Dong Dang Walking Street: Expectations of an attractive tourism product at the border

- With the desire to create a unique tourism product, imbued with local cultural identity, the Dong Dang walking street project has been actively implemented by Cao Loc district with the goal of building a unique tourism product. In which, the harmonious combination of the spiritual elements of Dong Dang temple, the excitement of Dong Dang market and the favorable geographical location promises to create an attractive tourist destination, attracting a large number of visitors.

Dong Dang Town is located in the Dong Dang - Lang Son Border Gate Economic Zone, one of the border gate economic zones that plays an important role in the orientation of the country's socio-economic development. Dong Dang is also home to 4 main ethnic groups: Kinh, Tay, Nung, Hoa. Thereby, creating for the town an extremely rich and diverse cultural heritage system such as: then singing, sli, luong... and many dishes with strong cultural exchange between Vietnam and China (grilled food, roasted duck, roasted pork)... In addition, the system of relics in the area is also extremely rich and diverse such as: Thuy Mon Dinh Stele House; Dong Dang Fort; Milestone No. 0, Friendship International Border Gate; Dong Dang Mau Temple...

Promises a unique cultural destination

In order to exploit the above advantages to build new tourism products, attract tourists to Cao Loc district, promote tourism development, and socio-economic development in the area, on October 28, 2022, Cao Loc District People's Committee issued Decision No. 3277/QD-UBND approving the Project to build a walking street in Dong Dang town, Cao Loc district.

Accordingly, the District People's Committee selected 2 main roads and 3 alleys in Dong Dang town to build a walking street including: Hoang Van Thu street; Nam Quan street; alley 1 and alley 5 of Hoang Van Thu street; alley 6 of Nam Quan street. The proposed area to build Dong Dang walking street has a total road length of: 1,442 m.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thinh, Vice Chairman of Cao Loc District People's Committee, said: In order for the street to operate effectively, in the past time, the District People's Committee has focused on investing funds to renovate the roadway and sidewalks and is continuing to invest in other basic items such as welcome gates, lighting decoration, etc. In particular, the District People's Committee has established a Walking Street Management Board, and at the same time directed relevant units and People's Committees of communes and towns to propagate to the people in the area about the policy, purpose, and significance of building a walking street and the activities of the walking street. The district plans to open the Walking Street on the occasion of the Dong Dang Temple Festival in the spring of At Ty 2025. Therefore, from November 20, 2024, people in the district can go to Dong Dang Town People's Committee to register to sell goods on the walking street.

Currently, the authorities of Cao Loc district and Dong Dang town People's Committee have mobilized more than 100 business households to convert to selling tourism products such as: refreshments, fast food, cuisine , local specialties, souvenirs, handicrafts... At the same time, actively connecting and linking with travel companies and tour operators to build tours and tourist routes to attract tourists, extend their stay, and bring opportunities and motivation for tourism development to the district.

Accordingly, in order to create consensus among the people in the area, propaganda and mobilization work has been promoted by all levels and sectors in the district. Ms. Phuong Thanh Loan, Vice Chairman of Dong Dang Town People's Committee, said: Immediately after having a specific plan to implement the construction of the Dong Dang town walking street, the town government, socio-political organizations and local people immediately started to carry out specific tasks such as: coordinating propaganda on the content and significance of organizing the Dong Dang walking street. Regularly and continuously announcing at residential area meetings. Organizing working sessions with households living on the walking street construction route to grasp the thoughts and aspirations of the people to continue to participate and actively agree and highly support the walking street activities this time...

Recently, the construction of Dong Dang walking street has received consensus and positive response from local residents. It is known that Nam Quan area currently has 389 households, of which nearly 150 households are in the Dong Dang walking street area. Up to now, 50% of households in the walking street have registered to do business in business items. Ms. Nong Kim Lien, Nam Quan area, Dong Dang town said: Since hearing the news of the walking street, everyone in our area has been excited. After many years of doing business here, we also hope to have a beautiful space to attract more tourists to Nam Quan area. Currently, my family is doing business in soft drinks, recently we have registered to do business in the walking street with the same item. I hope that the walking street will help my family's business and everyone's business to be more favorable.

Currently, Dong Dang town is urgently preparing conditions to complete all work according to the plan. Specifically, the town is organizing sanitation workers, cleaning the premises where activities are held and the roads to ensure environmental sanitation around the area where the walking street is held. Up to now, some items of the walking street have been completed by relevant units in the district such as: road surface, sidewalk paving and some items of the stage, welcome gate, etc.

In addition to Dong Dang walking street, the province currently has two walking streets: Ky Lua walking street (Lang Son city), Dinh Lap walking street (Dinh Lap district). The above walking streets have created a space for entertainment and relaxation for the community and tourists, contributing significantly to enhancing the cultural and tourism value. Therefore, the implementation of Dong Dang walking street will be a unique and separate tourism product, becoming a complementary product to other walking streets in the province.

Workers are constructing a road on Nam Quan Street, Dong Dang Town, Cao Loc District.

Unleashing tourism potential from unique values

Ms. Hoang Thi Phuong Hue, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Cao Loc district, said: The construction of the district's walking street is carried out on the basis of preserving the value of tangible and intangible cultural heritage combined with the development of tourism, trade and services to create cultural beauty and urban civilization typical of the Northeastern mountainous region, the highlight is the "Spiritual cultural space" with a variety of spiritual cultural experiences associated with the relics of worshiping the Vietnamese Mother Goddess. According to the project's calculations, the walking streets will attract about 2,000 visitors/day (during the pilot period), welcoming about 4,000-5,000 visitors/day (during the peak of the festival season).

The highlight of Dong Dang walking street is that it will become a center for promoting the spiritual tourism culture of the district, because in Hoang Van Thu street there is Dong Dang Mother Temple - a spiritual tourism destination of the province (this is also a typical tourist destination in the UNESCO Lang Son Global Geopark tourist route) attracting a lot of visitors. With the characteristic of "Spiritual cultural space", Cao Loc district has designed and decorated the 230m long Hoang Van Thu street to become a street to experience the spiritual culture of worshiping the Vietnamese Mother Religion with 18 decorative gates. The district also plans to decorate the paintings of 36 saints of the Mother Religion and introduce destinations in the Geopark area. Coming to the walking street, people and tourists can also participate in the Chau Van ritual in the Mother Religion (also known as Hau Dong).

In the walking street, there is also Dong Dang market - a familiar shopping destination for tourists and local residents. The route is in the center of town, so it is easy to connect tours to nearby attractions such as: Huu Nghi international border gate, Dong Dang international station, Dong Dang commercial center, Thuy Mon Dinh stele house...

According to the project, when the street is officially put into operation, there will be 20 - 40 cultural events, exchange activities, promotional festivals, attracting tourists and local communities (on average 2 weeks/1 thematic event, festival) taking place. The activities of the walking street will include: cuisine, shopping, cultural performances with many cultural products imbued with the identity of Lang Son such as: then singing, sli singing, luon, lion and cat dance...

Organizing a walking street from 18:00 to 24:00 every Saturday and Sunday will help travel companies and tour operators have more options to attract tourists, prolonging their stay when coming to Dong Dang town, Cao Loc district. Tourists who stay will spend more, bringing opportunities and motivation to develop tourism in the district. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, a tourist from Hanoi, shared: I have had the opportunity to visit Dong Dang several times before, mainly to visit Dong Dang Mau Temple and border markets, but there are not many highlights in terms of tourism. Recently, hearing the news of a walking street, I think Dong Dang will become much more attractive. I also heard that the walking street will have many cultural and artistic activities, which will definitely be very fun. Just thinking about walking around the street on a weekend evening, enjoying local cuisine, shopping for souvenirs in a new space, I feel excited. I hope to soon experience the unique activities here.

With proper investment and community cooperation, we believe that Dong Dang walking street promises to become an attractive tourist destination, contributing to bringing Lang Son tourism in particular and Vietnam tourism in general closer to international friends.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/tuyen-pho-di-bo-dong-dang-ky-vong-ve-mot-san-pham-du-lich-hap-dan-noi-bien-gioi-5029970.html