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DNO - What leaves the deepest impression after a journey to a new land, Da Nang for instance? Beyond landscapes and landmarks, it is often the memories carried through stories told by those who love their homeland deeply and live its history every day.
When local voices keep heritage alive
In modern tourism, destinations that endure in visitors’ minds are those capable of transforming history, collective memory and local life into meaningful narratives.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) defines this as narrative identity - a place’s identity shaped and conveyed through storytelling. Such destinations are not merely seen; they are remembered.
The Ky Anh Tunnels, located in Ban Thach Ward, Da Nang stand as a powerful example. Recognized as a national historical relic, the site is gradually gaining visibility on the international tourism map.
Behind this journey is a quiet yet profound contributor who is Huynh Kim Ta, often described by visitors as a “living archive” of this riverside land.
For more than 13 years, starting as a site guard, Ta has continuously educated himself in local history and culture, transforming his role into that of both caretaker and storyteller.
Rather than reciting dates or military statistics, he brings artifacts and underground passages to life through personal narratives, human memories and emotional depth.
Since 2017, when the Ky Anh Tunnels began welcoming international visitors, Ta has taken another step forward. Faced with language barriers, he taught himself basic English and applied technology to ensure foreign guests would not miss the essence of the site.
Visitors often leave with something intangible yet lasting stories not found in guidebooks or travel websites. These unscripted memories encourage them to linger, listen and reflect, offering a rare feeling of having touched the true soul of a place.
People at the heart of story-driven tourism
According to Van Ba Son, the Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, many countries have successfully built tourism strategies rooted in collective memory.
Japan, for example, develops heritage village tourism through family histories and local rituals. Italy and France treat each town as a “miniature historical narrative”, where local residents serve as the primary storytellers.
In New Zealand, the memories and worldview of the Maori people form the backbone of indigenous tourism, allowing visitors to understand the nation through the perspective of its first inhabitants.
A value system in which local communities are placed at the centre of the tourism experience, not merely as service providers but as custodians of place-based memory.
UNWTO reinforces this idea through the concept of living heritage tourism, emphasising that heritage truly comes alive only when there are people to remember it, narrate it and pass it on.
In the lens of modern tourism, such individuals are regarded as “living museums”, bearers of stories that transform destinations into meaningful experiences.
Story-based tourism has thus emerged, where each place is approached as a living text. Visitors are no longer passive viewers but active readers and sometimes co-creators as they listen, engage and retell stories in their own ways.
In reality, artisans and heritage bearers across Da Nang are shaping the city’s image through every story they tell.
In an era focused on authentic local experiences, they stand as true ambassadors of cultural tourism, turning each journey into a meaningful act of collecting memories.
