“SUP rowing” attracts many young people to participate in the Ho Chi Minh City Open River Swimming Championship and the first Ho Chi Minh City Open Stand-up Paddleboard Championship in 2024. Photo: Manh Linh - Hoang Tuyet/Tin Tuc and Dan Toc Newspaper
Opportunity to spread local image
The impression of the performances and water sports competitions at the River Festival held in Ho Chi Minh City in 2024 is still deep for Mr. Hua Trong Nghia, an overseas Vietnamese residing in Australia. Mr. Nghia shared that his family's trip back to visit his homeland and travel coincided with the beginning of June 2024, when Ho Chi Minh City had the River Festival. For the first time, he and his family members witnessed the river swimming competition, stand-up paddleboard competition, sailing, jet skiing, paragliding... performances, which were extremely attractive and exciting. The trip to Ho Chi Minh City therefore became much more special than the whole family had imagined.
According to Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, the River Festival product was just honored by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee at the 2025 Creative Awards ceremony, which took place on July 1, affirming the success of the creative combination of tourism, culture, sports and economy from the advantages of a river city, contributing to spreading the image of the destination, attracting domestic and foreign tourists. The evidence is that in just the first 10 days of June 2024 (the time of the River Festival), Ho Chi Minh City attracted about 1.3 million visitors, the room occupancy rate at accommodation establishments in the area also increased by 25 - 30% compared to normal.
With the aim of promoting the sports training and competition movement, improving health, and at the same time introducing and spreading the image of scenic spots and relics in the area, it is expected that on August 2-3, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Tay Ninh province will coordinate with a number of businesses and units to organize a large-scale running competition called "The Legendary Run". Athletes participating in this race will go through many beautiful routes around Ba Den mountain such as Nui Da lake - a green gem in the heart of the valley; Ma Thien Lanh - a valley with a combination of mountains, forests, rivers, streams, ponds and lakes; Tay Ninh Holy See - a religious architectural work of Cao Dai religion, expected to leave a deep impression on athletes and visitors.
Promoting landscape and cultural advantages
Commenting on the advantages and effectiveness of organizing sports events associated with tourism, Dr. Doan Manh Cuong (Nguyen Tat Thanh University) said: Currently, many localities have sufficient conditions and strengths in terms of landscape, climate, and cultural identity to promote the strengths of organizing sports events associated with culture and tourism. In fact, tourism and sports have a mutual relationship because besides the competing athletes, there are always a large number of tourists traveling to the venues hosting sports tournaments to cheer, accompany, watch the competition, and combine tourism and sightseeing.
However, according to Dr. Doan Manh Cuong, to promote the strengths of sports activities associated with promoting and spreading local images and developing tourism, careful investment and synchronous implementation of many solutions are needed. Localities need to pay attention to investing heavily in infrastructure, building multi-purpose sports centers and upgrading event venues; it is possible to encourage socialization and call for investment from the private sector to diversify investment resources and reduce the burden on the state budget.
At the same time, all levels and sectors should promote through international channels, cooperate with major sports organizations in the world, and put Vietnam on the global sports tourism map. An important solution that also requires a suitable implementation strategy is to train specialized human resources in sports tourism, open specialized courses on sports event organization, adventure sports instruction, and sustainable tourism management. In addition, each locality should have solutions to protect the environment along with tourism development to ensure that sports activities do not damage natural resources.
Agreeing with the view that developing tourism associated with sports activities will help increase the attractiveness of destinations, General Director of Flamingo Redtours Nguyen Cong Hoan said that many localities possess the potential to develop tourism associated with sports events, but to achieve high efficiency, there needs to be close coordination between functional units to develop regulations, competition schedules, and performances that are tight, suitable, attractive and ensure the safety of tourists as well as athletes; have suitable tour products, linking sports events and exploring the landscapes and cultural features of each locality.
According to representatives of the Tourism, Culture and Sports sectors of Ho Chi Minh City, after the arrangement of administrative boundaries, Ho Chi Minh City is one of the localities with many advantages to organize competitions, physical education and sports performances combined with cultural events and tourism promotion. In the coming time, the City will increase the organization of cultural, sports and tourism events by topic, according to the specific strengths of each area such as in the areas of Saigon, Khanh Hoi, Nhieu Loc wards... to organize sports, cultural activities and festivals to optimally exploit the value of the river and canal system of the river city.
Localities such as Vung Tau ward, Tam Thang ward, Can Gio commune, Con Dao special zone... organize competitions, performances of sea sports, cultural activities, festivals promoting tourism with the cultural identity of the sea and islands, creating diversity in cultural, tourism and sports products of a smart, green, creative "super city", typical not only in terms of economy, but also in terms of richness in culture, art, sports, entertainment and modern, dynamic lifestyle.
According to VNA
Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/du-lich-the-thao-nang-cao-suc-hut-diem-den-20250717094243738.htm
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