Guests choosing souvenirs to buy in the Imperial Citadel
It also means that, only when coming to Hue Imperial City, can visitors have the opportunity to visit, enjoy and experience the true royal court services of Vietnam, namely the true quality of the Nguyen court - The last feudal dynasty of Vietnam.
After more than 40 years of restoration efforts, Hue Monuments Complex has now been determined to be at a sustainable stage. However, service activities have yet to reach the potential of the heritage area.
Monuments belonging to Hue Monuments Complex with entrance tickets all have rest and shopping services for tourists. Particularly, in the Imperial Citadel, there are over 10 shops which mainly serve coffee, refreshments, craft souvenirs, photography, costume rental, royal tea party, royal dinner party and royal art performances.
Cuisine in Dong Khuyet Dai
Different from cultural destinations which lean towards entertainment, Hue Monuments Complex, a system of historical and cultural architectural monuments, comprises of special spaces. The arrangement of service activities in these spaces is also calculated to minimize the impact on the monument so that visitors can feel the depth of intangible cultural values here.
According to Mr. Mai Xuan Minh, Deputy Director of Hue Monuments Conservation Center, each year Hue heritage area receives about 3.5 - 4 million visitor arrivals each year. However, due to the large space and many pick-up points, the Hue heritage area has yet to be under pressure from tourists and does not need the necessary regulation.
The important task of the unit is to improve service efficiency in the direction of organizing higher quality and more luxurious products and services corresponding to the heritage space, and to increase revenue.
In the coming time, Hue Monuments Conservation Center will reorganize the service space at the end of the visit of each monument in a more luxurious way. The souvenir items sold here will be royal-styled products with the specific characteristics of Hue, gradually replacing the unsuitable products before.
Royal music performance at Duyet Thi Duong
In an effort to improve the quality and economic efficiency of services based on Hue royal culture, many Hue cultural researchers have proposed specifically what Thua Thien Hue needs to do.
For example, Mr. Nguyen Dac Xuan proposed opening sightseeing tours on the Ngu (Royal) River system in Hue, and Mr. Phan Thuan An emphasized the organization of royal festivals.
Dr. Tran Dinh Hang suggested organizing service activities associated with the unique imperial examination of the ancient Nguyen court, or combine the death anniversary of the Nguyen kings to organize the "royal dinner" service properly after the ceremony.
Dr. Tran Dinh Hang, Director of the Vietnam Academy of Culture and Arts Institute in Hue, has many interesting and valuable ideas for improving the quality of service activities in Hue heritage area. He emphasized that with the unique values of Hue Monuments Complex, the direction of service development must be different, unique and one of a kind.
According to Dr. Hang, in the past, the Nguyen Dynasty paid special attention to the production facilities and focused on building this workshop system, concentrating in Hue Capital and surrounding areas. Most of the workers at these facilities are talented craftsmen who are rigorously selected from traditional villages throughout the country.
And now, the important thing that Thua Thien needs is to re-create a part of the workshop system of the ancient Nguyen dynasty by recruiting high-quality craftsmen to only produce handmade products for tourism services.
No matter how developed society is, at the bottom of every person's heart, there are needs towards a very ordinary source. That is why handicraft products are always popular and why craft products are becoming more expensive.
“Hue souvenirs need to follow this path and manually produce souvenirs in the spirit of the old-time capital, which is Hue ancient capital today. And of course, any product and service based on royal culture must be ensured to be refined in the proper royal court quality,” Dr. Tran Dinh Hang emphasized.
Story and photos: Dong Van