The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, home to a large numberof ethnic minorities and their distinct cultures and heritages, islooking to develop tourism while preserving traditional cultures.

Dak Lak is proud to fall within the cultural space of gongs,recognised by UNESCO as an intangible and oral masterpiece of humanculture in 2006.

Boasting traditional craftvillages and a series of festivals, the locality has great potential todevelop community-based and cultural tourism.

In order toimplement its strategy of tourism development and cultural conservation,local authorities have focused investing in constructing and upgradinginfrastructure. Natural landscapes have been preserved while culturaland historical relic sites have been restored and embellished.

The organisation of traditional festivals contributes to promoting the locality’s image to domestic and foreign visitors.

In recent years, Dak Lak has seen a considerable amount of socio-economic development, especially in tourism.

In 2011, the province welcomed about 310,000 tourists, earning 235billion VND (10.8 million USD). The number of visitors to the localityincreased to 467,000 in 2014, raking in 360 billion VND, up nearly 16percent against the previous year. According to Nguyen ThuyPhuong Hieu from the provincial Department of Culture, Sports andTourism, the local cultural sector is working with travel firms todevelop cultural and tourism activities, generating jobs for localresidents and preserving cultural values.

The locality is set to become one of the nation’s tourism centres, making tourism its spearhead economic sector.-VNA