LẠNG SƠN — Taking food tours are the big hot new travel trend and the northern mountain province of Lạng Sơn has joined in, with an announcement of a combo of six new products in an effort to push local tourism.

In addition to its magnificent natural beauty and landmarks that make Lạng Sơn a compelling tourism destination of the north, the province is also home to many delicious dishes such as roasted pork and duck, sour phở and phở with roasted duck, khau nhục (slow-cooked pork belly), rolled pancakes eaten with pork bone broth, bánh ngải (wormwood cake) and bánh cóng phù (floating rice dumpling).

The local authority believes that these dishes, once promoted, will draw in crowds of gourmets from groups of both domestic and international visitors.

"Food tours are currently a trend among young people and also a need of most tourists when coming to each destination," said Trần Bích Hạnh, deputy director of the Lạng Sơn's Centre for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion.

"Lạng Sơn is not only one of the provinces with a rich cultural identity, but is also a locality with delicious dishes that have national fame. This is a favourable condition to develop it into a new and attractive tourism product that appeals to tourists and enhances the culinary specialty value of the province."

The six tours are: 'Eating everything in one day in Lạng Sơn', 'Lạng region's Night Cuisine' and the 'Lạng region's Winter Cuisine', 'Tasting many Dishes in One Place', 'Chinese cuisine in the Heart of the City' and the last promising an 'Exciting Culinary Experience'.

Along with the tours the province also introduced its tourism logo, slogan, tourism map and guide book, along with a model of street cart promoting the food tours.

The guide book will provide visitors essential information about Lạng Sơn, its destinations and best known and must-try dishes. 

On the food map, people will find groups of dishes arranged by categories such as breakfast, lunch, snacks and street food, with stores, addresses and service times. 

The restaurants selected must meet strict criteria including the food being recognised as delicious by locals and adhere to food hygiene and safety regulations.

The books and maps are distributed free of charge to tourists at public locations. 

At the same time, the Centre for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion also applies digital technology platforms by cooperating with content creators on TikTok, YouTube and Facebook to build advertising communication strategies and long-term promotions to develop the food tour trails in Lạng Sơn.

"Lạng Sơn has diverse natural scenery, rich and unique climate, unique cultural identity, system of historical, cultural and spiritual relics, unique types of intangible cultural heritage with over 280 festivals," said Nguyễn Đặng Ân, director of the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.

"Many of these relics and sites are included in the list of national intangible cultural heritages and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

"Recently, Lạng Sơn Geopark has been recognised as a UNESCO Global Geopark by the Global Geopark Council."

Ân hoped these advantages, along with the new food tours, could boost its attractiveness to visitors, creating unique, competitive tourism products and a brand-name for Lạng Sơn in the near future. VNS