to bringing the image of Ninh Binh province to domestic and international friends, creating a strong driving force for Ninh Binh to develop tourism.

In addition to exploiting the values ​​of landscape and nature to develop tourism, Ninh Binh is also a land that inspires creative artistic products inspired by cultural heritage. There have been hundreds of songs, thousands of works of photography, fine arts (painting, sculpture, installation art, etc.), many literary works by domestic authors and writers based on Ninh Binh's cultural heritage. A number of domestic and international producers of television programs, feature films, stage and cinema works have chosen Ninh Binh as a creative setting. Traditional art forms such as Cheo, Xam singing, Van singing, water puppetry, etc. have become indispensable cultural products in tourism activities, experiences, and entertainment of people and tourists.

In addition, traditional culinary heritages, traditional crafts, indigenous knowledge (such as medicine, medicinal herbs, etc.) have been dynamic, creative and quickly caught up with the trend of entering the market of cultural tourism products and services such as products simulating antiques, ancient houses, ancient streets, ancient costumes, etc., bringing stable growth to investors, meeting the diverse needs of the people and tourists.

Traditional crafts and indigenous knowledge become unique tourism products. Photo: Hoang Hiep

To create a foundation for realizing the heritage economy, Ninh Binh is actively implementing the Project on Preserving and promoting the historical, cultural and traditional values ​​of the people and the ancient capital of Hoa Lu, phase 2021 - 2030, aiming to capitalize heritage resources through discovery, excavation, collection, statistics, systematization and decoding of heritage. The initial results of the Project have been forming a database of cultural heritage in Ninh Binh. This is a rich source of data for building and organizing the activities of historical and cultural parks, thematic museums, and also creating materials for the construction of literary, artistic, theatrical, cinematic and television works...

The results in tourism development in particular and socio-economic development in general of Ninh Binh in recent times have demonstrated that the province's choice of heritage economy and creative economy as resources for sustainable development is completely consistent with the general trend of the world. However, in order for heritage economy and creative economy to be the orientation and strategy for sustainable socio-economic development, to solve the problem of people's livelihood, to ensure harmony between conservation and development, Ninh Binh needs to have a mechanism to attract investors, enterprises, organizations, and business households to participate in activities in the field of heritage economy; support investment, develop traditional goods and services... to increase the cultural heritage content in goods and services. Along with that, the province needs to have solutions to promote and build the Ninh Binh Cultural Heritage brand, build technical infrastructure, knowledge and cultural infrastructure for heritage economy and cultural industry.

With the high political determination of the Party Committee, Government and People in implementing the vision, goals and development orientation of Ninh Binh province approved in the Ninh Binh Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, Ninh Binh province will soon realize the goal of building and developing Ninh Binh into a large center with high brand value in tourism, cultural industry, and heritage economy of the country and the region.

Nguyen Thom

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/ninh-binh-tien-phong-trong-hien-thuc-hoa-kinh-te-di-san-756061.htm