The Na Hang reservoir (Photo: VNA)
Tuyen Quang (VNA) – More than 1.8 million tourists visited the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang in the first six months of 2023, meeting 72.9% of the province’s yearly plan and showing a 44.2% increase year on year.
According to the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the most-visited tourism sites include the Tan Trao special national relic site (Son Duong district), Ho Chi Minh Temple (Tuyen Quang city), Na Hang – Lam Binh scenic site and community tourism sites in Lam Binh and Na Hang districts.
Tourism activities in the period generated nearly 2.1 trillion VND (88.1 million USD) in revenue, up 68.4% from the same period last year and equal to 69.5% of the yearly plan.
To appeal to tourists, Tuyen Quang has organised a series of events since the beginning of the year. Prominent among them are the opening programme for the Tuyen Quang Tourism Year 2023 along with a ceremony to receive the 2022 Asian Townscape Awards bestowed on the local Nguyen Tat Thanh Square, and the second international hot air balloon festival. The province also participated in a tourism promotion programme held by the eight northeastern provinces in Ho Chi Minh City.
At the same time, Tuyen Quang also invested in developing new tourism products with local characteristics such as rowing raft while listening to Then singing on Na Nua lake in Tan Trao special national relic site, adventure tours combined with riding hot air balloon, cave exploration, and seasonal events like pear flower or ripe rice festivals.
The province has defined tourism as an important economic sector, and will focus efforts on tourism types that it has strength in, such as cultural-festival-spiritual tourism, resort, health tourism, and sport-adventure tourism.
Tuyen Quang aims to attract at least 2.5 million visitors and earn 3 trillion VND in total tourism revenue this year. It hopes to welcome more than 3 million visitors and generate 4.8 trillion VND from tourism in 2025.
Tuyen Quang province is home to a great number of historical and cultural relic sites, including Tan Trao historical site that was once the home of President Ho Chi Minh and the Party central agencies before the success of the August Revolution and in the resistance war against the French colonialists. Among the three national special relic sites is the Na Hang-Lam Binh Nature Reserve that is dubbed the on-land Ha Long Bay with green mountains, impressive caves and waterfalls and primitive forests. Both the Na Hang-Lam Binh and Tat Ke-Ban Bung Nature Reserves in the province are well-known for thousands of flora and fauna species.
As the home of 22 ethnic groups, the province is famous for two UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, including Then - a type of performance combining literature, music and dance - of the Tay, Nung and Thai, and the festival honoring Mother Goddesses - the heaven, water and mountains and forests goddesses - at the Thuong, Ha and Y Lan temples in the province. The province is also rich in festivals such as the annual Tuyen Quang city festival (or Tuyen Quang Mid-Autumn Festival), Nhay lua (fire jumping), the crop-harvesting festival of the Pa Then, and Long tong (going to the fields) of the Tay.
Tuyen Quang has six traditional craft villages famous for tea, weaving, wine and bamboo and rattan products. The most prestigious are Minh Quang bamboo conical hat village, Lang Can brocade weaving village and Son Duong tea village. Shan Tuyet tea is also another specialty of the province.
Tourism is expected to become an important sector, according to the provincial plan on tourism development through 2025, with a vision toward 2030./.
