Developing tourism associated with new rural construction in Ninh Binh province

These are the great advantages of Ninh Binh in tourism development, which can create differences, unique tourism products, competitiveness and create a unique brand for Ninh Binh tourism. Ninh Binh has been attracting the attention of many domestic and foreign tourists. In particular, with its pristine and unique natural beauty, along with efforts to create unique and attractive tourist destinations and quality tourism products and services, a friendly and hospitable tourism environment, in recent years, Ninh Binh has been continuously ranked high in the voting list of many prestigious international travel websites by domestic and international organizations. In 2020, Trips to Discover (USA) listed Ninh Binh in the list of 14 most attractive destinations in Asia. In 2022, Travel and Leisure Magazine (USA) ranked Ninh Binh in the list of 12 most beautiful filming locations in Asia. In 2023, Ninh Binh won the Traveler Review Award, being the only representative of Vietnam to be in the top 10 friendliest destinations in the world. Forbes magazine (USA) voted Ninh Binh as one of the 23 most worth-visiting destinations in the world. Most recently in 2024, Ninh Binh ranked 4th in the "Top 10 wonders of the world for people who don't like crowds", and entered the "Top 10 most attractive experiences in 2024" announced by TripAdvisor (USA).

Rural tourism is a type of tourism organized in rural areas and regions with a household and small business scale. Rural tourism is an open space, favoring the harmony between people and nature associated with the outstanding characteristics and culture of the region and locality. Rural tourism in Vietnam in general and Ninh Binh in particular is used to exploit cultural values ​​and national identity in the locality. This type meets the needs of tourists to experience many aspects such as: culture, cuisine, spirit, experience, etc. Rural tourism has a strong cultural character, rural lifestyle combined with agricultural production. Rural tourism contributes to improving the quality of sustainable new rural construction by increasing income, creating livelihoods for rural people, promoting the consumption of specialty products... In contrast, the new rural construction program plays an active supporting role in the development of rural tourism in upgrading and perfecting the infrastructure system, ensuring environmental sanitation, preserving and promoting cultural values, traditional craft villages... The main types of rural tourism in Ninh Binh today are agricultural tourism, eco-tourism and community tourism. Rural tourism products focus on the value of rural ecological landscapes, agricultural production activities, traditional cultural values ​​of the area, high-quality rural resort products...

Currently, in the province, there are 77 craft villages recognized by the Provincial People's Committee (including 04 craft villages for processing and preserving agricultural, forestry and aquatic products; 13 craft villages for producing handicrafts, 46 craft villages for producing wooden products, rattan and bamboo weaving, ceramics, glass, textiles, yarn, embroidery, knitting, small mechanics; 11 craft villages for producing and trading ornamental plants; 03 craft villages for services, serving the lives of rural residents). Craft villages can create many unique handicraft products such as: Pottery, sedge, rattan and bamboo weaving, fine art wood, embroidery and lace products... In each tourist area and spot in the province, typical tourist products of each region have been formed and developed. These are stalls selling hand-embroidered products in Tam Coc - Bich Dong Tourist Area; sedge products in Phat Diem Stone Church; Fine art ceramics, embroidery stalls in Hoa Lu Ancient Town, Bai Dinh Mountain Pagoda Spiritual Tourism Area... However, the market for traditional handicraft products as souvenirs in our province has not developed commensurate with the inherent tourism potential. The reason is that craft village tourism has not really developed, people in craft villages have not paid attention to building typical tourism products to create brands and sustainable competitive advantages. Some products are on sale but their designs, sizes are bulky, difficult to transport or high prices... do not meet the needs and tastes of tourists.

Ninh Binh countryside is transforming, becoming livable countryside, unique and different identity values, own characteristic products are being promoted, spread, forming destinations for community tourism, rural tourism, experiential tourism, attracting tourists every time they come to Ninh Binh. The rice fields, flower fields, pineapple hills, ... of Ninh Binh all have advantages to develop tourism; In addition to the famous Tam Coc rice fields, Ninh Binh has many fields that are implementing farming models that attract the attention of domestic and foreign tourists to visit and take photos, such as the Dong Giao pineapple field stretching as far as the eye can see between the overlapping mountain ranges, an ideal place for those who love to explore in the summer from May to August, Ninh Phuc flower field with many species of flowers competing to show their colors and fragrances, Dong Son Tam Diep peach flower village is full of peach blossoms every spring, ... Ninh Binh province's OCOP products are standardized and developed from the unique products of traditional craft villages, from unique and endemic agricultural products, from traditional rural occupations, ... Deeply imbued in Ninh Binh OCOP products are the historical values, cultural identity, and traditions of Ninh Binh countryside; Ninh Binh OCOP products include community tourism products, eco-tourism (Van Long Gia Vien tourism service, Hang Mua Hoa Lu tourist area, Quen Tho Tam Diep community tourism), culinary products for tourists (goat meat, burnt rice, Tong Truong perch floss, shrimp paste, etc.), health care products (Cuc Phuong yellow flower tea, Solanum procumbens, essential oils, etc.), and are also the choice of tourists when buying as gifts (bodhi leaf paintings, sedge handicrafts, Bo Bat pottery, etc.). Developing tourism in rural areas is a suitable way to promote the economy, contributing to preserving and conserving the good traditional values ​​of the indigenous people. Rural tourism is of interest to the province, especially through the Specialized Program on Rural Tourism Development in New Rural Construction.

However, there are still many difficulties in developing this model sustainably. Rural tourism is mainly small-scale, provided by businesses, households, and cooperatives. The rural tourism organization model is mainly spontaneous, developing from simple services such as visiting farms, renovating garden houses into places for guests to rest, not professional, not forming attractive tourist destinations, and not having a comprehensive policy for rural tourism development at the national level.... Although some rural areas have paid attention to the environmental landscape, the problem of environmental sanitation, water and air pollution still occurs and has not been completely resolved. Infrastructure planning and human resource infrastructure for rural tourism development are almost non-existent. Management mechanisms and policies for rural tourism models and ensuring the linkage of rural tourism chains associated with travel companies still have many loopholes. The process of developing rural tourism is still slow and has not achieved results commensurate with the potential and advantages of the localities; there is still a lack of orientation and specific planning for advantageous areas of rural tourism development. Propaganda and promotion work does not have a clear strategy; tourism businesses have not paid much attention to this type of tourism, and investment in rural tourism is still limited.

To link tourism development with the new rural construction program in the coming time, developing rural tourism in Ninh Binh province with the characteristics of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, at the same time meeting the goal of preserving, conserving and developing rural identity of the Ancient Capital Heritage and in line with the province's orientation to build Ninh Binh to basically meet the criteria of a centrally-run city before 2030 and become a Millennium Heritage City. and become a centrally-governed city by 2035, it is necessary to focus on implementing the following tasks and solutions:

Firstly, implementing rural tourism development planning in sync with new rural construction planning. Spatial planning for rural tourism development needs to be associated with regional and local ecological characteristics, focusing on preserving cultural and historical values. Rural tourism development in Ninh Binh aims to exploit creativity, cultural differences, and ecological landscapes to create new products suitable for the market. In particular, it is necessary to focus on exploiting the tourism value chain based on linking with related industries, professions, and services to provide diverse experiences, attract, increase spending, and extend the length of stay of domestic and foreign tourists, etc. At the same time, develop ancillary services to support tourism, linking rural tourism infrastructure development with climate change response and environmental protection.

Second, promote, advertise, and raise awareness of rural tourism; diversify and innovate forms and content of rural tourism communication on digital technology platforms, communicate, and promote rural tourism products at fairs and exhibitions. Change the mindset, knowledge, and actions of Party committees, authorities, officials; organizations, individuals doing tourism business; people, communities, and tourists on sustainable rural tourism development in building new rural areas. Foster, train, and improve, and develop local human resources for tourism.

Third, mobilize, integrate and effectively use resources for rural tourism development; including: increasing the mobilization of social resources, funding from international cooperation organizations, investment from enterprises, agricultural cooperation organizations, contributions from the community and other legal sources for rural tourism development. Encourage and attract investment in rural tourism development in different locations and environments (forests, nature reserves, coastal areas, etc.) according to the provisions of law to create a stable source of revenue from tourism activities to reinvest in the protection of tourism resources.

Fourth, encourage and call for initiatives, ideas, projects, and creative start-up models in the fields of agriculture and handicrafts associated with rural tourism; solutions to connect markets and effective marketing for rural tourism; Develop and standardize rural tourism products to be evaluated, classified, and recognized as OCOP products. Promote innovation, organize competitions for ideas related to rural tourism; Organize provincial-level rural tourism awards. Organize festivals (especially folk culture festivals, festivals of specialty products, characteristics, etc.), and tourism connection activities between regions.

Fifth, regional linkage and promotion of rural tourism products. Strengthening the sharing, exchange of information and coordination among provinces, relevant sectors and fields to implement synchronous and effective rural tourism development activities and to learn and exchange experiences in rural tourism management and development (especially tourism associated with nature conservation, responsible tourism, risk management and adaptation, etc.). Seeking technical support and implementation resources from international organizations in Vietnam for rural tourism projects and programs associated with the community and ecological environment protection; linking human resource training for rural tourism. Building a network of rural tourism partners to serve investment connection and tourism supply and demand information connection.

Sixth, linking rural tourism development with the national target program for new rural construction - Standardizing community tourism sites according to the criteria of the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program. In addition, each region has its own strengths in terms of landscape, culture, history, people, cuisine and especially with rich and diverse agricultural products but with local strengths and regional specialties. Develop a project to develop community tourism services associated with new rural construction, aiming to re-plan tourist sites in a unified whole, linking together to develop based on natural tourism resources, culture and indigenous values ​​in villages, hamlets and hamlets. Promote the strengths of stakeholders in project development to ensure effective implementation and sustainable tourism development.

Developing rural tourism is an urgent need to develop rural areas to reduce social stratification, promote the rural economy, and reduce migration from rural to urban areas. To do this, there are still many things that need to be solved. It is necessary to further promote the new rural development program as well as the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program with a group of community tourism products and services and tourist destinations based on promoting the intrinsic values ​​of the community, cultural identity, and typical landscapes of the region as a premise for developing rural tourism. People play an important role in preserving and promoting cultural beauty, customs, and beliefs, so when developing tourism here, it is necessary to closely link with the local cultural foundation. The most important solution for developing rural tourism is to raise awareness and capacity for local people in building a community tourism development model in potential localities. Promoting the role of the community as the subject to participate in building tourism products, they participate in managing and operating the community tourism model. Besides, there should be steps to preserve natural landscapes, promote indigenous cultural heritage to become an ideal destination, especially for people from urban areas who want to experience precious time immersed in nature. To do this, in addition to the efforts of the local people, policies must also be built to ensure consistency to encourage disadvantaged localities to have the best development plans.