Delegates visit the Son La Tourism Photo Exhibition 2025.

The 2025 Tourism Awards have been expanded in both format and scale. In addition to the beautiful photo contest, creative tourism video contest, and tourism brand recognition voting, there will also be a slogan writing contest and a tour design and commentary contest for Son La tourism. The contests will be held online, creating favorable conditions to attract authors and groups of authors from within and outside the province to participate, present, and contribute creative ideas and unique perspectives on Son La tourism.

The competition organizers recorded 341 entries of beautiful travel photos from 55 authors nationwide; 153 heartfelt slogans; 39 lively video clips; and 15 tour scripts and travel guides. Notably, the tourism brand voting portal attracted 45 registered units, totaling 167,695 votes. A new feature of this year's competition series is the application of digital technology to the entire process, from receiving entries to judging.

The authors and groups of authors who received the A prize in the Son La 2025 tourism photography and video clip creation contest.  

Mr. Tran Xuan Viet, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: The judging panel of the competition consists of managers and experts with in-depth expertise in the field of tourism. The method of judging and determining awards is not traditional but is implemented entirely online at cuocthidulich.sonla.gov.vn. Scoring is done using software, ensuring independence, objectivity, accuracy, and transparency in the final evaluation results.

The authors exchanged views on the sidelines of the exhibition of beautiful tourism photographs of Son La.

The "Beautiful Photos of Son La Tourism" and tourism video clip competition continues to showcase the success of outstanding and experienced authors with a passion for capturing beautiful moments of Son La's land and people. The top-winning photographs include "Swinging" by Duong Tien Dung, "Dai Yem Waterfall" by Vu Thanh Nam, "The Beauty of the Nam Chien Hydroelectric Dam in the Full Water Season" by Do Truong Vinh; "Goat Fighting at the Hawthorn Flower Festival"; and "Moc Chau with White Plum Blossoms in the Forest" by Nguyen Manh Hai and Pham Thi Lan Anh. The video competition recognizes the outstanding work of the familiar group from the previous season, Nguyen Manh Hai and Pham Thi Lan Anh, with "Spring Colors on the Moc Chau Plateau," and a new face with "On the Peak of Hua Tat" by Trang A Chu.

Foreign tourists experience drawing patterns with beeswax at A Chu homestay, Van Ho commune.

Mr. Trang A Chu, owner of A Chu homestay in Hua Tat village, Van Ho commune, shared his feelings: "The video 'On the Summit of Hua Tat' captures the daily life of the Mong ethnic people, the beautiful moments of nature in Hua Tat village, with the message we want to convey: preserving traditional culture and spreading the beauty of our homeland. With the 2025 tourism competitions, A Chu homestay is honored to receive an additional award for the group of tourism accommodation establishments with outstanding products and services. This award affirms the community's recognition of the value and quality that we are striving to build."

The design of BamBo Bamboo Restaurant – Moc Chau Island harmonizes with nature.

The 2025 Tourism Awards added a new competition, "Designing Tours and Tour Guides for Son La," attracting participation from tourism professionals, professional and amateur tour guides. The competition featured several high-quality entries suggesting new, exploratory, and experiential tours focusing on culture, nature, and itineraries like "Hanoi - Moc Chau"... For the tourism slogan creation competition, the organizers selected and awarded prizes to three impressive slogans: "Son La - Enchanted by the mountain scent, captivated by the people" by Dam Trong Kien, "Green Land - Pristine Nature" by Nguyen Thi Chuc, and "Colorful Culture, Discovering the Essence" by Tran Thi Minh Hanh.

BamBo Bamboo Restaurant - Moc Chau Island.

Beyond just showcasing artistic works, the competition also served as an opportunity to evaluate and honor tourism service businesses. Through two rigorous rounds of assessment, from online customer voting to on-site evaluation by the judging panel, many destinations, resorts, and homestays were honored for their exemplary services and high-standard food and beverage services, including: Hang Mieng Temple historical and cultural site; Thao Nguyen Hotel & Resort; Hai Anh Hotel (Phu Yen); Ther House Moc Chau Hotel; Hai Hau Homestay (Moc Son ward); A Chu homestay (Van Ho commune); Met Quan 82 Restaurant; BamBo Bamboo Restaurant - Moc Chau Island...

Luxurious interior design in the guest rooms at Hai Anh Hotel, Phu Yen commune.

Mr. Nguyen Tung Anh, manager of Hai Anh Hotel in Phu Yen commune, said: "Hai Anh Hotel has 9 floors and 60 rooms, capable of serving over 200 guests per visit. This is the first time Hai Anh Hotel has participated in the tourism award competition. We were very happy and surprised to be recognized as a hotel with outstanding service in the province. This is both a recognition from the community for our establishment after many years of effort and a great encouragement for us to continue improving and enhancing the quality of our services to better meet the needs of tourists."

The Son La tourism competitions have created opportunities for tourist areas, attractions, and service businesses to affirm their brand and appeal through user reviews. At the same time, they have generated a high-quality digital database of images, videos, tour scripts, and creative ideas and unique perspectives; a valuable resource for the province's tourism industry to continue exploiting in future promotional campaigns.

Thanh Dao