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Duong Long towers - one of Champa cultural heritages in Binh Dinh. |
Building a local “brand name” is the best way to attract tourists, investment, and cooperation. The upcoming Tay Son-Binh Dinh Festival is an opportunity to build the local “brand name”.
* Identifying distinctive features
Any province, more or less, has its own advantages. The issue is that we have to quickly identify distinctive features. Unlike Hue - festival city or Da Lat – flower city, Binh Dinh can only show its advantages through unique cultural values such as Tuong (Vietnamese classical drama), martial arts, bai choi, Champa culture, and the potential of sea tourism.
Binh Dinh hasn’t still, however, taken full advantage of its potential. There isn’t, for example, any strategy to use values of martial arts in the tourism development. Many martial arts villages in Binh Dinh with distinctive cultural values haven’t been fully restored. Some are operating thanks to the effort of several Masters.
Binh Dinh also has many Champa cultural heritages, including citadels, towers, and pottery kilns, but, at present, the restoration only focuses on towers. Similarly, Tuong art includes not only Dao Tan Tuong Theatre but vestiges relating to Dao Tan’s old house, his tomb on Hoang Mai Mountain as well as some amateur Tuong troupes. However, we are now concerned of professional troupes only; meanwhile, it’s amateur troupes which create unique features for Binh Dinh’s Tuong art.
* Tay Son – Binh Dinh Festival: an opportunity
The upcoming festival with many activities, basing on distinctive cultural features, is expected to be a valuable opportunity to introduce Binh Dinh to tourists. The event includes the opening ceremony aiming to introduce traditions, culture, and the development of Binh Dinh, the international festival of Vietnamese traditional martial arts, food and drink and traditional craft village festival, and a poem night.
All will focus on the traditional culture of Binh Dinh, but it still needs an impressive organization to leave a good impression on visitors. Alongside this, it’s necessary to embellish tourism sites, martial arts villages as well as landscapes. Leaflets and publications on vestiges and landscapes should be published and the tour guides must be ready for the festival. The local people’s awareness of landscape and environment protection should also be raised.
According to researchers and experts, a local “brand name” consists of three factors: specialties promotion, tourism promotion, and investment promotion. The 2008 Tay Son-Binh Dinh Festival has to, therefore, partly contribute to build three factors.
Binh Dinh has many well-known specialties, such as Cho Huyen fermented pork roll, girdle cake with coconut milk, and Bau Da wine. Localities from which specialties are made also attract many tourists. But what is done to introduce these specialties hasn’t been effective.
There are also many traditional craft villages in Binh Dinh. But their products haven’t fully showed their distinctive features. Many publications only mentioned Nhon Hau pottery village and Bang Chau bronze casting village in Binh Dinh. Although they also have festivals with intangible cultural value, their products are mainly for the daily use. To enhance the tradition of craft villages, therefore, they need to produce more products used for tourism.
Building the local “brand name” needs the responsibility of the local authorities and the support of people and enterprises. The establishment of Bau Da wine production association is a typical example, effectively helping to build a brand name.
* Not only a festival
A festival will only take place in a couple of days, playing as a highlight; meanwhile, building a local “brand name” needs a long-term plan.
Initially, a long-term strategy and advantages must be identified. Hue city was, for example, recognized as the festival city of Vietnam thanks to its annual big and small events. Other cities and provinces such as Nha Trang, Da Lat, Vung Tau, or Buon Me Thuot have been identifying their unique features. How about Binh Dinh?
The coastal city of Quy Nhon is on its way to build a brand name, but this is difficult if there is nothing for tourists to explore. Binh Dinh is known as the land of martial arts and a land of Tuong art; however, whether its fame will be enhanced or not depends on the investment. Such issues need answers, not only from the upcoming festival.
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