Awakening resources of heritage region
The 2026 Con Son – Kiep Bac Autumn Festival features many special highlights, affirming the heritage brand of the port city of Hai Phong.
Hai Phong boasts diverse and distinctive cultural tourism resources, with nearly 4,000 relics, including two World Heritage sites, nine special national relics and complexes of relics, 257 national relics, 722 city-level relics and 33 national treasures. Festivals in Hai Phong take place throughout the year, becoming a distinctive feature compared with most festivals in the Red River Delta, which are typically held only in spring.
The 2026 Con Son – Kiep Bac Autumn Festival, scheduled for September 26 to October 4, is set to feature its own highlights. In addition to solemn incense offering, procession, worship and commemorative ceremonies, this year’s festival will feature the announcement of the brand identity for the Yen Tu – Vinh Nghiem – Con Son, Kiep Bac complex of monuments and scenic landscapes, a World Heritage site.
This is a prominent highlight of important significance, marking a shift from being inscribed on the World Heritage List to proactively building, identifying and spreading the brand. Through this, the title will not only be mentioned as an achievement but also become a cultural resource for communities and localities to jointly preserve, promote and introduce to domestic and international friends.
This year’s festival aims to bring the values of the World Heritage site closer to the public and domestic and international visitors, connecting heritage preservation with cultural and tourism development and promoting the image of Hai Phong.
Hai Phong aims to become a national- and international-level center for marine, cultural and heritage tourism by 2045. Therefore, long-term and commensurate strategies are needed to promote the value of heritage in life, particularly by stepping up tourism promotion for journeys “to the land of heritage.”
Today’s festival could serve as a “starting point” for connecting tours such as the “One journey – five World Heritage destinations” route linking Con Son – Kiep Bac with Thanh Mai, Kinh Chu and Nham Duong relics and key cultural heritage tourism routes in eastern Hai Phong, including Cai Beo – Trang Kenh – Nui Voi – Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem – Mac Dynasty Memorial Site, combined with performances of folk arts.
New tourism routes could also be developed, linking Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Bac Ninh along river and delta corridors, forming tour series such as “Heritage voyage,” “The land of Trang Trinh” and “Spiritual tourism in the Northeast,” among others. These efforts aim to position the brand, build a distinctive identity and spread heritage journeys so that visitors can come to explore and pay homage, remember their experiences and continue promoting them.
Every resident of the heroic port city and the cultured land of Xu Dong has a responsibility and mission in this journey, helping ensure that heritage continues to endure in contemporary life.
DAI THANG