With abundant natural tourism resources, treasures of cultural heritages rich in identity and determination of all levels and sectors, in recent years, Ha Nam tourism has made strong development. In 2023, the total number of tourists to Henan has increased by a record of more than 4.3 million, an increase of 38.87% compared to 2022; Tourism revenue is estimated at VND 3,382 billion. In particular, the successful hosting of many large-scale events has contributed to building a beautiful image of the land and people of Henan in the hearts of each tourist, and at the same time enhancing the position of Henan tourism. With the goal of making tourism an important economic sector, Ha Nam is determined to make the most of its potential, strengths and resources to bring tourism to a new level, building Ha Nam into a safe, friendly and attractive destination with typical tourism products.

The land is rich in potential cultural heritage and natural landscapes

Ha Nam is a province located at the southern gateway of Hanoi Capital, in the Northern Key Economic Region, with a natural area of more than 860 km², with a convenient transportation network connecting with provinces in the region and the whole country, creating favorable conditions for the province to expand exchanges, cooperation with localities and regions. Especially, with its location on the Trans-Vietnam tourist route, Ha Nam has a very important advantage to strongly attract the trans-Vietnamese tourist market and the weekend tourist market of Hanoi as well as neighboring provinces.

Ha Nam's natural tourism resources are quite rich and relatively specific due to possessing many limestone mountains combined with a hot, humid tropical climate, a lot of rain has brought to Henan many unique Karst-like landscapes with famous landscapes such as: Tam Cuc Lake, Ba Hang Lake, Ngu Dong Son, Luon Cave, Zinc Drum, Bat Canh Tien ... In addition, the dense river and lake system with the poetic beauty of the Red River, the Day River, the Chau River along with the typical lowland agricultural ecosystem are unique features, capable of developing tourism.

The land of Ha Nam is also a convergence of many historical values, artistic architecture, religion, folklore beliefs ... Not only playing a great role in educating the patriotic tradition of the nation to young generations today and in the future, historical and cultural relics are also identified as abundant resources for Ha Nam to develop cultural tourism in a sustainable way. According to statistics, the whole province currently has nearly 2,000 monuments of all kinds. In which, 230 monuments are ranked (2 special national monuments, 95 national monuments and 133 provincial monuments). In addition, the whole province has 4 National Treasures recognized as Ngoc Lu Bronze Drum, Tien Noi Bronze Drum, Sung Thien Dien Linh Beer, Rich Pagoda Stelae ...

Along with the treasure trove of tangible cultural heritages, intangible cultural heritages in Ha Nam province are also quite rich and unique. In which, 14 intangible cultural heritages are inscribed on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These are folk performance art of singing Dam Book Son (Thi Son, Kim Bang), Lai Lèn singing dance (Bac Ly, Ly Nhan), singing Drum Quan (Liem Thuan, Thanh Liem); Folk Performing Arts and Social Practices Vietnamese Adoration Rituals in Ha Nam...; traditional handicraft festivals and villages such as: Tran Thuong Temple Festival (Ly Nhan), Lanh Giang Temple Festival, Doi Son Pagoda Festival, Doi Son Naturalization Ceremony (Duy Tien town); Ba Danh Pagoda Festival (Kim Bang), Lieu Duo Martial Arts Festival (Thanh Liem district); Nha Xa silk weaving village, Thanh Ha embroidery, Doi Tam drum making... Not only that, each countryside in Henan land has typical dishes that visitors want to enjoy and buy as gifts, typically such as: Nhan Hau fish stock, bananas of Rhubarb (Ly Nhan); patty rolls, perch cakes (Phu Ly); Vọc wine (Binh Luc), Kien Khe cake (Thanh Liem) and many OCOP products, typical agricultural products and other typical industrial and handicraft products...

Especially, since Tam Chuc Tourist Area - A large complex of spiritual scenic spots with Tam Chuc Pagoda known as the largest pagoda in the world began to open its doors to visitors (in 2019), Ha Nam has become one of the new attractive destinations, attracting a large number of tourists to visit. Up to now, Tam Chuc tourist area has basically met the criteria of a national tourism area with a synchronous system of material and technical facilities, high-quality tourism products, forming a tourist resort brand, making important contributions to the local socio-economic development and together with neighboring tourism clusters to become an attractive tourism center leads of the Red River Delta, the Northeast coast and the whole country.

The system of restaurants, hotels and tourism services is increasingly interested, invested and developed by Ha Nam with increasingly high quality, meeting the requirements of tourists

Improve the quality and diversify tourism products

On the basis of clearly identifying the potentials and advantages of tourism development, closely following the views and directions of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People's Committee, over the past time, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has actively and proactively coordinated with departments, branches and localities to formulate and complete the Master Plan for tourism development of Ha Nam province until 2030, vision to 2050 and planning of tourist zones and attractions. At the same time, focus on investing and upgrading the quality of infrastructure of planned tourist zones and attractions.

Up to now, the whole province has 1 tourist resort, 12 recognized tourist spots; 05 tourist zones and attractions are planned as key tourist zones and attractions. The system of restaurants, hotels, high-class entertainment areas is invested and built such as Muong Thanh Luxury Ha Nam Hotel, Vinpearl Melia Phu Ly, Kim Bang golf course, sports complex in Tuong Linh commune, Kim Bang district. The whole province has nearly 200 tourist accommodation establishments, including 02 hotels of 5-star standard, 09 3-star hotels ... With a total of nearly 4,000 standard rooms and nearly 30 travel and tourist transport enterprises operating stably. The contingent of officials and service staff in tourism business establishments is rapidly increasing in quantity, improving in quality to meet the requirements of tourists.

Walking space associated with commercial and tourism development in Phu Ly City

In the province, a number of typical tourism products have been formed such as: rural tourism products with traditional craft villages: Dai Huang fish stock village, Drum Doi Tam village, Nha Xa silk village... Cultural-spiritual tourism, festivals: Tam Chuc Pagoda, Phi Lai Tibetan Pagoda, Cay Thi Pagoda, Fo Quang Pagoda; Ba Anh Pagoda, Long Doi Son Pagoda, Tran Thuong Temple, Lanh Giang Temple; Shan Dien festival, Tran Thuong Temple salary distribution ceremony, Tam Chuc Pagoda festival ... The opening and operation of the walking space associated with commercial and tourism development in Phu Ly City and Duy Tien town has contributed to creating favorable conditions for visitors to visit and shop; support the development of community-based tourism models and handicraft village products.

Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang (Ninh Binh city, Ninh Binh province) shared: "After more than 10 years, I have the opportunity to visit Ha Nam again. The destination I chose for this trip was: Tam Chuc Pagoda – Phi Lai Tibetan Pagoda – Fo Quang Pagoda – Cay Thi Pagoda. After 2 days of experience at spiritual tourist destinations in Ha Nam, I felt very impressed by the extremely majestic and poetic natural beauty of Tam Chuc Pagoda; the peaceful and tranquil beauty of Phi Lai Tibetan Pagoda, Cay Thi Pagoda.... And especially impressive is the growing tourism infrastructure of Ha Nam, spacious roads, convenient connections between destinations. Each place gives me an experience, a very different and interesting feeling. I will definitely bring my family and relatives back to Henan on the nearest occasion."

Tourist Maya Yamamoto (Japan) shared: "This is my first time to Henan and I am very impressed by the natural scenery, culture and people here. During my visit to Henan this time, I discovered the beauty of Tam Chuc Pagoda, which is known as the largest temple in the world. The scenery here is very majestic and peaceful. When I return to Japan, I will tell my friends about the beautiful scenes in Henan that I have seen. I'm sure I'll be back here..."

In particular, in 2023, Ha Nam Tourism has made a strong breakthrough through the successful organization of a series of unique and attractive cultural, sports and tourism activities at Henan Tourism Culture Week 2023 themed "Ha Nam - Connecting Journey" such as: Opening Ceremony of Henan Tourism Culture Week and Century Traditional Art Exchange Program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan; Fly up Vietnam - Ha Nam Balloon Festival 2023; The launching ceremony of the campaign "The whole people train their bodies following the example of the great Uncle Ho; Cross-country tournament "Run together with Sacombank for public health"; 2023 Henan Provincial Boat Race; Ha Nam Tourism Development Investment Promotion Conference... and many cultural, artistic, tourism and culinary exchange activities such as: Kyogen comedy art performance by artists from Japan; enjoy tea ceremony, water puppet art performance, Vietnam-Japan cultural exhibition... leaving an impression on visitors when returning to Tam Chuc tourist area.

In addition, the successful hosting of many large-scale cultural, tourism and sports activities such as: United Nations Vesak Day - 2019; 2022 Performing Arts Artist Honor; Street Festival- Henan Carnival 2022; 2023 National Festival of Rowing Theatre Arts or Excerpts; National U19 Women's Championship; 2023 National Canoeing Cup Boat Race... has contributed to attracting a large number of people, domestic and foreign tourists to Ha Nam.

With high political determination and many synchronous and drastic solutions, Ha Nam tourism is gradually recovering and showing signs of outstanding growth. In 2022, Ha Nam welcomed more than 3 million visitors, reaching 119% of the year plan. Total tourism revenue is estimated at over VND 2,000 billion, reaching 121% of the year plan. In particular, in 2023, Ha Nam will make a breakthrough to welcome more than 4.3 million visitors, up 38.87% compared to 2022, reaching 115% of the year plan. Tourism revenue is estimated at VND 3,382 billion, up 57.52% compared to 2022, reaching 109% of the year plan.

Overcoming many famous localities in the world for tourism, Henan was honored by the World Travel Awards 2023 for the first time as the "World's Leading Local Cultural Destination 2023". This meaningful award not only affirms the potential, attractiveness of natural resources and cultural heritage values of Ha Nam but also contributes to promoting the image of Ha Nam tourism to international friends, and at the same time affirms the efforts to preserve and promote heritage values of the committee level, authorities at all levels and local people.

Signing of a comprehensive cooperation program agreement between Ha Nam Provincial People's Committee and Vietnam Airlines Corporation (Vietnam Airlines)

Link to travel far

With a favorable geographical location, beautiful landscape, pure people, rich tangible and intangible cultural heritages, Ha Nam province has prioritized investment in monument spatial planning associated with the planning of zones, types, tourist routes, etc build routes linking tourist spots to create attractive tourism products to attract visitors, placing in the tourism link network with the Red River Delta provinces and the whole country. Organize specific surveys and studies to identify each tourist spot (relics) belonging to the itinerary, according to interdisciplinary research methods...

Currently, localities are reviewing, formulating and adjusting plannings for development of valuable historical, cultural relics and craft villages as a basis for attracting investment in tourism development in the direction of linking into intra-provincial tourism-service chains, intercity. At the same time, study and develop a roadmap to link with major tourist focal points of the whole country to promote; cooperate with major travel agencies in exploiting and organizing new attractive tours to the province; combined with key tourist areas of the Red River Delta region to form unique cultural and spiritual tourism axes along main routes such as "Bai Dinh - Trang An - Tam Chuc", "Huong Pagoda - Tam Chuc", the route connecting two national relics, especially Tran Thuong Temple (Ha Nam) and Tran Temple Historical-Cultural Site (Nam Dinh)...

International tourists visiting Tam Chuc tourist area

The tourism promotion and promotion of the province continues to be strengthened. Along with attending festivals, fairs, exhibitions, survey programs, tourism destination promotion conferences ... domestically, last year, the local tourism industry also promoted at the ITB International Tourism Fair in Berlin, Germany; ITE International Tourism Fair - Ho Chi Minh City 2023, Vietnam International Tourism Fair - VITM Hanoi 2023; The 12th Conference on Cooperation between Vietnamese and French localities in Hanoi...

Within the framework of Ha Nam Tourism Culture Week 2023, on May 19, the Conference on Promotion of Investment and Tourism Development of Ha Nam province will be held in Tam Cuc Tourist Area. This is also the opening tourism event of the whole country to implement the Government's Resolution No. 82/NQ-CP on tasks and solutions mainly to accelerate the recovery and accelerate the development of effective and sustainable tourism just signed by the Prime Minister on May 18, 2023 in the direction of "Unique products - Professional services - Convenient procedures, simple - Competitive price - Clean and beautiful hygienic environment - Safe, civilized and friendly destination".

In order to promote connectivity and promotion of Ha Nam tourism on the national tourism map, at this important conference, the signing ceremony of the comprehensive cooperation program agreement between Ha Nam Provincial People's Committee and Vietnam Airlines Corporation (Vietnam Airlines) took place; Tourism development cooperation program between Ha Nam Provincial People's Committee and a number of domestic groups and enterprises providing tourism and travel services. Thereby, contributing to strongly promoting the potentials and strengths of the province; policies to attract investment in the field of tourism service development; attractive features, outstanding values of tourism resources, unique destinations and tourism products, typical to domestic and foreign investors.

Join synchronous and drastic to make tourism an important economic sector

With the vision of turning the locality into a tourism and resort center of the Hanoi Capital Region and the Red River Delta, an attractive destination with a harmonious combination of ecotourism - resort - entertainment - creativity - humanities, Ha Nam aims to 2030, tourism has become an important economic sector, contributing an aggregate of about 10% of the province's GRDP.

In order to develop the tourism industry in line with the mission and expectations, besides continuing to promote the positive results achieved over the past time, it is necessary to create a strong movement of the whole political system, the decisiveness of heads of all levels and especially the active participation of the people. In addition, Ha Nam tourism businesses need to accelerate adaptation to digital transformation to reach potential customers, try new products and services; At the same time, solve problems of human resources, calculate operating costs, save time as well as introduce and promote products, giving visitors attractive experiences.

Along with that, catching up with the opportunity, the whole country is accelerating the recovery and accelerating tourism development, on the basis of implementing provincial planning and continuing to consult leading experts to develop strategies and breakthrough solutions to pave a big road and realize potential, strengths and wings for Ha Nam's smoke-free industry to make a strong breakthrough in the coming time.

Mr. Mai Thanh Chung, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: In order to improve the quality of tourism products, promote fast and sustainable tourism development, by 2030, become an important economic sector of the province, in the coming time, along with promoting the promotion, introduce typical zones, tourist spots, festivals and traditional handicraft villages with great potential in orienting tourism development, Ha Nam will actively participate in tourism fairs, survey delegations, introduce tourist destinations, issue publications introducing zones, etc tourist attractions, effective management and exploitation of Ha Nam tourism website; Tourism portal and smart tourism application in Henan province. At the same time, focus on attracting and calling for investment in the field of ecotourism, resort, investment in the construction of restaurants, hotels, commercial centers, entertainment areas of high scale and quality to improve service quality and meet the demand for food, rest, entertainment, retain tourists to stay with Ha Nam. Localities and enterprises are encouraged to actively organize new tourism activities in accordance with actual conditions and organizational times associated with local and national holidays and anniversaries to form a series of typical events, building a long-term tourism brand of the locality. Strengthen linkages, cooperation in investment promotion and tourism promotion between Ha Nam province and localities of countries in the region such as Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, India... In particular, attaching importance to the training of human resources in the context of tourism, Vietnam will join sectors and fields to participate more and more deeply in the ASEAN Economic Community and localities throughout the country to promote tourism recovery and development after the pandemic.

The year 2023 has just passed with many outstanding marks, marking a great development of the Henan tourism industry. The achievements and results achieved are an important premise and motivation for the province to continue promoting the spirit of solidarity, turning determination into action, creating a breakthrough to bring Ha Nam tourism to a strong rise, gradually creating a new position on the tourism map of Vietnam.