Status
Group name | Team Leader | Phone | Address | |
9 | Da Miot | Cil Yu | 0915845891 | Bon Dung 1 residential group, Lac Duong town |
10 | Lang Biang Tourist Area | Ms. Quynh | 0918695109 | Lang Biang Tourist Area: 305 Lang Biang, town Luoyang |
11 | Cu Lan Village Tourist Area | Van Tuan Anh | 0948586878 | Suoi Can area, Da Nghit village, Lat commune |
12 | Center for Ecotourism and Environmental Education, Bidoup National Park - Ba Mountain | Nguyen Luong Minh | 0918815159 | Sub-zone 97, Da Nhim commune, Lac Duong |
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Source: Lac Duong District Culture Department, 2017
2.3.3. Performance program
At the foot of Langbiang Mountain, gong teams are organized to perform in major local events and serve tourists. To create emotional gong performances, each group must practice singing, dancing and playing typical musical instruments, while recreating the living space of ancient villages by decorating the performance area with arrows, crossbows, special motifs, and essential daily life items of indigenous peoples. In particular, this place cannot lack a fire, which, according to their concept, is the source of life.
Each gong performance group has its own program to meet the needs of tourists. In general, each performance consists of 3 main parts:
Part 1: Introduction to gong culture (daily life, weddings, festivals). First, the village elder greets guests in the Lach language "niêm xa" (meaning hello). The purpose is to get acquainted and create intimacy with visitors from near and far. The club leaders play the role of village elders, loudly praying to Giàng, praying to the gods next to a large pile of firewood burning brightly in the middle of the yard. The village elder introduces the daily life of the Lach people from daily work to customs.
or taboo. Especially visitors can hear the love legend of Lang and Biang.
Part 2: Gong performance, singing and dancing (songs praising the village, songs celebrating the new rice, boys and girls confessing their love, simulating hunting and harvesting activities...). At the beginning of the program, the gong ensemble played ancient music by the groups, very solemn and majestic, resounding throughout the mountains and forests. Then the boys and girls rushed in, holding hands and dancing enthusiastically. They danced and sang folk songs, sang excerpts from some Central Highlands epics imbued with love between couples, love for the homeland and the country on the highlands... The footsteps followed in a circle, the singing and the sound of gongs blended together and resounded far away. Everyone sang in their own ethnic language and in Kinh language. Next were songs written by musicians Nguyen Cuong, Tran Tien... about the Central Highlands. They sang and danced very enthusiastically.
Part 3: Interact with guests from everywhere who come to visit the village, whether they are guests of travel companies or individual guests. Everyone holds hands, dances, plays games, drinks wine and enjoys grilled meat. Everyone is drawn into the festival, grilled meat and wine are displayed fragrantly, hosts and guests mingle together in the joyful atmosphere of gongs, cymbals and dances.
Many visitors left the festival still dazed by the emotions of the mysterious gong melodies, the intoxication of the rice wine and the charm of the mountain girls, reluctant to leave.
2.3.4. Organizing and managing the performance of Central Highlands gong culture
In previous years, due to the difficult economic situation, there was almost no investment, so people did not pay attention to their cultural traditions. After a period of economic development, the need to enjoy spiritual culture and the relationships of exchange and cooperation have been increasingly enhanced, with many tourists.
When domestic and foreign tourists come to visit and study ethnic culture, indigenous ethnic culture has received attention.
After a period of research to restore and promote the national cultural identity, some indigenous people have built 11 gong groups with more than 200 artisans. Initially, there were only 5 groups operating with limited income, then split into 11 groups mainly serving tourists and having a relatively good economic income.
Every year, the People's Committee of Lac Duong Town coordinates with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lam Dong to assess the programs of gong groups to operate in an orderly manner, establish clubs under the management of local authorities in the fields of culture and society; strict management of specialized agencies in terms of content, form of activities, time and place of performance, but some groups do not comply well, so some unhealthy activities have occurred. There are teams introducing songs that do not pay attention to the content, authors, and customs of ethnic minorities; a team is sometimes divided into 2 groups to serve many groups, leading to poor service quality, affecting other groups and violating the license granted by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Operating beyond the prescribed time, using sounds and musical instruments that are not suitable for the cultural traditions of ethnic minorities. Some groups use excessive sound, the content of the program introduces incorrect customs and practices of indigenous peoples, and engages in price-dumping competition, without making any practical contributions to the locality.
State management agencies have only managed in terms of cultural preservation, but have not yet managed to exploit the Central Highlands gong culture as a cultural resource without damaging traditional cultural values. When activities are spontaneous and not strictly managed, performance teams only follow the needs of visitors. For purely economic purposes, gongs are "staged", so tourists may not fully understand or misunderstand the typical cultural values of Central Highlands gongs. The
If the gong performance team is not trained in performing skills, then when performing, it will lack soul, will not highlight the unique features, and will not fully express the profound cultural values of the Central Highlands gong. This will easily make tourists not have any deep impression when watching the performances, leading to a feeling of boredom in the long run.
In order to strengthen the state management of gong cultural activities, on July 1, 2011, the People's Committee of Lac Duong town held a meeting of gong groups to unify and consolidate the personnel of the "LangBiang Gong Club". Every year, the People's Committee of the town coordinates with the Department of Culture and Information of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to inspect and evaluate the art of gong groups.
Although there was Decision No. 32/2006/QD-UBND dated December 18, 2006 of the People's Committee of Lac Duong district on promulgating regulations on management of gong cultural performance activities in the area, some groups have not seriously implemented it. Some groups only mainly pursue economic income goals without paying attention to the ancient cultural beauty left by their ancestors, affecting the preservation and promotion of national cultural identity.
During peak seasons such as holidays, Tet or summer vacations, the number of tourists to Da Lat increases, the demand for enjoying the Central Highlands gong cultural performance service is high, gong groups pursue economic benefits without paying attention to their ethnic cultural values.
2.4. Exploiting the performance service of Central Highlands gong culture to develop tourism products in Da Lat
2.4.1. Results of tourism business activities of Da Lat in the period 2012-2016
With its unique tourism resources and climate, Dalat has attracted a significant number of international and domestic tourists. Over the years, the number of
The number of tourists coming to Da Lat has had positive changes. Da Lat is becoming an attractive destination for tourists. The number of tourists coming to Da Lat is shown in the following table:
Table 2.2. Number of tourists to Da Lat from 2012 to 2016
Target
Unit | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
Total visitors | Number of visitors | 3,937,000 | 4,300,000 | 4,779,195 | 5,100,000 | 5,400,000 |
International | Hit guest | 200,600 | 228,500 | 249,686 | 220,000 | 247,410 |
Inland | Hit guest | 3,736,400 | 4,071,500 | 4,529,509 | 4,880,000 | 5,152,590 |
Total guest days | Guest Day | 8,637,834 | 9,144,460 | 9,798,108 | 12,330,000 | 12,828,250 |
International | Day guest | 343,026 | 390,735 | 424,490 | 374,000 | 516,250 |
Inland | Day guest | 8,294,808 | 8,753,725 | 9,373,618 | 11,956,000 | 12,312,000 |
Average length of stay | Day | 2.19 | 2.13 | 2.05 | 2.42 | 2.38 |
International | Day | 1.71 | 1.71 | 1.70 | 1.7 | 2.09 |
Inland | Day | 2.22 | 2.15 | 2.07 | 2.45 | 2.39 |
Source: Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2017
Table 2.3. Growth rate of tourist arrivals to Da Lat from 2012 - 2016
Target
Unit | 2013/12 (%) | 2014/13 (%) | 2015/14 (%) | 2016/15 (%) | Average growth rate (%) | |
Total visitors | Number of visitors | 9.22 | 11.63 | 6.71 | 5.88 | 8.36 |
International | Hit guest | 13.91 | 9.28 | -11.89 | 12.46 | 5.94 |
Inland | Hit guest | 8.97 | 11.76 | 7.74 | 5.59 | 8.51 |
Total guest days | Guest Day | 5.87 | 7.15 | 25.84 | 4.04 | 10.72 |
International | Day guest | 13.91 | 8.64 | -11.89 | 38.03 | 12.17 |
Inland | Day guest | 5.53 | 7.08 | 27.55 | 2.98 | 10.78 |
Source: Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2017.
From Table 2.2 and 2.3, it can be easily seen that the number of tourists to Da Lat tends to increase from 2012 to 2016. In 2012, there were more than 3.9 million tourists to Da Lat and this number exceeded 5.4 million in 2016 (average annual growth rate of 8.36%). Of which, the number of domestic tourists increased from 3,736,400 in 2012 to 5,152,590 in 2016 (average annual growth rate of 8.51% per year) and the number of international tourists increased from 200,600 in 2012 to 247,410 in 2016 with an average growth rate of 5.94%.
Although the number of tourists to Da Lat increased from 2012 to 2016, the average length of stay of visitors remained around 2 days from 2012 to 2016. The average length of stay of visitors may affect their choice of using the Central Highlands gong cultural performance service.
Unit:
Number of visitors
Chart 2.1. Number of tourists enjoying VHCCTN performance services in Da Lat from 2012 to 2016
Source: Lac Duong District Culture Department and Lam Dong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2017
During the period from 2012 to 2016, the number of tourists enjoying gong cultural performances has increased steadily over the years, although the growth rate of each year is different. The number of visitors in 2015 compared to 2014 increased sharply by 18.37%. The main reason for the increase in the number of visitors enjoying gong cultural performances in the Central Highlands during the period from 2012 to 2016 is that Lam Dong province has been successful in its tourism development strategies, attracting an increasing number of tourists to Da Lat; successfully organizing Da Lat Flower Festivals as well as major cultural and tourism events.
2.4.2. Current status of using Central Highlands Gong Culture performance services in tourism products
2.4.2.1. Current status of tourism programs exploiting the performance service of Central Highlands gong culture
Before the Central Highlands Gong Cultural Space was recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage, most of the Central Highlands provinces had introduced the form of gong cultural performance and exchange to serve tourism. Activities
These festivals are mainly held in some villages, but mainly include campfire exchange programs, drinking rice wine, dancing and singing, while gong performances associated with traditional festivals of the ethnic groups are very rare. Travel companies also focus on including gong performances in most tours to the Central Highlands provinces.
Currently, in Da Lat there are 48 travel and tourism transportation businesses (Appendix 4), all travel businesses can exploit the VHCCTN performance service to serve tourists. Many domestic travel companies organize and implement tourism programs associated with the VHCCTN performance service such as Vietravel with the tour "Da Lat - Cultural Exchange of Central Highlands Gongs", Saigontourist "Da Lat Tourism - Love Rendezvous", Hoa Da Lat Tourism Company with the tour "Da Lat Gongs"... According to the author's statistics and synthesis from the websites of travel companies, there are currently about 50 tourism programs associated with the VHCCTN performance service in Da Lat exploited by travel companies in Da Lat and other provinces and cities. The VHCCTN performance service is both exploited as a separate product and included in the tour to serve tourists. A typical Central Highlands gong cultural exchange program (Appendix 3) is exploited by travel companies with the aim of creating highlights and increasing the attractiveness of the tour, not the focus or main purpose of the tour. Large travel companies such as Saigontourist and Viettravel, when organizing tours to Da Lat, all include the VHCCTN performance package in the tour and only serve their own guests, not combining with other guests. As for tourists, most of them come to watch gong performances mainly for entertainment purposes, except for groups of research experts or those who truly appreciate the cultural values of the Central Highlands gongs and are truly interested in the content of the performances. Therefore, it can be said that the current form of gong cultural performance for tourism mainly follows the needs of guests without focusing on exploiting gong culture in depth. Therefore, there are many performance activities but they are not very effective.