Attracting tourists from cultural and sporting events

Many runners excitedly conquered the coastal running route of Bai Chay Tourist Area. Photo: Ha Phong.

Recently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism worked with the Korean Mercurytour Travel Company to discuss organizing tours associated with sporting events in Ha Long City. The company plans to bring about 1,500 Korean tourists including professional athletes, tourists from Korea, businessmen, and Korean workers in Vietnam to participate in the Halong Bay Heritage Marathon 2025 taking place in Ha Long this coming November with the participation of about 15,000 people.

Mr. Choi Wondo, Representative of Mercurytour Travel Company of Korea, said: The company was established in 2015, mainly implementing tourism programs for Korean tourists to European and Asian markets. Currently, the company has 8 branches in major tourist centers around the world and the company's customer partners are large Korean corporations, including Samsung Group of Korea. During this working program to Vietnam, I highly appreciate the natural landscape in Quang Ninh, especially the modern and synchronous traffic infrastructure system that helps tourists move easily. Besides, the province also has many diverse tourism resources, high-class resorts that offer many options for tourists. The company will connect with units to bring visitors here to visit and experience.

Along with the Ha Long Heritage International Marathon taking place in November, Quang Ninh province is also the destination of many sporting and cultural events this summer. The most recent is the 11th International Yoga Day held on day June 22 at Hon Gai beach (Hong Ha ward, Ha Long city) hosted by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in coordination with the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center (Embassy of India) organized annually. It is expected that about 1,000 yogis from Yoga Federations, Associations and Clubs in and outside the province will participate. With the theme "Yoga for One Earth, One Health", the program spreads the message of healthy living, improves physical and mental health, and enhances cultural and sports exchanges between Vietnam and India. The event takes place with collective activities such as: Practicing the Common Yoga Protocol (CYP), performing Vietnamese - Indian art, awarding souvenir flags to clubs and cleaning up trash to protect the marine environment.

Immediately after that, on June 28 and 29, Ha Long City coordinated with OTV Media Joint Stock Company to organize the Car Festival - Fun Wheels Festival Ha Long 2025. The festival is expected to take place at the 30/10 Square area, the yard outside the Provincial Planning, Fair and Exhibition Palace, promising to bring a vibrant and impressive experience, an ideal destination for tourists.

The festival gathers hundreds of motorcycles, sports cars and off-road vehicles from all over the country to participate in exciting activities, such as: Gymkhana Car Race Championship of the North PVOIL Cup 2025; Test Drive program - experience test driving more than 30 new car models; large-scale parades of cars and sports motorcycles; Caravan FWF 2025 with 400 vehicles from many provinces and cities converging in Ha Long...

Quang Ninh has identified that sporting events and activities are always prioritized by the province to attract tourists to Quang Ninh. In 2025, the province will organize about 170 major sporting events and activities, attracting a large number of tourists such as: Vnexpress Marathon 2025, Yen Tu Mountain Climbing Race 2025, Yen Tu Heritage Marathon 2025; Ha Long 2025 (Aqua Warriors Ha Long 2025); Van Don 2025 (Aqua Warriors Van Don 2025)... Previously, in April 2025, Aqua Warriors Halong Bay 2025 impressed with swimming, cycling, and running races through beautiful roads along Ha Long Bay. At the same time, Yen Tu Mountain Climbing Race attracted more than 2,000 athletes from 30 provinces and cities. They not only conquered the road to Hoa Yen Pagoda and Dong Pagoda but also enjoyed the fresh air in the land of Buddha.

According to experts, Quang Ninh province has many favorable conditions and factors to organize tours combined with sports events. Specifically, the locality owns modern infrastructure such as: Cam Pha Stadium, Planning Palace, Fair and Exhibition, Provincial Museum - Library, Sports Complex and 5,000-seat Gymnasium. In addition, Quang Ninh province is home to many ethnic groups. Ethnic minorities preserve many traditional cultural features, many typical sports such as stick pushing, spinning top, tug of war... This is not only a driving force for developing the sports economy but also contributes to enhancing the value of local heritage, cultural industry and tourism.

Mr. Nguyen Lam Nguyen, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that developing tourism products associated with international cultural and sports events is one of the key orientations of Quang Ninh in recent years and in the coming time. Quang Ninh will continue to coordinate with international travel agencies to develop and promote this unique tourism product more widely to domestic and international tourists. The Department is also advising the Provincial People's Committee to organize a thematic conference on tourism development associated with sports events in 2025. Organizing events is an important task contributing to the goal of attracting 20 million tourists, including 4.5 million international visitors in 2025.

Hoang Quynh

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/thu-hut-du-khach-tu-cac-su-kien-van-hoa-the-thao-3363382.html