Overview of Marine Culture Associated with Tourism in Cat Hai Island District, Hai Phong

1.3. Tourism, sea tourism

1.3.1. Tourism

Since the mid-19th century, tourism has begun to develop strongly and today has become a popular socio-economic phenomenon. Many countries have taken the population's travel quota as one of the criteria for assessing the quality of life. However, the concept of "Tourism" is understood very differently in different countries and from many different perspectives. According to the Vietnam Tourism Law: "Tourism is a human activity outside of one's usual place of residence to satisfy the needs of sightseeing, entertainment, and relaxation within a certain period of time" [18, p.25].

From the above concept, the author believes that tourism is a synthesis of economic, technical, cultural and social relationships arising from the supportive interactions between tourists, service providers, authorities and local residents in the process of exploiting tourism resources and organizing business to serve tourists. Nowadays, tourism has become a popular socio-economic phenomenon not only in developed countries but also in developing countries, including Vietnam. However, up to now, the perception of tourism has not been unified. Due to different circumstances (time, area), from each different research perspective, there is a different understanding of tourism, creating differences in tourism exploitation.

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1.3.2. Sea tourism

a. Concept : Sea tourism is a type of tourism associated with the sea and islands, convenient for organizing activities such as swimming, relaxing, and sea sports (beach volleyball, windsurfing, jet skiing, fishing...).

Sea tourism is one of the types of tourism that takes place to satisfy people's need for nature. Nature here is the landscapes of islands, beaches with white sand, forest ecosystems,

Mountains, climate and the world of creatures in the ocean including corals, algae, seafood, shrimp, fish, clams, oysters, snails...

Sea tourism meets the needs and desires of people to return to nature and be close to nature. The main purpose of sea tourism is to satisfy the needs of rest, relaxation, entertainment, exploration and discovery to enrich life and find a sense of comfort for people after stressful working days.

In summary: Sea tourism is a type of eco-tourism based on the exploitation of natural marine resources and marine human resources. Currently, this type of tourism is very popular and is growing.

b. Characteristics of sea tourism:

* Distribution:

Vietnam's sea and islands have great tourism potential with a coastline of about 3,260 km in the shape of an S-shaped curve from Mong Cai (Quang Ninh province) to Ca Mau cape (Ca Mau province), curving west to Ha Tien (Kien Giang province) with about more than 3,000 large and small islands, including the two archipelagos of Truong Sa and Hoang Sa, scattered in most provinces from North to South [6].

* Seasonality:

For coastal areas with four distinct seasons such as the northern provinces and cities, sea tourism often develops most strongly in the summer, at this time the number of visitors to sea tourism is very large, leading to overload, causing environmental pollution, service quality is not guaranteed, sometimes not satisfying the consumption needs of tourists. On the contrary, in the winter, there are not many visitors to this type of tourism, the human resources serving the labor are unemployed, technical facilities are left idle for a long time. Causing a waste of resources, making

significantly affects the quality of technical facilities, infrastructure and revenue.

Sea tourism is associated with nature, seascapes, and beaches. Therefore, unusual weather phenomena have a great impact on tourism activities such as: storms, tsunamis, droughts, etc.

Affecting tourists' psychology, hindering tourism development, causing heavy losses in infrastructure.

In addition, our country's climate is tropical and hot. Therefore, sea and island tourism activities are in high demand due to hot weather, while in the cold winter in the north, it is not suitable for sea and resort tourism. Due to the erratic nature of the weather such as storms, sea tourism activities do not take place regularly and continuously [6].

1.4. The relationship between culture and tourism

Culture and tourism are always closely related to each other. In addition to relaxation, swimming, cuisine, and shopping, tourists often want to visit and learn about scenic spots or the unique cultural features of that region, locality, or ethnic group. Therefore, our Party and State always encourage the development of tourism associated with the preservation and promotion of the good traditional cultural values of the Vietnamese people. Promoting tourism is promoting the advanced cultural beauty imbued with the identity of the Vietnamese people to the world.

1.4.1. The impact of culture on tourism

The close relationship between culture and tourism is shown through the following aspects:

Culture is a unique resource of tourism. Cultural resources have two basic types: material culture and intangible culture. According to the

In the concept of tourism, people classify cultural elements into specific human resources: historical and cultural relics; literature, art; customs, habits, beliefs, religions; behavior, communication; souvenirs; cuisine; festivals; entertainment games. Therefore, culture is the condition and environment for tourism development. Along with natural resources, cultural resources are one of the typical conditions for tourism development of each country, each region, each locality.

Culture’s impact on tourism is more or less expressed through behavior, in service, or in tourism business transactions. From another perspective, this close relationship is shown in the fact that if we want to develop tourism, we need to have a good tourism environment. Knowledge, social information, behavior, understanding of tourists’ psychology… are effective driving forces to promote tourism development.

Therefore, culture is the condition and environment for tourism to arise and develop. Along with natural resources, cultural resources are one of the typical conditions for tourism development of a country, a region, a locality. The value of cultural heritages, historical relics, architectural works, art forms, customs, practices, festivals, traditional occupations, culinary culture... along with economic, political, social achievements, cultural and artistic establishments, museums... are objects for tourists to explore, enjoy, for tourism to exploit and use. Exploitation and profit from natural resources or cultural resources all bring funds to reinvest in the construction of resorts, beaches, eco-tourism areas, entertainment areas all reflect the intelligence and creativity of mankind. These resources not only create the environment and conditions for tourism to arise and develop, but also determine the scale, type, and quality.

and the effectiveness of tourism activities of a country, region, or locality.

1.4.2. The impact of tourism on culture

1.4.2.1. Positive impact

Promote advanced cultural values imbued with Vietnamese national identity, preserve historical relics, architecture, scenic spots, create a healthy, clean, green environment to attract tourists.

Tourism also plays a very important role in culture. Tourism becomes a means to convey and demonstrate the cultural values of a locality and a nation for all domestic and international tourists to explore, admire, learn, study and enjoy. Thanks to tourism, cultural exchange between communities and countries is enhanced and expanded.

Thus, the entire relationship between tourists, cultural spaces, historical relics, scenic spots, tourism services and institutions has created a tourism environment and entertainment areas to help people have a place to rest, visit, shop, etc.

Nowadays, tourism culture has become a new element in the cultural category of each country.

This is a smokeless industry, attracting financial resources to contribute to the economic, cultural and social development of Cat Hai district and Hai Phong city.

1.4.2.2. Negative impacts

For tangible cultural heritages, the massive development of tourism in pursuit of quantity often causes erosion and damage to existing structures and relics. The presence of too many tourists at a relic site creates mechanical and chemical impacts (due to emissions from breathing, noise...) and

With climate and weather factors causing degradation and destruction of ancient architectural works.

Tourism development can increase the loss, illegal trade of antiques, theft of antiquities at relics, digging up ancient tombs...

- Tourism development is often accompanied by the introduction of foreign cultures, which can erode or gradually lose local cultural identity and national cultural identity.

- Commercialization of tourism products.

1.5. Overview of marine culture associated with tourism in Cat Hai island district, Hai Phong

1.5.1. Introduction to Cat Hai island district

1.5.1.1. Natural and geographical conditions

Cat Hai district was established in 1977 on the basis of merging the two old island districts of Cat Ba and Cat Hai. The area of Cat Hai district today is an administrative unit established among the oldest in Hai Phong city.

Cat Hai district today has the following adjacent locations:

- To the east and south of Cat Hai district is the Gulf of Tonkin.

- To the north, it borders Yen Hung district of Quang Ninh across the Phuong river.

- The West borders Dinh Vu island.

The terrain here is complex, with a total area of about 345 km2, with forests and mountains accounting for 2/3 of the area. The district has 2 islands. Cat Hai Island is a sand strip that is easily eroded by tides. Cat Ba Island has 336 islands, of which Cat Ba Island is the largest. The district has nearly 30,000 people. The administrative area of the district is located in Cat Ba. There is Cat Ba National Park, which preserves rare genetic resources, including the White-headed Langur, listed in the World Red Book.

Nature has endowed Cat Ba with a rich system of rivers, lakes and lagoons, extremely rare resources, and many precious woods in the forest.

such as Lat hoa, Lim, Goi, Kim giao, medicinal plants, rich vegetation; birds and animals such as: eagles, partridges, pythons, monitor lizards, cobras, geckos, monkeys, weasels, civets...; there are many pristine caves; Cat Hai sea has nearly 200 species of fish, nearly 600 species of marine animals, 75 species of phytoplankton, nearly 200 species of zooplankton, 27 types of mangrove forests. Cat Hai sea also has many types of mollusks such as: Mantis shrimp, Dragon shrimp, Hawksbill, Crabs, Blood cockles, Pearl oysters, Green mussels, Geoduck... [6].

1.5.1.2. Social history - humanities

The history of residence and survival of residents living in Cat Hai has been of interest to archaeological researchers through research, study and survey of the prehistoric and early historical periods on the island.

Vietnamese archaeologists conducted archaeological research in Cat Hai from the 1960s to the 1970s.

20. They believe that the natural environment of Cat Hai has been the cradle of ancient people. Here, they have excavated 17 locations in Cat Hai district. The results show that there are up to 15 locations with traces of ancient people such as Eo Bua cave in Hien Hao commune, Tung Ba in the National Park, Bo Da, Khoan Mui in Tran Chau commune, Ang Giua in Viet Hai commune. In particular, the Cai Beo site was discovered by a French archaeologist in 1938. Through many excavations and carbon dioxide analysis results, it is known that ancient Vietnamese people were present here about 6,000 years ago. In the upper soil layer of the Cai Beo site, there is also a layer of relics containing typical relics of the Ha Long culture. Between the upper and lower layers of the Cai Beo site is a thin layer containing no relics or animal bones. This proves that there was a time when the sea level rose and flooded the lower layer, leaving traces of the sea.

separating the early and late cultures. The Cai Beo site has great historical value, affirming that ancient Vietnamese people have lived in this land since ancient times.

In the years 1889 - 1893, the movement against the French colonialists of the people of Bac Ky rose strongly. The French colonialists and the feudal court brutally suppressed the movement. Tien Duc, a leader of the coastal insurgents, retreated to Cat Ba Island to consolidate his forces. The rugged mountainous area of Cat Ba became one of the main bases of the anti-French insurgents...

Source: Google "Cat Ba Travel Guide" accessed June 15, 2018:

https://www.ivivu.com/blog/category/viet-nam/dao-cat-ba/, [35]

1.6. Overview of the cultural values of the sea in Cat Hai island district

Cat Hai island district is one of the districts of Hai Phong city that still preserves many historical relics and scenic spots, especially Cat Ba National Park recognized by UNESCO as a " Biological Reserve "."World Book", where the White-headed Langur is listed in the World Red Book,

on December 2, 2004 and is being re-nominated by UNESCO as a " World Natural Heritage" located in the extended complex of the World Natural Heritage of Ha Long Bay. In the process of managing, preserving and promoting the value of the Heritage, the Management Board of Cat Hai district has paid attention to research on the values of the Heritage, especially the cultural values of Cat Ba island, considering it one of the important resources for developing tourism services [6].

The typical values of Cat Hai island culture stand out in the system of scenic spots, historical relics, cultural and religious activities of coastal residents...

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