This direction is expected to improve the quality of experience, extend stay time and increase tourist spending.
From "static legacy" to multi-layered experience
For many years, Quang Ninh tourism has been closely associated with the image of Ha Long Bay. However, the development model mainly based on sightseeing gradually revealed limitations: products are easily duplicated, experiences are not deep, and tourists stay for short days.
Meanwhile, the locality owns rich cultural resources with hundreds of relics, festivals and the identity of ethnic groups. The problem posed is not the lack of resources, but how to exploit these values to turn them into truly attractive tourism products.
In recent years, Quang Ninh has begun to change its approach. Culture is no longer just for "display", but is gradually being brought into experience. Art programs, light festivals, performances in the bay... help tourists access culture with many senses, instead of just simple sightseeing.
In parallel with the coastal area, Quang Ninh is also expanding cultural tourism development to mountainous areas such as Binh Lieu, Tien Yen, Ba Che. Products such as the Soong Co festival, market fair, reed grass season... are gradually attracting tourists thanks to their clear indigenous character.
The common point in the approach is to shift from "watching" to "experiencing". Tourists not only participate, but also directly participate in the cultural life of the community. This direction contributes to diversifying products and redistributing the flow of visitors, reducing pressure on Ha Long Bay.
Besides traditional values, Quang Ninh is promoting modern cultural activities, especially concerts and music festivals. This is considered a "new breeze" to help attract young people, create a media effect and increase the attractiveness of destinations.
When organized in coastal spaces, these events are not simply entertainment, but become a contemporary cultural experience, combining music, landscape and tourism services.
To date, Quang Ninh has organized about 6-7 concerts, mainly concentrated in the old Ha Long City and in Yen Tu, with each concert attracting tens of thousands of spectators. Not exaggerating, Quang Ninh is gradually becoming a new emerging art performance center of the country.
Exploiting the cultural values of Ha Long Bay
Resolution No. 17-NQ/TU dated October 30, 2023 of the Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee emphasizes that culture and heritage not only need to be preserved but must become an endogenous resource for sustainable development.
According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Dung - Director of Quang Ninh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism - in that spirit, the exploitation and promotion of Ha Long Bay's value is implemented in a harmonious direction between preservation and development, considering heritage as the center of the province's tourism and heritage economic development strategy.
In the process of building a cultural industrial ecosystem, Ha Long Bay plays a particularly important role, which can be considered the nucleus and starting foundation for many cultural - tourism - service value chains of Quang Ninh. This is not only a world natural heritage with outstanding global values, but also a space for intersection and convergence of many values about sea and island history, culture and community life in the coastal region.
From a development perspective, Ha Long Bay has the ability to connect and spread values to many fields such as high-quality tourism, performing arts, cinema, creative cultural products, heritage experience activities, as well as new economic models such as night economy, cultural and ecological tourism.
Ha Long Bay has been a film studio for many famous domestic and international films, such as "Indochina" by France, "King Kong" by the United States...
Currently, Quang Ninh province is studying to organize controlled events on sand dunes or in caves in the middle of Ha Long Bay.
When organized and exploited methodically, heritage is not only a tourist attraction but becomes a source of inspiration and "raw material" for high value-added cultural and creative products" - Mr. Dung shared - "Quang Ninh aims to build Ha Long Bay not only as a famous tourist destination but also as a unique cultural brand of Vietnam".
