Dien Bien will promote unique identity during Visit Vietnam Year 2024 (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) – The northwestern mountainous province of Dien Bien will host the Visit Vietnam Year 2024, with the highlight being the opening ceremony combined with the 2024 Ban (Bauhinia) Flower Festival on March 16, a special art programme and a fireworks display on May 6 evening, the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, the Northwest – Dien Bien Tourism Fair, and National Cuisine Festival.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Vu A Bang shared information on the preparation work as well as the difficulties this province is facing.
Reporter: How has Dien Bien prepared for the Visit Vietnam Year that it will host in 2024, especially the opening ceremony on March 16?
Vice Chairman Vu A Bang: To well organise the Visit Vietnam Year - Dien Bien 2024, the province has coordinated with relevant units to build a very specific plan for each month and each quarter in combination with a series of activities commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory.
From there, we have specific scenarios for each event organiser in the process of continuous implementation from January to December. In particular, Dien Bien developed plans to coordinate closely with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to unify the content of the event.
Vice Chairman of Dien Bien People's Committee Vu A Bang (Photo: VietnamPlus)
The theme of this Visit Vietnam Year was chosen as "Glory of Dien Bien Phu - Endless Experiences", associated with political tasks and socioeconomic activities in the locality, with an orientation to develop tourism into a key economic sector of the province.
As the only locality in the Northwest region with an airport connecting with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Dien Bien has recently upgraded its airport. The landing strip is qualified to receive A321 aircraft, and increased flight frequency to meet travel demand. The have been upgrades to the road traffic system, as well as accommodations, and catering service establishments.
Dien Bien has also worked with Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet to build and promote the image of local tourism as well as the Visit Vietnam Year - Dien Bien 2024 on all flight itineraries.
Reporter: So what are the unique products targeted by the locality to attract tourists to Dien Bien?
Vice Chairman Vu A Bang: Dien Bien boasts a lot of potential and strengths, including products that cannot be found anywhere else, including the special national historical site Dien Bien Phu Battlefield with 45 relic sites.
Mentioning the northern region, both domestic and international tourists know it because of the famous victory of Dien Bien Phu which shook the world. We have focused on exploiting 45 relic sites to make them become a unique tourism product.
Dien Bien Phu Victory Monument, one of the symbols of Dien Bien province (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Although there is no shortage of tourism products, these products have yet to be as symbolic as famous tourist destinations across the country. However, based on the potential and strengths to develop tourism into a key economic sector, Dien Bien province has identified three main development pillars: historical - spiritual tourism; ethnic cultural identity tourism, exploring natural landscapes such as Pa Khoang lake, and A Pa Chai westernmost point, and resort, entertainment and wellness tourism.
The Ban flower festival is a symbol of the beauty of the Northwest ethnic groups. Every spring, Ban flowers bloom white in the Northwest mountains and forests. Dien Bien has successfully organised many Ban flower festivals as well as registered the copyright of Ban flower for Dien Bien.
The year 2024 is very special for the locality because it is associated with activities toward the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory, in which the Hoa Ban Festival is one of 17 important events and is integrated into the opening ceremony of the National Tourism Year. Therefore, the theme "Returning to the Hoa Ban Region" is our way of integrating local identity into the country's major event.
Pounding ‘day’ cake (round sticky rice cake) is one of the New Year rituals of ethnic minorities in the Northwest region. (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Reporter: Although you admitted that the locality does not have a typical tourism product, it has a main pillar, so does Dien Bien plan to renew tours, routes or link with businesses and travel agencies to stimulate tourism demand in this Visit Vietnam Year?
Vice Chairman Vu A Bang: Currently, we are also starting to connect cross-border tourism. Previously, in October 2023, in the activities of eight Northwest provinces and Ho Chi Minh City in tourism development cooperation, we hosted the Culture and Tourism Week of the Northwest provinces and Ho Chi Minh City in Luang Prabang, the ancient capital of Laos, to initially connect tourism associations, tours, routes, and travel agencies between Vietnam and Laos.
Dien Bien province is in the stage of building and completing tourism product chains associated with resorts, sports tourism, and indigenous cultural tourism. Most recently, we organised a tourism promotion conference in Muong Lay township associated with a paragliding festival. We invited travel agencies and tourism businesses in order to build tours and routes associated with experiences for each tourist group. We are in the process of completing and implementing these contents.
Reporter: Accommodation facilities are one of the biggest difficulties and limitations of local tourism today. Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of the Visit Vietnam Year is nearing, so how can Dien Bien bring complete experiences and good impressions to a large number of tourists who will flock to here in the coming time?
Vice Chairman Vu A Bang: To date, the province has 205 tourist accommodation establishments with 2,765 rooms and over 5,000 beds, of which about 60% of the rooms are in Dien Bien city, the rest are located in districts and township, so local accommodation services are indeed extremely difficult.
Ban flower has become the symbolic flower of Dien Bien in particular and the Northwest in general. (Photo: VietnamPlus)
To overcome this, we are implementing many solutions to best meet facilities needs in the coming time. In particular, the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism and localities have come up with solutions such as extending and relaxing the number of visitors to localities before and after events. They have also instructed the community to participate in the accommodation network so that when it is crowded, tourists can be shared to neighbouring areas and the homestay system.
The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism also supports Dien Bien to recognise tourist attractions and accommodation facilities that meet standards to prepare for events and serve tourists during the Visit Vietnam Year - Dien Bien 2024.
Reporter: Thank you for your sharing./.
| There will be 169 programmes and events throughout the year, comprising 13 national events to be held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and other agencies, 28 by host Dien Bien province, and 128 by 33 other provinces and centrally-run cities. |
