In recent years, cultural tourism is considered a unique product of developing countries, attracting many international tourists. Cultural tourism is mainly based on cultural products, traditional festivals, or religious traditions to create attraction for domestic and international tourists.
Ninh Thuan is located in the South Central Coast region, and is an important geographic province located on the junction linking the Southeastern key economic region with the South Central and Central Highlands in the chain of Central Coast provinces.
Be a province with a large number of Cham people living in it, Ninh Thuan bears a strong cultural identity of the Cham ethnic people. The culture is expressed in writing, national costumes, architectural art, sculpture, pottery, and brocade weaving. The art of Cham folk and dance has become a valuable heritage of Vietnamese culture. Matriarchy customs of the Cham people is still preserved and handed down to the local people today.
Local peoples’ culture is also a strong point of tourism. In Ninh Thuan, there are mysterious Cham tower architecture associated with the Cham festival and the unique folk music and dance in the sound of Ghinang drum, Baranung musical instrument, Apsara dance; My Nghiep Brocade Weaving Village and Bau Truc Pottery Village own a long tradition. With inherent advantages from natural tourism resources, rich and diverse humanistic tourism resources, Ninh Thuan is famous for its intact system of Cham towers in terms of architecture, sculpture and art preserved to this day.
As of August 8, the province has a total of 149 cultural heritages; including 53 ranked cultural heritages including: 2 special national monuments, 12 national monuments, 35 provincial monuments, 2 national intangible cultural heritages, and 2 provincial intangible cultural heritage. In 2017, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued a Decision to include in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List: “Traditional pottery art of Cham people in Bau Truc Village, Phuoc Dan Town, Ninh Phuoc District, Ninh Thuan Province” and “Kate Festival of the Cham ethnic people in Ninh Thuan province"; Recognizing a special national monument to Po Klong Garai Tower and Hoa Lai Tower. Promoting the accomplished achievements, in 2019, the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Sector of Ninh Thuan province will continue to study and clarify the values of Hoa Lai Tower and Po Klong Garai Towers associated with the Cham tower system in the Central provinces to make a dossier submission to UNESCO for recognition as World Cultural Heritage in the coming years. In particular, coordinating to develop and submit to UNESCO to recognize the Kate Festival as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Ninh Thuan is a land endowed many potentials and advantages for tourism development by nature. It is not only a harmonious picture between the mountains and the sea, retaining the pristine scenery of the sunny and windy areas, Ninh Thuan is also a land of unique Cham culture still preserved to this day... With favorable conditions available, timely attention and guidance from the Provincial Party Committee, People's Committee, and close coordination from all levels, Ninh Thuan has been exploiting and developing tourism in a sustainable manner. The province's tourism development orientations are in a comprehensive direction, making a highly competitive difference, including marine tourism, eco-tourism, cultural tourism and tourism services, focusing on exploiting advantages of pristine landscapes, tangible and intangible cultural heritages, specific products, building typical tourist products of Ninh Thuan, and prioritizing the type of exploring tourism, cultural tourism.
In order to make Cham culture to become a specific tourism product, creating a distinctive feature to attract tourists, the annual organization of the Kate festival has become an destination for visitors who want to learn, experience Cham culture. And just a few more days, Ninh Thuan Kate Festival 2019 will take place in 03 days, from 27-29 of September on a large space from temples, towers to villages and communes. This is an opportunity to attract large numbers of visitors to visit and learn about the unique festival of the Cham people. Particularly in Ninh Phuoc District, Kate Festival takes place at Po Rome Tower and Po Inu Nugar Temple located in Phuoc Huu Commune with a special folk and dance program performed by Cham artisans. In Phan Rang - Thap Cham, Kate Festival will take place at Po Klong Garai tower.
From the middle of 2017 up to now, the Kate Festival and the traditional pottery art of the Cham people in Bau Truc Village were included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism making local tourism industry to flourish. In 2017, Ninh Phuoc District attracted over 100 thousand visitors to visit, increasing 23 thousand compared to 2016; service - tourism revenue reached over 1,872 million VND. In 2018, they attracted over 150 thousand visitors and the revenue reached about VND 2,115 million.
In addition to craft villages, temples, and traditional festivals of the Cham people in Ninh Phuoc District, there are two projects calling for investment as the Nam Cuong Sand Dunes Sports Tourist Area on an area of about 150 hectares with an expected investment capital of VND 700 billions; Cham My Nghiep Cultural Village Tourist Site covers an area of about 25 ha, built with domestic capital. Chairman of People's Committee of Ninh Phuoc District promulgates a plan to implement Resolution 08-NQ/TW, dated January 16, 2017, of the Politburo on tourism development to become a key economic sector. Accordingly, Ninh Phuoc attracts investment resources to build key tours and tourist routes: Bau Truc Pottery Showroom - Ceramic production base - Po Klong Chanh Temple - Po Rome Tower - Po Inu Nugar Temple; My Nghiep Weaving Showroom - Weaving facilities - Po Ly Yak, Cut Temples - Kazan Stone Beach - lotus pond; An Hai green asparagus production area - Nam Cuong Sand Dunes - Ba Moi Vineyard - Phuoc Vinh Sheep Goat Farm - Lanh Ra Lake...
In addition to two traditional craft villages, the Po Klong Garai tower complex is ranked a Special National Monument by the Government, which is also a must-visit destination for visitors to Ninh Thuan. In 2017, Po Klong Garai Tower Remains Area welcomed 123,000 visitors, reaching 130% of the year plan, revenue estimated at over VND 1.7 billion (increasing VND 400 million compared to the same period in 2016). In 2018, Po Klong Garai Tower Remains Area welcomed 140,000 visitors, with an estimated revenue of over VND 2.1 billion. Particularly in the first 6 months of 2019, the Tower Remains Area welcomed 73,333 visitors, the revenue is estimated at VND 1.1 billion.
To obtain the above results, the Monuments Management Board has renovated and put into use many solutions to serve and attract tourists such as: arranging a team of professional guides, providing free explanations for tourists by bilingual Vietnamese-English to visit at the tower; organizing Cham folk performances to serve tourists and investing in electric cars to serve tourists. In addition to exploiting the Kate festival inherent in the tower, the Monuments Management Board cooperated with the Customs Department to organize 4 festivals taking place at the Po Klong Garai Tower Remains: Chabun Festival (worshiping ceremony for the mother goddess of the Cham ethnic country), Peh bi mbeng Yang Festival (ceremony to open the tower’s gate), Yuer yang Festival (island ritual), and Kate Festival... that both preserve, exploit cultural values and attract tourists.
Up to now, Cham people still keep the rituals such as: Ditch opening & embankment ceremony, riverhead blocking ceremony, new harvest ceremony, harvest ceremony, new rice ceremony... Especially, a part of Cham people still live on fishing, the custom of worshiping whales in all coastal provinces today is originated from the beliefs of the Cham people.
Ninh Thuan owns the characteristics of the Cham ethnic community, along with the strong development of tourism activities, especially cultural tourism in the past years, has become one of the factors attracting tourists to visit this land. Cultural tourism is and will be a strong point of Ninh Thuan tourism, a cultural tourism destination that has attracted tourists in recent years./.
