Da Nang has a target of 2030 for sustainability in cultural industry with a focus on promoting the development of the sector in a diverse and synchronous manner, thereby boosting the city’s presence with full integratation into global production chains in cultural products and services, as well as contributing to increasing employment opportunities and meeting the needs of local residents for creativity, enjoyment and consumption of cultural goods and services, driving the city’s economic growth.

Socialization practices in cultural activities and events help maximise the city’s resources for cultural industry development and increase businesses’ engagement in the sector. Photo: X.D

Da Nang has great potential in developing cultural and spiritual tourism, along with festivals. Therefore, over recent years, the cultural sector has paid attention to relics, communal houses and festivals in a bid to boost the revenue of the city’s economy. Importance has been attached to developing tours and tourist routes connecting with UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Central Viet Nam, as well as organising traditional festivals in order to preserve and promote the value of historical relics and riverside traditional craft villages, especially on the Han River - K20 Revolutionary Base route, the Han River - Tuy Loan - Thai Lai route, and the Cu De River waterway route.

Besides, heed has been paid to developing projects to promote the value of relics associated with tourism development, including ‘Preserving and promoting the value of Lo Giang Communal House’ in Cam Le District, ‘Nam O community-based tourism development’ in Lien Chieu District. Furthermore, the city has offered an array of exciting art programs such as the ‘Vietnamese soul’ traditional arts show of Nguyen Hien Dinh Tuong (classical drama) Theater, outdoor classical drama performances, Bai Choi performances (a traditional Vietnamese game combining folklore singing and picks from a deck of card) to serve local people and tourists. Initially, a number of art programs have shown great potential to promote the development of the cultural industry in the city.

In particular, cultural tourism is gradually becoming one of the key economic setors, and it is identified as a prioritized sector for driving the city’s development. A number of relics are attractive and inviting to tourists, and they are driving forces of the city’s socio-economic development. In 2019, the Marble Mountains Tourist Site welcomed more than 2 million visitors, earning in more than 83 billion VND in revenue, and Dien Hai Citadel - Da Nang Museum with more than 330,000 visitors.

In 2022, this must-see place in the city received a combined total of 681,566 visitors, including 112,036 foreigners. In November 2022, ‘Ma Nhai’ (Inscriptions) in ancient Nom and Han Chinese characters on the Marble Mountains in Da Nang was recognised by UNESCO as part of documentary heritage in the Asia - Pacific region. It's also the first UNESCO-recognised world heritage of Da Nang, affirming that the city is not only an economically developed locality, but also a locality with a long history and culture. This is an important premise for this tourist site to attract more tourists, bringing in revenue from this world cultural heritage.

Referring to the cultural industry development, it is impossible not to mention regional and international events and festivals which have taken place in the city over recent years. In 2008, Da Nang was the only one locality in the country to organize the International Fireworks Festival (DIFF) with funding from socialization sources. The festival has taken place in the city ten times. DIFF and its ancillary components have brought the social and economic benefits to the city, promoting the development of the city’s infrastructure system, attracting more tourists and inspiring them to extend their stay in the city.

Hence, Da Nang has created its sucessful and unique cultural tourism product through the organisation of DIFF which has distinct characteristics, contributing to developing the city’s brand to help in increasing the status of the city as a tourist destination. Following the latest decision from the Da Nang government, DIFF will return in 2023 after three years off due to COVID-19. The festival has had to be cancelled because of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020 but it will be brought back and will be held from June 3 to July 8, 2023 with an estimated cost of about VND 150 billion VND. In addition, DIFF 2023 and its ancillary components promise greater things with a performance of grandeur and scope plus unique quality.

Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Culture and Sports Ha Vy highlighted the significance of Prime Minister-approved strategy to develop Viet Nam's cultural industry to 2020 with a vision to 2030 for the renovation process and socio-economic development of the country, and the city in particular, at the present and in the future.

In early 2023, the Da Nang government issued a plan to develop society and culture associated with economic development with a focus on building civilized and friendly Da Nang people, laying a strong foundation for building a peaceful and liveable city, forming its own identity values, in line with the traditions, history and culture of Da Nang in the 2022-2030 period. Da Nang has a target of 2030 for developing the cultural industry and giving high priority to promoting the development of industries having massive potential advantages, especially the cultural tourism industry, as the city identifies tourism as one of the key economic sectors in order to make it an event city.

Moreover, importance will be attached to promoting the use of new technologies in a number of key industries in an effort to create quality cultural products that can enter into international markets. Besides, cultural industry development will go hand in hand with building and perfecting the cultural market across all fields, thereby promoting the development of service industries, contributing to outpacing the city’s economic growth and creating more jobs through developing diverse and quality cultural goods and services in an attempt to meet the demands for cultural creativity, enjoyment and consumption from local people.

Reporting by XUAN DUNG – Translating by H.L