REIMAGINING COLONIAL LEGACIES IN BẠCH MÃ NATIONAL PARK, VIETNAM: SUSTAINABLE HERITAGE TOURISM AND INTERPRETIVE INNOVATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17501/Keywords:
sustainable heritage tourism, heritage interpretation, interpretive innovation, postcolonial landscapes, protected areas, Bạch Mã national parkAbstract
This study examines Bạch Mã National Park (BMNP), Vietnam, as a case of sustainable heritage tourism and interpretive innovation in a postcolonial protected landscape. Originally developed as a French colonial hill station and later managed as a national park, BMNP combines ecological value, colonial architectural remains, wartime traces, and contemporary conservation priorities. Unlike highly commercialised mountain destinations such as Ba Na Hills or Fansipan Legend, BMNP suggests a slower, more reflective model of mountain tourism, in which heritage interpretation can support conservation education, historical understanding, and responsible visitor engagement. The study adopts a qualitative longitudinal case study design based on fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2024. Data were collected through archival research in France and Vietnam, semi-participant observation, documentation of tangible and intangible heritage elements, historical witness testimonies, field-based exchanges with park and tourism actors, and park reports and tourism statistics. The findings indicate that BMNP should not be viewed only as a biodiversity site or a former colonial resort, but as a layered heritage landscape shaped by colonial planning, wartime disruption, postcolonial conservation, and current tourism development. Interpretive initiatives, including museographic displays, multilingual media, 3D reconstructions, interpretation centres, and the park’s seasonal “natural calendar”, show how ecological and historical narratives can be translated into visitor experiences that are educational, place-based, and attentive to conservation. The paper argues that sustainable heritage tourism in BMNP depends on the integration of ecological conservation, postcolonial reinterpretation, cultural mediation, and community participation. Its contribution lies in showing how an under-commercialised protected area can be repositioned through interpretation as a meaningful alternative to mass mountain tourism, while offering practical implications for park managers, tourism planners, heritage professionals, and policymakers in Southeast Asia.
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