Thanh Hoa – A land to connect world heritages in 2015
Update: Apr 07, 2015
Thanh Hoa, an ancient land, is renowned for its Dong Son culture. The province has been selected to host the 2015 National Tourism Year with the theme ‘Connecting World Heritage’.
The Ho Dynasty Citadel, one of Thanh Hoa’s most attractive destinations, was recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site in 2011.

The opening week for National Tourism Year-Thanh Hoa 2015 is being held in Thanh Hoa from April 3 to 10, and is being marked with 10 events, which include a requiem for war martyrs; the 50th anniversary of the Ham Rong Victory; the announcement of the Ma River tour; and the Festival of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Viet Nam recognised by UNESCO.

Earlier, Thanh Hoa presented master plans on developing tourism in the province until 2020 with a vision to 2030 to improve the quality of tourism. Accordingly, Thanh Hoa has completed 11 general projects and 17 particular projects on upgrading tourism sites and connecting tourism services.

The province has embarked on a drive to improve its business and investment climate, strengthening investment, extending relations, and seeking investments to upgrade its tourism infrastructure. The province has attracted 66 tourism projects with total registered capital of VND23.28 trillion — thirty of them are already licensed and under construction.

Additionally, the province has focused on upgrading cultural sites, historical sites and main tourist attractions such as the Ho Dynasty Citadel World Cultural Heritage, the Special National Site of Lam Kinh, the Cam Luong fish stream tourist site, Ba Trieu Temple, and exploiting sea tourism potential.

After implementing the resolution of the party committee of Sam Son town on building a tourism brand name, the tourism service’s quality in Sam Son beach has been improved. Along the 102-kilometre seacoast of Thanh Hoa province, Hai Hoa tourism zone in Tinh Gia district, Hai Tien tourism zone in Hoang Hoa, and Tien Trang tourism zone in Quang Xuong district have also contributed to awakening Thanh Hoa’s tourism potential.

Over the last five years, Thanh Hoa has worked to preserve around 200 relics at a total expense of VND400 billion (US$18.6 million). The quality of human resources in the tourism industry has gradually improved. The province currently has 16,000 people working in the industry, 72 per cent of whom are well-trained. Thanh Hoa has around 672 accommodations offering 14,000 rooms.

The province recorded over 482,000 tourists in 2001 with 101 billion in tourism revenue. The figure rose to 4.5 million tourists in 2014, with VND2 trillion in tourism revenue.

Located in the middle of Ninh Binh province and Nghe An province, Thanh Hoa has favorable conditions for developing tourism. Hosting the 2015 National Tourism Year with the theme ‘Connecting World Heritage’ affirmed Thanh Hoa authorities and local people’s goal of building the province to become one of Viet Nam’s major tourism areas.

In the 2015 National Tourism Year, twelve events are expected to be organised under the instruction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Meanwhile twelve other event will be held by Thanh Hoa province. The highlights of the events are the opening and closing ceremonies for the national tourism year in March and December, in addition to the 50th anniversary ceremony of the Ham Rong victory.

The other 15 cities and provinces with world heritage sites will also organise events as part of the national programme including Ha Noi, Da Nang and HCM City, and the provinces of Phu Tho, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Ninh Binh, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Gia Lai and Lam Dong.

The province hopes to turn tourism into a key economic sector by 2020 and draw as many as 650,000 international visitors and 17 million domestic travelers by 2030. The province is focusing on exploiting traditional values, calling for domestic and foreign investment, and co-operating with other provinces to preserve and promote heritages, as well as ensuring social security.

According to Pham Duy Phuong, Director of the Thanh Hoa provincial Department of Culture, Sports, the province will organise the 2015 National Tourism Year as a priority. Thanh Hoa will also focus on preserving historical sites, tourism attractions and ancient villages, promoting the value of intangible cultural heritages; developing tourism products and co-operating with other provinces in developing Viet Nam’s tourism industry.

Thanh Hoa has 1,535 historical and cultural sites, 145 of the sites are national sites. The Ho Dynasty Citadel, one of Thanh Hoa’s most attractive destinations, was recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site in 2011. Along with the tourism destinations, Thanh Hoa has nearly 200 traditional festivals and unique cultural treasures.
Nhan dan