Phu Tho: Exploiting the potential of cultural and tourist heritage to attract tourists

Phu Tho province sets a goal from now until 2030 to become the leading developed province in the Northern Midlands and Mountains, and one of the cultural and festival centers associated with the Vietnamese ethnic roots.

Phu Tho is the land of origin of the Vietnamese people, with a long history of formation and development with many unique cultural heritages; including 3 world cultural heritages recognized by UNESCO: Xoan singing in Phu Tho, Hung King worshipping belief in Phu Tho and Ca tru singing.

Along with that, the province also has many historical and cultural relics and beautiful landscapes. Notably, the Hung Kings’ Temple National Historical Relic Site - a unique and extremely sacred cultural space of the Vietnamese people; Long Coc tea hill, My Thuan tea hill and Ao Chau lagoon, Van Hoi lagoon, Mo waterfall... are charming natural landscapes on the midland.

In particular, Xuan Son National Park is one of 13 national parks in Vietnam with rich ecological diversity and high biodiversity; Thanh Thuy hot mineral water mine has large reserves of useful trace elements.

In addition, the locality also has many historical relics and beautiful landscapes such as Mother Au Co Temple, Tam Giang Pagoda, Ao Gioi-Suoi Tien and many unique forms of intangible culture (such as Xoan singing, Gheo singing), festivals such as Phet Festival - Hien Quan, Boating Festival - Bach Hac, Elephant Procession Festival - Dao Xa.

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Phu Tho, there are currently 967 relics in the area; Of which, 323 historical-cultural relics are ranked by the State, 345 relics worshiping Hung King and figures of the Hung King period, 30 relics related to Xoan singing, 5 national treasures, 311 traditional festivals, 41 typical intangible cultural heritages bearing typical cultural features of the ancestral land.

Besides, the province still retains and preserves ancient customs and practices. This is a priceless cultural heritage treasure, the pride of the land of origin in the nation’s thousands of years of history, from the eras of Hung Kings building the country to Ho Chi Minh defending the country.

To effectively exploit the potential and strengths of tourism development, recently, Phu Tho has had many solutions, finding directions suitable to the actual local conditions to attract tourists.

According to Ms. Vu Thi Hoai Phuong, Deputy Director of Phu Tho Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the province has issued many preferential policies to attract investment and develop tourism; especially key tourist areas.

In 2023, total tourism service revenue will reach 3,365 billion VND, estimated to reach 108.5% of the year’s plan (up 27% over the same period in 2022). The province welcomed 776,000 visitors (an increase of 13.3% over the same period in 2022); of which international visitors reached 8,860 (an increase of 18.1% over the same period in 2022).

Mr. Ho Dai Dung, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Phu Tho Province, said that in order to effectively exploit the potential and advantages, from now to 2030, the province aims to become the leading developed province of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region, and one of the cultural and festival centers associated with the origin of the Vietnamese nation.

Currently, the province is mobilizing resources to focus on developing tourism to become an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists; forming a number of key tourist areas connecting with the northern midland and mountainous provinces and Hanoi capital.

The locality focuses on developing products such as: Cultural and historical tourism associated with Viet Tri festival city and two representative intangible cultural heritages of humanity; resort tourism, golf courses and entertainment; Developing Viet Tri city to become a tourism center, and a gateway to welcome tourists of the entire region.

With immediate and long-term solutions, Phu Tho province strives to soon make tourism an important economic sector of the locality in the spirit of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW, dated January 16, 2017 of the Politburo on developing tourism to a key economic sector.

TTXVN