Preserving the cultural heritage of the people in coastal areas.
(Baonghean)Cua Lo is gradually transforming into a vibrant and youthful seaside tourist town. In particular, over the past 10 years, the "Building and Developing Cultural Life" project has significantly contributed to preserving and promoting the valuable traditional cultural values of local communities, fostering a new cultural dynamic in the communication and behavior of the people in Cua Lo, a seaside tourist town.
Mr. Hoang Van Thao's family has been running a tourism business on Cua Lo beach for over 10 years. Every year, at the start of the tourist season, he and his family members renovate their kiosks, plant more trees to provide shade, and create a clean and beautiful environment to attract more visitors. To prepare for the 2012 tourist season, he and some friends gathered to discuss plans for the new season. After discussing their experiences, they concluded that besides creating a clean and green environment and ensuring food safety, they also needed to create a positive impression through attentive, friendly, and hospitable service.
Cua Lo is one of the attractive tourist destinations chosen by both domestic and international tourists, especially during the summer. What makes tourists feel safe and comfortable when they come here is the open and attentive service attitude of the people of Cua Lo. This has also contributed to Cua Lo's tourism revenue reaching over 900 billion VND in 2011, making a significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the town, bringing Cua Lo's annual growth rate to over 19%, attracting more and more tourists. In 2002, Cua Lo only welcomed 530,000 visitors, but by 2011, it had welcomed more than 2.1 million visitors.
Achieving such results is the culmination of a concerted effort by all levels of government, relevant departments, and the people in raising awareness about tourism culture. Ten years ago, street vending, harassment, and persistent soliciting of tourists were common occurrences in the beach area. Faced with this situation, the town's leaders implemented several important solutions to rectify tourism activities in the area, prioritizing the creation of a positive image and cultured behavior in tourism business and within the community. Changing the mindset and practices of the people of Cua Lo was no easy task. However, through perseverance and hard work, during each tourist season, local cultural officials directly visited residential areas to advise, guide, and emphasize the importance and true value of building a cultured image and behavior in business and daily life. In addition, every year, before each tourist season, Cua Lo Town conducts training on cultural etiquette for those involved in the tourism business. In particular, the town has introduced the "5 No's" policy for people to follow, creating a strong transformation among all segments of the population.
Besides promoting and raising people's cultural awareness, Cua Lo also focuses on community activities and investing in infrastructure to serve the spiritual life of the people. Every year, the town organizes 15 to 20 large-scale cultural and artistic events, attracting thousands of local and international visitors. The movement to build culturally exemplary families, villages, and units is also enthusiastically supported by the people. The construction of infrastructure serving spiritual life is socialized. Currently, all 71 blocks in Cua Lo town have built spacious and clean cultural centers, and village roads and alleys have been concreted thanks to the active contributions of the local people.
To further improve the spiritual life of the people and develop culture in accordance with the actual conditions of Cua Lo town, with the goal of "Building Cua Lo into a green, clean, beautiful, prosperous, and civilized city," the People's Committee of Cua Lo town has developed the "Project on Building and Developing the Cultural Life of Cua Lo Town in the period 2011-2015" based on the achievements of the past. Mr. Vo Van Tho - Head of the Culture and Information Department of Cua Lo town, said: "The People's Committee of Cua Lo town will implement the project specifically for all wards and require the wards to have a plan to implement this project in the next phase, assigning responsibility to the wards to implement it down to the neighborhood level so that this project is ingrained in every family, neighborhood, community, and residential area; and continue to have policies to invest in cultural institutions at the grassroots level."
In just over a week, Cua Lo will officially open its 2012 beach tourism season. Even now, the people of Cua Lo are actively preparing for a successful new season. Building and preserving the unique cultural characteristics of the coastal people is creating significant progress in sustainable tourism development.
My Hanh
