Patriotic emulation: The driving force for Thanh Hoa's culture, sports and tourism sector to break through and become a pioneer

VHO - In the period of 2020 - 2025, despite being heavily affected by the pandemic and many objective difficulties, the Thanh Hoa Culture, Sports and Tourism sector has strived to overcome challenges, achieving important and comprehensive results in all fields.

On the occasion of summarizing the patriotic emulation movement, Van Hoa reporter had an interview with Mr. Pham Nguyen Hong - Director of Thanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism about the outstanding achievements of the industry in the past 5 years.

Thanh Hoa diving team with athlete Cao Thi Duyen and coach Pham Tuan Anh made many contributions to Vietnamese sports at SEA Games 32 with 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and broke 2 SEA Games records.

.PV: Sir, in the past period of 2020 - 2025, the Thanh Hoa Culture, Sports and Tourism sector has overcome many difficulties and challenges, especially the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to achieve outstanding achievements?

- Director Pham Nguyen Hong: Yes, the past period has been a challenging but also very proud journey. From the Covid-19 pandemic to socio -economic fluctuations, every field has been affected.

However, with the attention and direction of the Central Government, Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee; the coordination of all levels, sectors and localities; and especially the spirit of solidarity, efforts and determination of the collective of cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers in the whole industry, we have overcome difficulties and achieved many important results.

Over the past 5 years, we have launched and widely implemented patriotic emulation movements associated with political tasks, from "All people unite to build a cultural life", "For the poor - leave no one behind", to the movement "Building model agencies, units, model families". As a result, the fields of culture, sports and tourism of Thanh Hoa have all developed strongly, contributing significantly to the overall development of the province.

- In the field of culture and heritage conservation, what outstanding achievements has Thanh Hoa achieved in recent times, sir?

. Thanh Hoa is a land of "geomancy and human talent", with thousands of years of rich cultural history. In the period 2020 - 2025, we pay special attention to the work of preserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage associated with sustainable tourism development.

Lam Kinh Festival – a highlight in the work of preserving and promoting the cultural heritage values ​​of Thanh land. Photo: NGUYEN LINH

As a result, the whole province currently has 858 ranked relics, including: 1 world cultural heritage (Ho Dynasty Citadel), 5 special national relics, 139 national relics, 713 provincial relics, 27 national intangible cultural heritages and 8 national treasures.

In 5 years, we have restored 15 traditional festivals, brought many performances and craft villages back to community life. Notably, 16 intangible cultural heritages of the province have been included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

At the same time, the work of investigating, collecting, researching and compiling works on culture, celebrities and history continues to be carried out. Activities in museums, libraries, performing arts, photography and fine arts are also innovated, more closely linked to the needs of the people and tourists.

. Thanh Hoa's high-performance sports sector is considered a strength. So in the past 5 years, what specific results has the industry recorded?

- This is our great pride. During the period 2020 - 2025, Thanh Hoa athletes participated in 566 national and international sports tournaments, winning a total of 3,536 medals of all kinds. Many of our athletes have affirmed their position in the world and continental arenas.

For example, athlete Hoang Thi Tinh (Judo) won gold medals in three consecutive SEA Games 30, 31, and 32; athlete Le Thi Hien (Vovinam) won gold medals at the 2023 World Championship and gold medals at the 2024 Asian Championship; athlete Nguyen Thi Phuong Hau (Muay) won gold medals at the 31st SEA Games and gold medals at the 2023 World Muay Championship.

In particular, at the 31st and 32nd SEA Games, the Thanh Hoa sports delegation won a total of 34 medals (17 medals each), making an important contribution to the overall achievements of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation. At the 9th National Sports Festival in 2022, Thanh Hoa won 4th place overall and was awarded the Emulation Flag by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

In addition, Thanh Hoa football also made its mark when the Dong A Thanh Hoa team consecutively won the National Cup 2023, 2024 and won the National Super Cup 2023; Long Son Thanh Hoa Cement women's volleyball team entered the top 4 of the National Championship 2024 for the first time.

Regarding tourism, how has Thanh Hoa recovered and developed after the Covid-19 pandemic?

- This is an area we have devoted a lot of effort to. After the epidemic was controlled, the Department advised the province to implement a series of stimulus programs, announce new products, build a tourism identity, and promote communication.

Tourists visit the Ho Dynasty Citadel - a world cultural heritage in Thanh Hoa, demonstrating the efforts to preserve heritage associated with tourism development.

As a result, in the period of 2020 - 2025, Thanh Hoa is estimated to welcome over 58.2 million visitors, including more than 2.4 million international visitors; total tourism revenue reaches 128,886 billion VND (of which international visitors reach more than 1 billion USD).

The average annual growth rate is over 34%. Currently, the province has 57 plans for tourism development, 70 infrastructure investment projects, 81 tourism business projects with a total registered capital of about 153,000 billion VND.

We attach importance to human resource training, ensuring security, social safety, environmental sanitation and building a friendly and attractive Thanh Hoa tourism brand.

In addition to the outstanding results, how is the work of rewarding and replicating advanced models being implemented, sir?

- We have identified this work as key. In the past 5 years, the Department has promptly rewarded thousands of groups and individuals; including 2 individuals who were awarded the title of People's Artist, 8 individuals who were Meritorious Artists, many coaches, athletes, and artists were awarded Labor Medals of various ranks.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have also commended many outstanding achievements of the industry. More importantly, the typical examples that have been spread have created a driving force to promote the patriotic emulation movement, contributing to improving the quality of work and building an increasingly strong team.

Could you please tell us the lessons learned from the period 2020 - 2025?

- We draw five main lessons: First, strengthen the leadership role of Party committees, heads and the synchronous coordination of organizations.

Second, link emulation movements with political tasks, ensuring clear and transparent criteria.

Third, pay attention to summarizing and concluding, avoid formalism.

Fourth, focus on discovering, nurturing and replicating advanced models.

Fifth, strengthen the team doing emulation and reward work, ensuring expertise and capacity.

The results achieved in the period 2020 - 2025 have affirmed the strength of solidarity, sense of responsibility and continuous efforts of the entire Thanh Hoa Culture, Sports and Tourism sector. This is also a vivid demonstration of the effectiveness of patriotic emulation movements when organized extensively and associated with political tasks.

We believe that, with the experiences that have been drawn, the Thanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to promote its tradition, excellently complete its tasks in the new period, and make worthy contributions to the overall development of the province and the country.

Thank you. Wishing Thanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to continue to reap many new successes!

(Department of Organization and Personnel, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/thi-dua-yeu-nuoc-dong-luc-de-nganh-vhttdl-thanh-hoa-but-pha-tien-phong-169136.html