A painting decorates an old wall of a house in Mân Thái Ward in Sơn Trà peninsula of Đà Nẵng. Photo courtesy of Võ Dũng

ĐÀ NẴNG — The first mural zone was introduced at Mân Thái Ward – an ancient fishing village since 1735 – in the Sơn Trà peninsula after five months of decoration, setting up the development of a community-based tourism project.

The mural zone, which included 40 paintings on 400m of the old walls in an alley of the coastal Tân An living quarter, was built as a check-in for tourists visiting the old fishing village as part of Sơn Trà peninsula tours.

A resident poses with a painting in an alley of Mân Thái Ward in Sơn Trà District. The local community still preserves traditional festivals and fishing activities for decades. Photo courtesy of Võ Dũng

In 2018, Đà Nẵng included the preservation of ancient fishing villages of Mân Thái, Phước Mỹ and Thọ Quang as part of eco-tour destinations, traditional cultural performances, whale temples and crafts for tourism all ongoing in the villages and surrounding area.

Now only five per cent of the population in the village still do fishing, which is getting a boost from tourism.

A procession of the traditional Whale Worshiping moves on the beach of Mân Thái Ward in Đà Nẵng. VNS Photo Công Thành

Fishermen take short sea trips on coracles or use coastal fishing nets to make extra money. The local fishermen's community still hosts the annual Lễ Hội Cầu Ngư (Whale Worshipping Festival) in lunar February and has done for the past three decades.

The festivals, which were organised by fishing communities in Sơn Trà, Thanh Khê, Ngũ Hành Sơn and Liên Chiểu, were recognised as a National Intangible Heritage in 2017.

Authorities of Sơn Trà District have also debuted its logo for tourism brands, with domestic and international promotion.

Fishermen collect fishing nets after a sea trip with a coracle on the beach of Mân Thái in Đà Nẵng. A bamboo coracle is used for short sea trips among fishermen in coastal villages. Photo courtesy of Quang Nguyễn

Sơn Trà peninsula district is home to a 4,400ha nature reserve, with 287 species of animals and 985 species of plants.

A red-shanked douc langurs is snapped on Sơn Trà Nature Reserve in Đà Nẵng. The primates were declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Photo courtesy of Bùi Văn Tuấn

The reserve, 10km from the city centre, shelters more than 1,300 red-shanked douc langurs, declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2013.

It is a favourite destination, with 10,000 tourists visiting the reserve every month. Đà Nẵng approved the plan to protect biodiversity in Sơn Trà Nature Reserve by 2030. — VNS