With many natural, cultural heritages and rich history, Vietnam has manydestinations to attract tourists. The tourism industry needs to workout suitable strategies to tap tourism potential, the Vietnam BusinessForum Magazine (VBF) reported.

In addition to 21 World HeritageSites, Vietnam has more than 40,000 monuments and landscapes, of whichmore than 3,000 monuments are rated national values and more than 5,000sites are rated provincial values. Many of them are attractive touristdestinations.

Remarking on the importance of heritages to tourismdevelopment, Mai Tien Dung, Deputy Director of the Department ofCulture, Sports and Tourism of Hanoi, said Hanoi has the most WorldHeritages like Ca Tru singing, Van Mieu- Quoc Tu Giam Stone Stele, ThangLong Royal Citadel and Giong Festival. Tourism development is necessaryto bring heritage values to domestic and international people. Only bydeveloping tourism, can these valuable heritages be preserved andmaintained.

Local tourism authorities have organised manyconferences and seminars on tourism connectivity to create uniquetourism products to visitors. Typical connectivity programmes include“Travel to the roots” between Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho provinces;“Central heritage itinerary" between Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang and QuangNam, “Tourism triangle” between Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh.However, these connection programmes are not very effective.

HaQuang Long, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism ofQuang Ninh province said Vietnam quickly agrees on policies butmeasures and methods for implementation are one of disadvantages oflocalities in coordination programme. Hence, many programmes are onlygood to policymaking. It is necessary to turn common perceptions intospecific actions.

In addition, connecting heritages in thecentral region shows that provinces and cities in the region have manysimilar tourism products. All localities have sea festivals and exploitWorld Heritages and their tourism products are not uniquely attractiveto tourists. Le Huu Loc, Chairman of People's Committee of Binh Dinhprovince, said each locality should create its own unique tourismproducts in addition to common tourism products of the region. Forexample, Binh Duong province will develop cultural tourism, historicaltourism and ecological tourism to create more unique tourism products.

Ina recent meeting in preparation for National Tourism Year 2015 - ThanhHoa province, themed "Connecting Legacies," tourism connection became ahot topic of discussion. However, according to tourism authorities, itis very difficult to connect two World Heritage Sites in Ninh Binhprovince and Thanh Hoa province: Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex andHo Dynasty Citadel. Duong Thi Thanh, Deputy Director of the Departmentof Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Binh province, said, connectingheritages in Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces is still not good becauseof infrastructure difficulties.

Bui Van Manh, Deputy Director ofthe Management Board for Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, saidconnecting heritages is a very important topic but we need very clearprogrammes to connect near heritages. Traffic system is very importantin linking heritages because it brings tourists to heritage sites andencourages investors to build hotels, restaurants and recreationalcentres to serve visitors. Therefore, a good and convenient trafficsystem must be formed to connect heritages.

Connecting the WorldHeritages to create well-branded unique tourist products is essential todevelop national tourism in general and local tourism in particular.Thus, the tourism industry must regard heritages as the nucleus and thecore of other related activities, including tourism.-VNA