Soc Trang is a province with over 35% of its population being ethnic minorities, of which the Khmer people account for over 31%.
Every year, the province pays attention to organizing many traditional festivals of the Khmer, Chinese and Kinh ethnic groups to preserve, conserve and promote the cultural values of ethnic minorities, thereby promoting local culture associated with the value of traditional cultural heritage.
The local cultural characteristics have become impressive tourism products, attracting domestic and foreign tourists to Soc Trang.
Unique cultural festival of people in the river region
Soc Trang has many traditional festivals associated with the river life of the residents for generations. Among them, the Nghinh Ong Nam Hai festival (Tran De district) takes place in the third lunar month every year and has become a series of cultural and sports events, attracting the community and developing unique tourism in the coastal area of Tran De.
The festival has two parts: Ong procession and traditional worship ceremony; organizing flower arrangement contests, displaying fruit trays, painting, folk games, sports competitions... attracting a large number of tourists.
Mr. Pham Van Dau, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Soc Trang province, said that the Nam Hai Whale Festival was included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2019; in 2024, Nam Hai Whale Temple will be classified as a provincial historical relic.
As a folk belief, the festival has been passed down through generations of fishermen at sea with the wish to pray for national peace and prosperity, calm seas, gentle winds, and a good catch of fish and shrimp, bringing a prosperous and happy life.
Ms. Tran Thi Hong Tham from Ben Tre province said that her family makes a living by fishing at sea, and participating in the festival is to pray for safe fishing trips, catching lots of shrimp and fish, bringing a more prosperous life.
The festival attracts a large number of visitors, creating a joyful and warm atmosphere, so everyone is excited and enthusiastic, promising a bountiful beach season.
The festival is held to preserve and promote the traditional cultural values of the coastal people, thereby promoting the image, people and products of Tran De district in particular and Soc Trang province in general to the whole country, contributing to promoting local tourism development.
Ms. Tran Cam Tu, Head of the Department of Culture, Science and Information of Tran De district, said that the Provincial People's Committee has approved the Project to preserve and promote the value of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Whale Festival, to propagate and raise people's awareness in the work of preserving and promoting the value of the heritage, while promoting and promoting local tourism.
The most exciting and bustling festival in Soc Trang is the Ooc Om Boc - Ngo boat race of the Khmer people, taking place on the full moon day of the 10th lunar month every year.
This is considered the "king" sport of the Khmer people in the South, with the largest concentration in Soc Trang.
The race usually gathers about 60 male and female Ngo boats, with more than 3,000 athletes competing on the Maspero River (Soc Trang city), attracting hundreds of thousands of local and foreign people and tourists to cheer.
According to Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Soc Trang province Nguyen Van Khoi, each festival leaves many good impressions in the hearts of people and tourists, especially the Khmer people.
The 2024 year-end festival season alone attracted about 620,000 delegates and visitors, including over 19,000 overnight guests, with tourism revenue reaching nearly 100 billion VND.
Promoting traditional cultural heritage tourism
Soc Trang is the province with the largest Khmer population in the country, with 93 Khmer Theravada Buddhist pagodas. Many pagodas have been recognized as national and provincial historical and cultural relics, such as Chen Kieu Pagoda (My Xuyen District), Mahatup Pagoda (Bat Pagoda), Bo Tum Vong Sa Som Rong Pagoda (Soc Trang City), and Four-Faced Pagoda (Chau Thanh District).
With unique architecture and cultural colors, Khmer pagodas have become attractive destinations for tourists. Many pagodas are both relics and tourist attractions that have been invested in promoting and exploiting services.
With convenient transportation, spiritual tourist destinations are easily connected into routes and tours with destinations in the Mekong Delta region.
Ms. Tran Diep Mo (a tourist from Thap Muoi district, Dong Thap province) shared that when she came to Bo Tum Vong Sa Som Rong pagoda (Ward 5, Soc Trang city), she was very impressed with the longest statue of Buddha entering Nirvana in Vietnam (about 73m), along with many symbols such as the sacred bird Krud and the sacred snake Nagar.
According to Ms. Tran Diep Mo, tourists coming here are quite interested in renting traditional Khmer costumes to take souvenir photos.
In addition, traditional festivals such as Chol Chnam Thmay Festival, Sen Don Ta Festival, Ooc Om Boc Festival... have also become common cultural festivals of local ethnic groups.
According to the People's Committee of Soc Trang province, in the first 6 months of 2025, the whole province welcomed about 1.9 million visitors (including more than 20,300 international visitors), an increase of 10% over the same period in 2024; more than 300,000 guests stayed, tourism revenue reached 1,260 billion VND, an increase of 36%, showing that Soc Trang is an increasingly attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists thanks to tourism products imbued with traditional cultural values.
Currently, Soc Trang tourism industry is implementing a tourism development cooperation program with Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta provinces in 2025.
Many programs will be implemented such as announcing the "Project to develop tourism products linking Ho Chi Minh City and 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta;" developing a tourism program to the source associated with the historical values of the border area; promoting tourism of Ho Chi Minh City and 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta in the Central provinces; promoting tourist destinations on the 3D smart map application platform of Ho Chi Minh City.
Soc Trang is also developing typical types of tourism such as festival-culinary tourism, river tourism in the garden area of Con My Phuoc, eco-tourism in cajuput forests combined with returning to the source at the Provincial Party Committee Base (My Tu district)...
These are products that promise to attract more and more tourists to the land rich in festival and cultural identity of the three Kinh-Hoa-Khmer ethnic groups of Soc Trang./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/du-lich-soc-trang-khoi-sac-nho-phat-huy-gia-tri-van-hoa-truyen-thong-post1046462.vnp
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