Phu Yen looks to boost tourism

Hundreds of local and foreign scientists, cultural activists and heritage managers met on Saturday in the central province of Phu Yen to discuss solutions to promote tourism in connection with cultural heritage in the central coastal provinces.
At an international seminar held in Tuy Hoa City, participants highly valued southern central coastal region from Da Nang to Binh Thuan for its a strong economy and cultural heritage sites.
They include the Sa Huynh (1,000BC-AD200) and Champa (AD400-1200) cultures; archaeological sites of Go Da, Binh Chau, Dien Son, Binh Tay and Hon Tre; the Khanh Son Stone music instrument, and Cham Heritage Well in Binh Dinh.
Traditional events such as the Cham ethnic group's Kate festival in Ninh Thuan and fish worshipping in Binh Thuan are among the hundreds of special cultural festivities in the region, participants said.
In addition, the region also has beautiful beaches ripe for potential tourism development such as My Khe Beach in Da Nang, Cua Dai and Tam Thanh in Quang Nam, Sa Huynh in Quang Ngai, and Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa, they said.
As a result, tourism has become key economic sector for a number of localities such as Da Nang, Hoi An and Mui Ne, said participants, adding a Heritage Road Tour in the region had achieved initial result.
But participants said that tourism development in the region lacked sustainability.
Nguyen Van Luu, an official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Training Department, said the promotion of Viet Nam, particularly the central provinces should be boosted through magazines, newspapers and cinema.
Participants also expressed their concern about the many valuable cultural heritage sites in the region that have been damaged by war and during urban development.
They said this would seriously threatened cultural values and heritage.
To deal with these problems, participants said relevant agencies and localities should pay more attention to preservation of these cultural values and heritage in the most sustainable way.
"Tourism development should be key and based on this traditional cultural heritage," Luu said, adding that investment should be poured into infrastructure and preservation of these heritage sites while the training of high-quality cultural and tourism personnel should be made as a decisive factor for the tourism development in the region until 2020."
Pham Trung Luong of the Viet Nam Institute for Research and Tourism Development said, " We should be involved in managing sustainable resources and preservation of cultural values and intangible heritage for the community."
Provinces in the region should promote tourism while co-operating with others to boost preservation and tap the local cultural heritage, Luong said.