Welcoming guests aboard recently on the Heritage Binh Chuan cruise ship were drum sounds, echoing amid the quiet of Lan Ha Bay. About 30 foreign travelers from the US, Germany, UK, Singapore, Myanmar and Israel were excited to participate in the tour.

Everything on the ship, every picture, book and object, has its own story which has relations with culture and history that tour guides can talk about for hours. 

Every time the captain wanted to convey a message, he would come to every room and knock at the door with a bamboo tocsin. Travelers visited heritage sites in the day and enjoyed local specialties in the evening to the sound of the dan tranh (zither). 

“The tourism products rich in cultural value like these will attract more foreign travelers,” said Frances Barnett Brookner, a traveler from the US.

Pham Ha, chair of Lux Group, said she was inspired by the ship of Bach Thai Buoi and the designers of the tour wanted to show cultural features so that travelers can feel Vietnamese culture in a more sophisticated manner. 

This makes their experiences more memorable.

Vietnam has pride in being one of the world’s leading heritage destinations. Foreign travelers show interest in cultural tours and experiences, traditional customs, festivals, cuisine and architecture. If these features can be combined in tourism products, they will be even more attractive.

At Heritage Binh Chuan, the number of foreign travelers has gone up by 60-70 percent. Instead of one night, some groups now stay for 3-4 nights. The cruise ship expects to serve a group of Russian billionaires who plan to stay for seven nights.

Also focusing on cultural tours, Le Thi Thu Trang, director of SGO Travel, noted that the tourists now tend to be more demanding. They want trips that are more interesting, and not just beautiful landscapes.

Vietnam can satisfy their demands. But if the country cannot make the best use of cultural and historical materials, it would be a waste of resources.

She believes the work of cultural tourism is relating stories about destinations and connecting this with the itineraries of travelers to create real experiences and bring the performing arts into travel products.

SGO Travel, for example, has launched a new tour, departing at Thang Long Imperial Citadel. Travelers visit Vinh Nghiem Pagoda, Tay Yen Tu and destinations associated with King Tran Nhan Tong. At the end of the tour, travelers print woodblocks themselves, a very enjoyable experience.

In Hanoi, travelers can also have wonderful experiences thanks to original cultural tours. According to Nguyen Thi Dinh from the National Historical Museum, the ‘Tro ve coi nguon’ (reversion to the original point) tours have gained success.

‘Bac Co – Mua hoa gao’ (Bac Co – the rice flower season) tour, launched on March 14, is one of the tours. At first, the museum planned to provide one tour a week in one month. However, as the tour enjoyed large sales, the tour designers have provided two tours a week in the last two weeks.

Hue City, which was the cultural and political center of Vietnam in the 16th century, also attracts many travelers. Phan Thanh Hai, director of the Thua Thien - Hue Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said Hue received 4.9 million travelers in 2019, which made up 12 percent of the locality’s GDP. 

About 85 percent of Hue tourism is cultural and heritage tourism. Hai believes that if just 20 travelers to Hue ordered ao dai (long dress) at the price of VND1 million per person, Hue would earn revenue of VND 900 million.

Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Trung Khanh said that Vietnam’s cultural tourism brand is positioned based on original cultural value, focused on heritage values and cultural culinary values, thereby forming a system of destination points and typical tourism products with high value. 

It is expected that by 2030, cultural tourism would make up 20-25 percent of the total tourism revenue of $130 billion.

However, Khanh stressed that cultural tourism development in Vietnam remains modest if compared with the potentials, advantages and cultural values.

Ngoc Ha