Hue Festival 2022 revitalises pandemic hit tourism industry of Thua Thien-Hue

Reenactment of Ban Soc ceremony – the celebration to officially issue the calendar under the Nguyen Dynasty, held periodically at the end of the lunar year. (Photo: VNA)

Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – The central Thua Thien-Hue province has been drawing in tourists with this year’s version of the Hue Festival for 2022, promoting its image after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Nguyen Thanh Binh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

The pandemic caused many small and medium travel firms in the province to close and forced many labourers and tour guides to seek other employment. However, with the reopening of the country’s tourism sector and the year-round activities of Hue Festival 2022, the number of visitors to the province increased sharply in April and May and should continue to rise. 

Many businesses are motivated to upgrade facilities and recruit human resources to meet the needs of new business.

Nguyen Thuy Van, owner of Sunny homestay in Hue city’s Vy Da ward took advantage of the lockdown period to upgrade her accommodation, and was ready to welcome guests right away when restrictions were lifted. After tourism was re-opened, her facility has been fully booked on holidays and during events for the Hue Festival 2022.

The provincial Department of Tourism has worked with enterprises to organise a series of interesting events such as Hue Festival Day - Culinary Capital and the Hue Lotus Festival in June.

The hot air balloon festival is upcoming at the end of June, Hue Hip Hop Festival in July and the Hue Lion Dance Festival in September and the Healthcare Tourism Week in November. These activities provide a diverse set of events and a festive atmosphere in Hue.

Travel bloggers, influencers, and key opinion leaders (KOLs) are invited to join the events in a bid to lure more young people to the central province and its historic tourism products and cultural life of locals.

Culinary artist Ton Nu Thi Ha introduces royal dishes. (Photo: VNA)

Nguyen Van Phuc, director of the provincial Department of Tourism (DoT), said it has collaborated with airlines from neighbouring countries to open more flights to bring tourists directly to Thua Thien-Hue.

The department also contacted the Hanoi UNESCO Travel Club to arrange charter trains from Hanoi to Hue city.

Travel firms that bring a large number of travelers to the locality will get local support including a reception event, gifts and traditional art programmes at destinations to create a good impression for tourists, he said.

Challenges

Despite the positive recovery in the province’s tourism sector, numbers are still down compared to the same period in 2018-2019. Most travelers are in small groups or family tours.

The province has welcomed about 600,000 tourists since the beginning of this year, but only 1.7 percent was international visitors.

Despite some of the best tourist attractions, the industry failed to take advantage of revenue from providing accommodation with travelers staying only a few days in Hue city.

According to Phuc, the COVID-19 pandemic has closed several hotels in the area. Other sites have degraded and do not qualify to serve guests, leading to shorter stays with the lack of rooms.

It is necessary for accommodation establishments, travel agencies and tourism enterprises in the province to improve their quality and prepare human resources to welcome tourists, he said.

The provincial Department of Tourism has acted as a "bridge" connecting a number of tourism colleges and vocational training institutions with accommodation service providers to offer support at peak times.

At the same time, the department has also assisted travel firms and hotels to promote information on tours as well as attractive new products for tourists to encourage them to stay longer when coming to the province.

The Hue Festival 2022 is scheduled to take place from June 25-30 with eight major programmes and many sidelines events. The highlight of the festival is an art programme that opens up the festival at the Ngo Mon Square on June 25 night.
The provincial Department of Tourism said about 200,000 tourists are expected to join activities within the festival.

Hue is home to five UNESCO-recognised world cultural heritages. These are the Complex of Hue Monuments (a world heritage site), “Nha nhac” or Vietnamese court music (Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity), the woodblocks of the Nguyen Dynasty (part of the Memory of the World Programme), the imperial archives of the Nguyen Dynasty (part of the Memory of the World Programme), and the Literature on Hue Royal Architecture (part of Documentary Heritage in the Memory of the World Programme)./.