Thua Thien-Hue should tap cultural heritage for growth: PM

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visits Hue University (Photo VNA)

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has advised the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to turn tourism into a spearhead sector to spur its economic development by tapping historical and cultural heritage of its former imperial Hue city.

The leader had a working session with the provincial authorities on January 2 during his working visit to the locality.

Hue itself should focus on tourism, services and economic linkages as its breakthrough fields, he said, asking it to use information technology intensively in managing heritage and developing tourism.

The city needs to develop a professional tourism ecosystem that can work to entice visitors to stay in the city longer as their longer stay generates more incomes, he reasoned.

It should speed up the mobilization of all resources, especially from the private sector to invest in transport, tourism, healthcare, industry, and others while paying greater attention to protecting the ecology, culture and security to deserve its status as the festival city, he noted.

The PM asked the province to devise a concrete action plan to implement resolutions of the Party Central Committee, especially the Government’s Resolution No.01 under the motto “discipline, uprightness, action, creativity, and efficiency”. 

Hue, which was the imperial capital of Vietnam for hundreds of years, is home to five heritages recognised by UNESCO, namely the Hue ancient citadel relic complex – a World Cultural Heritage site; Nha Nhac (Hue royal court music)- an intangible cultural heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty’s wood blocks – a documentary heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty’s Chau ban (royal administrative documents) – part of the Asia-Pacific Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme; and literature on Hue royal architecture - a documentary heritage.

In 2017, the total budget collection in Hue reached 6.772 trillion VND (297.96 million USD). The total number of tourist arrivals to the ancient imperial city rose 16 percent to 3.8 million. However, the growth has yet to match its potential.

Participants pointed out the city’s limitations such as low competitive tourism products, small travel agencies, low capacity of Phu Bai airport, and unattractive, small and short-day tourism events.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien suggested building modern art performance centres and malls that keep visitors to stay longer and spend more in the city.

Meanwhile, Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said Thua Thien- Hue needs to hire foreign consultants to devise a local tourism master plan and add more new tourism products.

On the occasion, he made a fact-finding tour to the province’s public administrative centre and visited and presented gifts to Heroic Mothers Nguyen Thi Huong and Nguyen Thi Hiep.

VNA