Phu Tho Province's Trade and Tourism Department: Tapping the Advantage of Tours on our Ancestors' Land

Phu Tho Province's Trade and Tourism Department: Tapping the Advantage of Tours on our Ancestors' Land

With an annual growth rate of 15 per cent, tourism has contributed significantly to Phu Tho province's budget revenues. Alongside visitors to historical and cultural relic sites, especially the Hung King Temple, which receives two million visitors each year, investors are seeking their opportunities in Phu Tho province. Tourism has been considered as a stimulus for Phu Tho's economy, helping the province change rapidly for the better. VIB Forum interviewed Nguyen Ngoc An, director of the Phu Tho Department of Trade and Tourism, about the province’s tourism development in the coming time.

 Which advantages does Phu Tho province have to develop all kinds of tourism?

Located in the northwestern region of Vietnam, Phu Tho province has a long history as a land where three rivers, the Thao, Black and Lo rivers, meet. The province is situated between the Ba Vi and Tam Dao mountain ranges, which was a living area of ancient Vietnamese people under the dynasty of the Hung Kings. The province, described as the ‘Land of Ancestors,’ has great potential for developing tourism with its magnificent beauty formed by mountains, rivers, streams and tropical forests. To breathe fresh air, visitors can go to the Ao Chau pond in Ha Hoa district, with an area of 300 hectares. The site, surrounded by mountains, is located 60 kilometres from Viet Tri city in the west. It will become a famous eco-tourist site in the near future. The national park of Xuan Son in Thanh Son district consists of 15,000 hectares of primitive forest and mountains with a height of between 600 and 1,400 metres. The site has 17 caves, in which stalactites form great views. The site is suitable for organising adventure tours. Visitors can go to Thanh Thuy thermal springs to enjoy bathing, which is useful for their health. Also, the province has other cultural value, formed by the Hung King Temple festival, the Phuc Thanh pagoda, and Lau Thuong communal house, together with 1,372 other communal houses, pagodas, temples and tombs. The province is home to many cultural and historical relic sites, which depict the daily life and arts of the Vietnamese people during their country’s construction and defence periods.

It is impossible to mention the Hung King Temple festival, marking the death anniversary of Hung Kings on March 10 lunar calendar, which has attracted many Vietnamese and foreign visitors. To exploit this activity effectively, what will the province do in the future?

We have suggested the development of a tourism plan through 2010 and orientations for 2020 with solutions to effectively exploit the province’s potential, forming concentrated tourist sites based on the advantages of relic sites and the diversification of tourism products.

The complex of the Hung King Temple, believed as the place where the Vietnamese people were born, consists of cultural and archaeological sites, and legends under Hung Kings’ dynasty in the district of Phu Ninh and Lam Thao, and Viet Tri city. The Phu Tho Department of Trade and Tourism has initiated a feasibility project to attract two million visitors. Accordingly, the complex will be built for festivals and ceremonies with areas for incense offering, palanquin procession, banh trung and banh day (cake made of sticky rice, pork and green bean) offerings and folk games. Also, an 18-storey tower will be built, a national park of the Hung King Temple will be established on 538 hectares. Also, the Nui Trang site will be developed on an area of 100 hectares in a model of a tourist village. Visitors can learn about the legends of the Hung Kings’ era, about Lac Long Quan and Au Co, who are believed as the father and mother of the Vietnamese people, Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh and Hung King’s selection of son-in-law in the Van Lang tourist site, built on 113 hectares. This site is also a museum, depicting cultural life of the Vietnamese ancestors. The final destination for the journey to the ‘Land of Ancestors’ is the Ben Got tourist site on an area of 100 hectares. This is a tourism and entertainment area. All these projects will help Phu Tho province to attract more visitors.

These projects need professional investors with huge investment capital. What priority policies will Phu Tho province issue to attract such investors?

To create favourable conditions for tourism to develop means to create a premise for other economic sectors to develop. This is a great necessity for Phu Tho as the province is less advantageous than other localities in terms of geographic and natural resources. Therefore, the authorities in Phu Tho province have always attached importance to attracting investment to tourism. Apart from priorities stipulated by the Government, the province has offered its own priorities, including land rent and tax exemption and reduction. We have implemented a ‘one door’ mechanism, simplifying procedures and creating favourable conditions for investors. As a result, so far, five projects have registered to invest in the Van Lang tourist site with a total capital of over VND 300 billion. The Phu Tho People’s Committee has licensed a Taiwanese company’s building of a five-star hotel with US$5 million in capital in the first phase and the Phu Minh joint venture’s investment of US$4 million the Nui Trang-Phu Ninh site. These are evidence of the province’s commitments sent to investors who want to do business in Phu Tho.

• Reported by Le Hien