Cultural tourism requires more investment to become cultural industry

Tourists explore a rural market space and folk games as part of a tour to enjoy real-life show “The Quintessence of Tonkin”. Photo Facebook of The Quintessence of Tonkin

HÀ NỘI - Việt Nam has been praised internationally for its cultural resources and tourism development, but much still needs to be done to transform cultural resources into tourism value and cultural tourism into a cultural industry.

Việt Nam has been honoured with such accolades as the World’s Leading Heritage Destination, Asia’s Leading Cultural Destination, and Asia’s Leading Culinary Destination by the World Travel Awards.

Though cultural industries have only recently been mentioned in Việt Nam, some products creatively taping into cultural values have come into being, helping diversify tourism products, such as real-life shows The Quintessence of Tonkin, Hội An Memories, and Dance in the Clouds.

In early 2024, the Hà Nội Department of Tourism announced 15 nighttime tourism products, most of which are based on local cultural and heritage values, including the night tour of Hỏa Lò Prison, the night tour Decoding the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long, and the Legend of Youth Programme at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum.

However, Dr Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research under the Việt Nm National Authority of Tourism, pointed out that cultural tourism products in the country still lack creativity, and there remains a shortage of distinctive products of each locality and region. Many resources of cultural tourism have yet to be maximised to match their potential.

Besides, localities haven’t coordinated closely with one another to make use of resources, thus hampering the creation of quality and sustainable tourism products, he opined.

Some experts said to turn cultural tourism into a cultural industry, the key point is how to develop products that truly “touch tourists’ hearts”. To do so, it is necessary to increase the content of creativity in each tourism product to generate unique and impressive experiences for travellers.

Dr Nguyễn Thu Hạnh, Chairwoman of the Scientific Union for Sustainable Tourism Development, held that for a long time, the tourism sector capitalised on just heritage values of the past but not paid due heed to the values of the present and the future. Moreover, as the connectivity among individual and collective innovators remains limited, there hasn’t been a sustainable value chain for tourism products.

Echoing the view, Dr Trịnh Lê Anh, a lecturer at the Faculty of Tourism at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Việt Nam National University, Hà Nội, said tourism should partner with entertainment, software, and technology sectors, among others to create products attractive to today's tourists, especially the young.

He suggested fashion and cuisine be utilised to design distinctive products deeply imbued with local identities.

On August 29 this year, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 30/CT-TTg on the development of Việt Nam’s cultural industries. This directive underscored the need to accelerate the application of science, technology, cultural resources, and intellectual property to create products and services with cultural and economic value. It requests the development of cultural industries maximise potential and advantages, and also connect different sectors.

Between January and August, Việt Nam welcomed over 11.4 million international visitors, up 45.8 per cent year-on-year, while the number of domestic tourists reached some 89.5 million. Tourism revenue approximated VNĐ586.1 trillion (US$23.67 billion) during the period.

The country aims to attract 17 - 18 million international visitors in 2024, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.