Tam Chuc tourist area, one of the destinations of Ha Nam that attracts a large number of tourists. Photo: Linh Tam

Lots of potential, lack of breakthrough

Located in the key economic region of the North, close to major tourist destinations of the Red River Delta such as Huong Pagoda (Hanoi), Pho Hien (Hung Yen), Tran Temple (Nam Dinh), Bai Dinh - Trang An (Ninh Binh), Ha Nam has many advantages to develop tourism. The province also possesses rich natural tourism resources, diverse in terrain and geomorphology; from rocky mountain landscapes, caves such as Ngu Dong Son, Luon Cave, Bat Canh Son to a dense system of rivers and lakes with poetic beauty such as the Red River, Day River, Doi Mountain - Chau River, Tam Chuc Lake...

Along with that is the humanistic tourism resource with many outstanding values, demonstrated through the system of 230 ranked relics, including 2 national relics ranked as special national relics (Doi Son Pagoda and Tran Thuong Temple), 95 national relics, 133 provincial relics; 209 folk festivals and more than 40 long-standing traditional craft villages such as Nha Xa silk weaving, Doi Tam drums, Quyet Thanh pottery, Kim Bang carpentry... The above diverse resources are the "springboard" for Ha Nam to develop many attractive types of tourism such as eco-tourism, rural tourism, golf tourism, cultural tourism...

Not only possessing rich potential, Ha Nam also has many opportunities to develop tourism with a qualified tourism infrastructure system. The province currently has more than 200 accommodation establishments with nearly 4,000 rooms, including 3 5-star hotels (including 1 5-star hotel of BRG Group which is in the process of completion). In addition, Tam Chuc Tourist Area will soon become a national tourist area with 12 recognized tourist destinations.

In two consecutive years 2023 - 2024, Ha Nam was honored by the World Travel Awards (WTA) as "World's Leading Local Cultural Destination" and "Asia's Leading Emerging Tourist Destination". With these titles, Ha Nam is determined to maximize its potential, strengths and resources to develop tourism into an important economic sector, making the province an attractive destination with unique and characteristic tourism products.

Turn limitations into development motivation

Despite possessing a lot of potential, Ha Nam tourism seems to have "fallen asleep" for many years. Partly because Ha Nam is rarely remembered because it is "stuck" between major tourist centers in the North such as Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh; partly because in the planning and development strategies of regional and national tourism, Ha Nam is almost ignored. Another equally important reason is that Ha Nam's tourism promotion work is still vague, lacking specific and systematic strategies to bring the image of the land and people of Ha Nam to tourists.

The above reasons make Ha Nam tourism, although the number of visitors has grown rapidly in recent times (in 2023, it welcomed more than 4 million visitors, in the first 9 months of 2024, it welcomed about 4.2 million visitors), mainly attract domestic visitors (accounting for 97% of the total number of visitors). The average length of stay of visitors is short, only 1.3 days. The spending level of visitors is not high because they are mainly domestic visitors traveling for spiritual purposes or visiting historical sites and architectural works. The high-end accommodation system with 3-star hotels or higher only accounts for about 10%, so it has not attracted high-end visitors. Poor and monotonous products are also one of the "disadvantages" that makes it difficult for Ha Nam tourism to attract visitors.

To overcome the above limitations, Ha Nam needs to implement many synchronous solutions. According to Deputy Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research Truong Sy Vinh, Ha Nam needs to invest in developing tourist areas, focusing on eco-tourism and resorts; develop services and facilities for tourists, especially building high-class hotels to attract MICE visitors. Choose to invest in developing 1-2 tourist village models associated with cultural experiences and rural landscapes associated with agricultural production according to the model of the World's Best Tourist Village (Vietnam currently has 2 villages).

As one of the corporations investing in Ha Nam with the expectation of contributing to "awakening" the tourism potential of Ha Nam, Sun Group has been implementing a number of projects. According to the Sales Director of Sun World Group (Sun Group) Tran Nguyen, the corporation has recently invested in the construction of the Sun Urban City Resort Urban Project with a scale of 420 hectares with a total investment of about 35,000 billion VND. The project is developed according to the model of "Suburban Resort City with 1,001 utilities" to create a modern living environment for people and build 5 large parks with different styles and functions, promising to create momentum for the development of local tourism.

With the determination to turn tourism into an important economic sector, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Nam province Truong Quoc Huy affirmed that in the coming time, the province will focus on implementing a number of key tasks and solutions such as continuing to implement approved plans, projects and schemes; focusing resources on building synchronous infrastructure; constantly improving the investment and business environment and enhancing competitiveness, especially building policies and mechanisms to encourage businesses and people to invest in tourism development.

In addition, the province also focuses on market research, developing tourism promotion and advertising programs suitable for each stage and target audience, especially the international tourist market. At the same time, promoting digital transformation, applying science and technology in management, promotion and development of the tourism sector...

Source: hanoimoi.vn