After the merger, Ninh Binh province is facing a major turning point. From a land with many distinct potentials, it has now formed a large tourism space with diverse ecology, culture, terrain, products and human resources. That not only brings breakthrough opportunities, but also poses urgent requirements for vision, planning and new ways of doing things so that the tourism industry can truly become a spearhead economic sector as expected. Ninh Binh tours

New space, new opportunities
The three merged provinces are all part of the Northern Delta cultural space, the cradle of wet rice civilization. Although there are similarities in beliefs, customs, languages and community activities, each locality possesses a separate tourism ecosystem, creating a perfect complement after the merger.

Ha Nam has a semi-mountainous terrain with a typical lowland ecosystem, notably a system of famous landscapes such as Tam Chuc Lake, Ngu Dong Son, Kem Trong, Bat Canh Tien... Besides, there is a huge treasure trove of cultural heritage with a high density of ranked relics: 97 national relics, 2 special national relics, 14 intangible cultural heritages and a series of typical folk festivals such as Tich Dien Doi Son festival, Tran Thuong temple salary distribution ceremony. Traditional craft villages such as Doi Tam drums, Nha Xa weaving, Quyet Thanh pottery, Ngoc Dong rattan weaving... and rustic cuisine such as Phu Ly spring rolls, Nhan Hau braised fish, peanut rice cakes... also contribute to the identity of Ha Nam tourism.

Nam Dinh also owns a 72km long coastline with a typical coastal mangrove ecosystem, especially Xuan Thuy National Park, the first mangrove area in Southeast Asia recognized under the RAMSAR Convention and the core area of the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve recognized by UNESCO. Intangible cultural heritage such as the worship of the Mother Goddess of the Three Palaces, along with a system of special national relics such as Tran Temple, Phu Day, Co Le Pagoda, Hong Quang traditional water puppetry village, Cat Dang lacquerware, Hai Minh mother-of-pearl inlay, etc. make Nam Dinh a "living cultural museum" in the middle of the Northern Delta.

Ninh Binh continues to maintain its position as the "capital of heritage tourism" with a rare karst terrain in the delta, notably the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Vietnam's first mixed heritage recognized by UNESCO. Other famous destinations such as Tam Coc-Bich Dong, Bai Dinh Pagoda , Hoa Lu Ancient Capital, Phat Diem Stone Church, Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Nature Reserve create a rich ecosystem from rocky mountains, tropical rainforests to wetlands. Ninh Binh currently has 379 ranked relics, of which 78 are national relics and 3 are special national relics, the highest number in the region. The merger has expanded the tourism space of the new Ninh Binh to nearly 4,500km2, three times the previous area and extended the coastline from 15km to 87km.

This is an outstanding advantage to strongly develop marine, ecological, resort, and coastal agricultural tourism, which was very limited before the merger. Large space, rich resources, and multi-layered identity will help Ninh Binh not only be a destination, but also become a new tourism growth pole of the Red River Delta region.

The merger of the three localities will be an opportunity for Ha Nam, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh to supplement the advantages of each locality and enrich and deepen the tourism advantages of the new Ninh Binh province after the merger. This is a particularly important factor to develop specific tourism products, create differences and competitive advantages of destinations to develop tourism to truly become an important economic sector, making a more positive contribution to the socio-economic development of the locality.

The tourism sector is currently consulting to re-evaluate the potentials and advantages of culture, heritage... to supplement the orientations for tourism development in the coming time. In the immediate future, the tourism sector will establish inter-provincial heritage axes such as: Trang An-Bai Dinh-Tam Chuc-Tran Temple-Phu Day-Xuan Thuy; at the same time, re-plan national tourist areas such as Trang An, Tam Chuc, Van Trinh-Ken Ga; promote the development of Net Zero tourism products associated with climate change adaptation in the core area of ??Kim Son-Giao Thuy mangrove forest and Cuc Phuong-Van Long National Park.

However, many challenges are being posed to the tourism industry in the transitional period, especially the "old path" of thinking about developing single-route tourism, according to old administrative boundaries, which needs to be eliminated. To have a smokeless industry worthy of being a "spearhead", a comprehensive development strategy is needed, establishing a new role for Ninh Binh tourism in the regional and national planning system. At the same time, the infrastructure connecting the destinations of the three localities needs to be upgraded synchronously to create a seamless and convenient tourism network.

According to Ninh Binh Tourism authorities, a noteworthy issue in the current tourism development process is the risk of fading away Ninh Binh Tourism brands Reaching out in the new era, tourism brands associated with old district-level landmarks. Names such as "Phu Ly", "Kim Bang", "Hoa Lu", "Nho Quan", "Giao Thuy", "Xuan Thuy" ... are not only administrative names but also cultural, historical, and tourist symbols, and the pride of local people. Therefore, the tourism development process must pay special attention to historical and cultural factors... creating a humane and profound story about the lands, thereby creating attractive destinations with high cultural content.

Ms. Mai Huong, a tourist from Hanoi, displayed her feelings after this year's pilgrimage: "In the past, every time we went on a spiritual tour, we often had to travel through many different provinces: from Tran Temple (Nam Dinh), then to Bai Dinh Pagoda (Ninh Binh), Tam Chuc (Ha Nam), Huong Pagoda (Hanoi). Now, it is surprising that most of those destinations belong to one locality, the new Ninh Binh province. This opens up many advantages for both tourists and tourism businesses. I hope that the local government will not only invest in traffic infrastructure, parking lots, and toilets, but also focus on training a team of tour guides who are knowledgeable about beliefs and history to build this spiritual route into a key tourist route in the North, both solemn and civilized, and bringing profound experiences to visitors from all over the world."

Reality shows that although Ninh Binh tourism potential after the merger is huge, to turn the potential into a real competitive advantage, it is necessary to have methodical steps and long-term strategies. Along with investing in infrastructure and strengthening regional connectivity, the local government and tourism industry need to focus on reorganizing tourism spaces across the province, adjusting planning to suit the new stature, while improving management capacity and service quality.

This requires a synchronous development strategy, from applying digital transformation to connect heritage areas, building digital tourism maps and smart electronic ticket systems; to improving the quality of human resources capable of multi-regional interpretation, understanding local culture; at the same time, encouraging conservation and creativity in developing tourism products associated with craft villages, festivals and specific ecology. Only then can Ninh Binh tourism after the merger truly reach new heights in the new era, firmly stepping on the journey to become the center of heritage tourism of the whole country, and further in Southeast Asia.