Promoting potential

In the beginning of the new spring, Tuyen Quang’s temples and pagodas were the favourite destinations of many tourists. A bustling atmosphere was recorded at the temples and pagodas across the province, with caravans of travel agencies from Hai Duong province, Hanoi, and Hai Phong city taking visitors to Tuyen Quang for spring sightseeing tours. Nguyen Van Hai, a tourist from Hai Duong city, Hai Duong province, said that he goes to Tuyen Quang temples every year to pray for a lucky and successful year. The attractiveness of Tuyen Quang’s spiritual tourism is the system of Mother Goddess worshiping temples that forms tours and routes associated with other types of tourism such as festivals, ecotourism and resort.

Spiritual tourism activities mainly thrive in the city with a system of Mother Goddess worshiping temples. There are 30 spiritual relic sites, including 14 Mother Goddess worshiping temples, in Tuyen Quang city and its suburban areas. Each district has spiritual relic sites, but the development of spiritual tourism in these relics has yet to receive adequate attention. As the home to many well-known spiritual tourist sites, such as Ha (Lower) Temple, Kiep Bac Temple, Y La Temple, Thuong (Upper) Temple, and Cam Temple, Tuyen Quang city has become a spiritual tourist area with great attractiveness to tourists. In addition, there are also some famous relics in other districts, including Minh Luong Temple (Yen Son), Bac Muc and Thac Cai Temples (Ham Yen), Thac Cai Temple in Ham Yen, Bach Than Temple (Chiem Hoa), and Pac Ta and Pac Vang Temple (Na Hang).

Buddhists and tourists are making their pilgrimage to Hang Pagoda. Photo: Hoang Minh

Many spiritual tourism routes have been formed in Tuyen Quang, such as the Mother Goddess worship spiritual tourism route in Tuyen Quang city, which starts from Trinh Temple to Ha (Lower) Temple, Thuong (Upper) Temple, Cam Temple, Canh Xanh Temple, and Mo Than Temple and to routes outside the city. In addition, there are spiritual tourism routes to Chiem Hoa - Na Hang; from Tuyen Quang city to Minh Luong Temple, Bach Than Temple and Pac Ta Temple; and from temples in the city to Minh Luong Temple, Bac Muc Temple, Thac Cai Temple and Thac Con Temple.

The province also has many ancient relics, including Phat Lam Pagoda (Yen Son) dating back to the early period of the Tran dynasty, alongside some relics dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Huong Nghiem Pagoda (Tuyen Quang city) and Minh Can Temple (Yen Son), and many other relics built in the 18th century, comprising of An Vinh Pagoda, Thuong (Upper) Temple, Ha (Lower) Temple, Song Linh Temple (Tuyen Quang city), and Gieng Tanh village temple (Yen Son), which have become attractive tourist destinations. Along with the interest in restoration and renovation of monuments, the province has developed a synchronous system of accommodation and culinary facilities to create the best conditions for tourists to Tuyen Quang to visit and enjoy the spring.

Tuyen Quang currently has 288 accommodation establishments with 2,946 rooms and 4,116 beds, including 37 one-star and two-star hotels, and one four-star hotel, notably Muong Thanh Grand Tuyen Quang, Lavender, Royal Palace and Mai Son. There are more than 200 large-scale dining restaurants across the whole province to meet the needs of visitors.

Development orientations

Dr. Tran Huu Son from the Institute of Applied Folklore Studies, under the Folk Arts Association of Vietnam, affirmed that Tuyen Quang holds many potentials and advantages in developing spiritual tourism because the province has long been a destination of many pilgrims. Many of the province’s festivals have become part of the spiritual and cultural life of both locals and visitors. Currently, the Institute of Applied Folklore Research is cooperating with the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop a project on spiritual tourism development in the province. Through the project, Tuyen Quang will be offered consultations in terms of orientations and solutions for local spiritual tourism development in the future, including orientations for the development of tourism products, rearranging and reorganising relic management boards, promoting and advertising relic sites, policy mechanisms, tourism development investment, and connection in developing spiritual tourism.

Tourists making a pilgrimage to Thuong (Upper) Temple in Trang Da commune, Tuyen Quang city.

The Institute of Applied Folklore Studies has carried out an assessment of visitors to Tuyen Quang on the occasion of the new year and festivals, mainly from Hanoi and the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, Phu Tho, Nam Dinh and Hai Duong. Most of the tourists were domestic people, while international arrivals were limited, with only a few businesses taking foreign visitors to Tuyen Quang. This is also a problem exposed to the province’s spiritual tourism, because the success in attracting international tourists will result in a sharp increase in tourism revenues. Therefore, the Institute of Applied Folklore Research is working with the Tuyen Quang provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to design development plans, in which the forecasted growth of the local spiritual tourism is specifically calculated and researched, thence striving to achieve targets, such as an increase of 12-15% in tourist revenues for 2019, 48-55% for 2020 and 35-40% for 2025.

The trend of spiritual tourism will continue to be developed, because in addition to spiritual values, spiritual tourism products work to preserve traditional culture. The combination between the cultural and spiritual elements creates an attraction for visitors to learn about and explore. In the future, Tuyen Quang will continue to strengthen the advertising and introduction of its outstanding spiritual sites to domestic and foreign tourists in an effort to maximise the advantages of this type of tourism. Besides, the province will support and invest in embellishing the relics, aiming to meet the sight-seeing needs of visitors.