Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street - Beautiful cultural space by the Perfume River. Photo: DT
Hue culture, an inspiration for development
The province's key tourism and service development program in 2018 identifies the common goal: tourism development should be a key economic sector, deserving to be a big tourist center of the whole country and the region, branding Hue as the capital of festivals and cuisine, "bright and lively" tourism city.
Being "bright" indicates the light of Hue city at night. Being "lively” entails two elements: the city of living arts and the city of liveliness. The "living arts" of Hue is based on Hue traditions, the lifestyle harmonized with the nature of Hue people, the culinary arts, Hue music, the crafting maintained and spread in communities, and so on.
For the first time, provincial leaders has requested the departments at different levels to carry out the program called "One tourism product per year." The province decides that the new tourism product of 2018 is the pedestrian path along the Huong River attached to the arts space on the axis of Le Loi street.
The project of the center arts space of Hue city is under way to improve the quality of the Le Ba Dang exhibition house and the Diem Phung Thi exhibition house. The province is also implementing the plan of establishing Museum of Arts on this route to meet the demands of art-loving visitors to Hue.
There will be more pedestrian streets and night streets in Hue, expanding the space of Truong Tien bridge into a space for festive, culinary activities at night; implementing the Hue Culinary Museum project; and establish new night streets around the area of the Imperial City.
Hue Festival 2018 is chosen to be a highlight to attract visitors in this year, organized on national and international scale, bringing together special art programs which represent other cultural regions in the world with their distinct impressions. In particular, the emphasis is on the quintessence of Vietnamese arts and culture, especially Hue cultural heritage, waiting for tourists from far and near to explore and experience.
Folk activities in the countryside market by Thanh Toan tile-roofed bridge are always attractive to tourists and the public. Photo: DT
Spiritual tourism has also begun to arouse interest; the province will continue to invite tour operators in and outside the province to survey, design a number of spiritual tours to serve tourists. In addition to the development, formation and completion of some typical tourism products which are the strength of Hue, some community-based ecotourism products, homestay tourism, and garden house tourism will be implemented in Hue and other localities, such as Loc Binh, Quang Loi, Quang Ngan, Quang An, etc.
Seasonal cultural events will be upgraded into festivals, such as kite festival, vegetarian food festival, floating lanterns festival, lotus festival, lion dance festival, etc. Last January, Hue city held a seminar on "Nguyen Du's burial location" to locate the place where the great poet was buried, then organized pilgrimages for Vietnamese people who love the genius that wrote the famous epic of Truyen Kieu (the Tale of Kieu). These are the launching activities for the development of tourism inspired by the Hue cultural space.
Luxury tourism in harmony with the lifestyle of Hue culture
Hue tourism does not need to attract too many visitors, but what should be paid attention to is the flow of elegant visitors, who would pay the price commensurate with the cultural values, and the humane, green, clean, quiet space that they can enjoy only when visiting Hue.
Hue is focusing on attracting investors to build high-class tourist areas and high-class services on the beach, lagoon and luxurious urban areas in Bach Ma, Chan May - Lang Co; of which, the focal point includes Chan May Port, high quality entertainment services, vibrant night streets, creating a counterpart and complement for Hue heritage city to attract more international tourists.
A variety of launching activities on large scale have been activated for Hue tourism such as Lang Co eco-tourism villa resort, Hung Vuong Vincom commercial center complex, 5-star hotel Vinpearl Hue, etc; in particular, another sum of more than USD 2 billion will be invested in Laguna Lang Co project.
Many projects have recently been licensed such as Tam Giang Lagoon Experience Resort, Lee House Ecotourism Resort, Green Valley Camp & Homestay in Phu Loc, Truot Waterfall Ecotourism Resort ( Nam Dong).
The fact that big investors, such as Vingroup, Bitexco, BRG, Myway, PSH, EcoPark have poured into Hue is a very new signal. The Provincial People's Committee has issued a decision on investment in the project of Hue Spirit Sanctuary Resort in Huong Ho Ward, Huong Tra Town. The goal of this project is to build a luxurious resort in Thua Thien Hue for high-class tourists.
Upon its completion, the project will provide luxurious resort services, river cruises, yoga and meditation center within the resort, cuisine, entertainment, shopping, etc. This is the first model with all high-class services in Thua Thien Hue. The project is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019.
An interesting plan is being prepared by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Tourism, which is to develop the type of tourism by bicycle and electric self-balancing scooters in Hue city and its vicinity. Hue has launched the program "Hue – a city with no vehicle horn." All are derived from the peacefulness-loving lifestyle of Hue people.
By Ho Hoang Thao