With many beautiful heritage sites and grandiose mountains along with long-standing cultural characteristics of ethnic minorities, Ha Giang has huge potential for tourism development. Ha Giang has 38 ranked cultural - historic relics and scenic sites. Of these, there are 19 national heritages, 14 provincial heritages and 05 heritages inscribed on the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Situated in the centre of a stone plateau, Dong Van district possesses the most ranked heritages with 4 national heritages in which a national archaeological relic and scenic site in the area of Brachiopod fossils at Ma Lé Communehas just been recognized and four provincial relics, two National Intangible Cultural Heritages, namely the sacred Forest God Sacrificial Ceremony of the Pu Peo people and the ancestral worship of the Lo Lo people
With tremendous vitality, cultural features of ethnics in Ha Giang are promoted and passed through the generations, making specific cultural characteristics available only in Ha Giang such as Fire Jumping Festival of Pa Then people; Gau Tao of Mong people and Quynh Hen of Dao people along with Then songs of Tay people. Besides, the existence of special traditional costumes and handicraft trade villages also enriches travel picture on the northernmost land.
Human cultural heritages are expressed through folk festivals of the Pa Then, Mong, Dao, Pu Peo, Giay, and Lo Lo, and folk dances, traditional festivals, brocade and flax products.
Currently, Ha Giang has put special importance on the development of community tourism, experiential tourism with activities like straw piling, flax weaving, and ploughing.
Regarding direction for tourism development in Ha Giang, travel agencies are applying common tourism types such as offering customers chances to engage in farming activities, experience routine activities of local people, introducing them customs of localities. Currently, the community tourism is gradually expanding in Dong Van, Meo Vac district and it attracts an increasing amount of visitors.
In order to find out solutions for the tourism development and local cultural heritage conservation, Ms Trieu Thi Tinh, Deputy Director of Ha Giang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: "We coordinated with the steering committee of Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark and localities to enhance conservation management and promote values of local cultural historic relics. We have regularly campaigned to authorities and people of communes and towns to preserve and effectively exploit relics, especially the national archaeological relics and beauty spots in the area of Brachiopod fossils at Ma Lé Commune, Lung Cu Flag Tower, Old Town. At the same time, we are committed to facilitating scientists to conduct studies.", Lung Cu Flag Tower, Old Town. At the same time, we are committed to facilitating scientists to conduct studies."
Ms Tinh also stated that in order to continue preserving and promoting values of cultural-historic relics, beauty spots as well as ethnics’ culture in districts, local committees and authorities should pay more attention to the management of historic relics and scenic sites in accordance with Cultural Heritage Law and the Ordinance on Belief and Religion. Ha Giang will establish a monument management board and set up specific regulations on guiding visitors; prohibiting taking advantage of relics for illegal activities; at the same time, the province also care more about tourism investment, monument embellishment. It would be more effective to combine specific measures to conserve and promote the above values.
Thanh Nga
Vietnamese
