In Hung Hoi commune, Cai Gia Giua Pagoda, although not as large-scale as Cu Lao Pagoda or Cai Gia Chot Pagoda, is gradually becoming a tourist attraction thanks to creative ways of organizing cultural activities. Prominent is the mini Ngo boat race held on traditional festival occasions, creating a vibrant atmosphere, imbued with Khmer identity.
To gradually turn this activity into an attractive tourism product, the pagoda has renovated the lake in the campus, built service points, embellished the landscape, and promoted live broadcasting of exciting races on digital platforms. Thanks to that, the image of the festival has not only spread in the community but also widely reached tourists from near and far.
In the Khmer pagoda system in Ca Mau province, Xiem Can pagoda (Hiep Thanh ward) is the first and only pagoda recognized by the Mekong Delta Tourism Association as a typical tourist destination. Over the past time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ca Mau province has invited many domestic travel business delegations to Xiem Can pagoda to contribute ideas to improve tourism products and strengthen tour and route connections with tourism in the region.
In particular, in 2025, the pagoda is supported to implement Project 6 "Preserving and promoting traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities associated with tourism development", under the National Target Program for socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period 2021-2025. Through this, the pagoda is invested in stages, performance equipment and improved the quality of art activities.
From this resource, the pagoda's art troupes are equipped with a five-tone orchestra, performance costumes, training funds... creating artistic programs imbued with identity. The pagoda space is therefore not only a place for religious activities but also becomes a vibrant cultural rendezvous.
Impressed by the beauty of the pagoda, Ms. Le Mai Phuong, a tourist from Da Nang, shared that when entering the pagoda gate, she was attracted by the unique architecture and vast space.
The clear difference compared to the pagoda system in Hue, stories about people and monks directly involved in building the pagoda have created a unique mark. According to her, from costumes, music to dances, they all vividly reflect the rich spiritual life of the Khmer people.
From the joint efforts of the State and the community, many Khmer pagodas in Ca Mau not only preserve their national cultural identity but also open up sustainable tourism development directions.
Traditional values are awakened and spread, becoming a unique highlight in the cultural and tourism picture of the southernmost land of the Fatherland, contributing to improving people's lives and affirming the unique identity of Ca Mau on the national tourism map.
