A comprehensive development strategy with a focus on five main pillars has been offered to turn Da Lat, a popular city in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, into a greener and more sustainable place.

The growth of Da Lat City has depended on two backbones: tourism and agriculture, but amid several challenges over climate change and urbanization, the city needs fueling by three more pillars, including education, culture and music, to achieve sustainability and comprehensiveness. 

The current status of two traditional pillars: tourism and agriculture

Tourism has been considered the economic spearhead in Da Lat City for ages, making a significant contribution to the city’s gross domestic product growth.

Endowed with the year-round cool weather and unspoiled landscapes, coupled with unique architecture, Da Lat City in Lam Dong Province annually welcomes millions of tourists.

However, the tourism industry is facing some big challenges over weak traffic infrastructure and limited public modes of transportation, leading to failure in suiting the travel demand of a huge number of visitors.

Overtourism has hurt natural landscapes and polluted the environment in Da Lat.

Besides, tourism products and services are not diverse as only traditional destinations are being exploited.

Meanwhile, the city has yet to effectively tap into cultural, educational and musical tourism models.

As for agriculture, hi-tech agriculture is one of the city’s strengths, contributing to building farm produce brands for Da Lat, with high-quality products such as vegetables, flowers and strawberries. 

Yet, the industry is struggling with the pressure from climate change and abnormal weather situations, which affect the output and quality of agricultural products.

Also, the use of chemicals and fertilizers in cultivation has caused pollution to soil and water, reducing the sustainability of the local agricultural environment.

Additionally, Da Lat’s farm produce has been entering fierce competition with products from big exporters such as Thailand and the Netherlands.

Da Lat City is enhancing farm produce export activities. Photo: M.V. / Tuoi Tre

Potential pillars for Da Lat’s sustainable development

To develop sustainably and comprehensively, Da Lat should take into account three more pillars, including education, culture and music. A combination of the five pillars is expected to strengthen the city.

Education will act as a long-term lever for sustainability, playing a key role in talent incubation and inspiration for innovation.

Da Lat City is seen to have huge potential for becoming the region’s leading educational hub. The city is home to multiple universities and research centers, but its educational ecosystem is not strong enough to unlock its potential.

Therefore, the city should focus on the establishment of in-depth agricultural and environmental research centers, and offer various domestic study abroad programs to attract students, moving towards turning itself into one of the top educational destinations.

The city should harness educational tourism to treat both students and tourists to distinctive experiences.

Culture is an indispensable element in the process of forming the uniqueness in Da Lat City as cultural features help increase the city’s attractiveness.

However, some traditional cultural values in the city are gradually fading or are not capitalized on well.

Restoring traditional festivals and transforming them into unique cultural tourism services is a need.

The city should also build a museum designated for history and culture to help residents and tourists learn more about its culture, and encourage the expansion of handicrafts in combination of traditional and modern features to not only preserve cultural beauty but also create economic values.

The suggestions are aimed at cementing the city’s position in the cultural tourism field.

To leverage musical tourism, Da Lat City should be oriented towards becoming a destination of international music festivals.

However, currently, music activities in the city are disjointed and lack a synchronous development strategy, so they have failed to create a distinctive mark for Da Lat.

Organizing world-class outdoor music and arts festivals such as the iconic Glastonbury in England and Coachella in the United States will help shape Da Lat into a musical city.

In addition, it is a must to open public spaces geared up for street musical performances, which will bring new vitality to the city and increase the connection between locals and tourists.

Furthermore, the establishment of music academies and arts centers will contribute to luring artists nationwide to the city.

Foreign tourists are pictured exploring Da Lat’s landscapes. Photo: M.V. / Tuoi Tre

Synergy created from combination of five pillars  

The ‘Five-Pillar House’ model not only highlights the importance of five potential fields for development, but also requires the harmony of these key elements to generate synergy. 

The combination of tourism and education can promote school tourism programs and cultural exchange activities, as well as international scientific seminars, converting Da Lat into an ideal destination for study and research.

The mixture of agriculture and culture will provide tourists with new experiences, bringing them to community-driven tourism villages where visitors can join farming activities. 

Also, the combination of music and tourism will develop Da Lat into an innovative musical hub.

An art performance in a vintage train in Da Lat. Photo: Nam Trinh

Detailed roadmap of five-pillar development model

Da Lat’s development roadmap can be carried out in three phases, with the first phase, scheduled for three years, prioritizing the renovation of traffic infrastructure and tourist areas. 

Besides, organic farming pilot programs will be launched during the phase to raise the value of farm produce, while the city will hold small-scale cultural and musical festivals as a foundation for larger-scale ones.

During the second phase, set to last for three or five years, Da Lat will focus on completing educational and research centers to attract talent and foster innovation, and host large-scale cultural and music festivals. The city will also boost trade promotion and export activities in the global market.

Da Lat City will concentrate on building it into the leading educational hub in the Central Highlands region and the nation as a whole during the third phase for five to 10 years. Additionally, the city will position itself as a captivating cultural and musical destination in Vietnam and the world.

The model based on the five pillars is meant to diversify Da Lat City’s economy and spur the city’s sustainability.

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