“The Cultural Touchpoints” in the Inspired Designer Masterpiece Cruise Ship in the Natural Heritage
DIENDANDOANHNGHIEP.VN: Mr. Pham Ha, the Chairman and CEO of LuxGroup (https://www.luxgroup.vn), is not just an experienced entrepreneur in the luxury business world but also an avid collector of paintings deeply rooted in Vietnamese culture and spirit.
He shared that collecting paintings is a personal hobby for him, allowing a balance between life and work while fostering creativity and complete happiness.
What sparked your passion for collecting paintings?
When collecting artworks from various artists, I am drawn to pieces with strong, meaningful content, linked to memories and personal experiences. These paintings must reflect different periods of the country, portraying the history of artistic development, societal issues, living environments, human aspects, landscapes, and convey a message beyond mere beauty.
I have a particular fondness for Pham Luc’s paintings (1943). His works evoke emotions and deeply resonate within my heart. Through colors, strokes, and shapes, he portrays Vietnamese cultural stories and history in a captivating manner. His paintings unveil culture and the timeline of history.
Out of my admiration and love for Pham Luc’s artwork, I completed a artbook at the beginning of 2020, introducing 100 of his paintings titled “Vietnam’s Picasso, an Artistic Lifetime.”
Fueled by a love for Vietnam’s heritage, I’ve pursued this passion for years, bringing immense personal happiness and fulfillment.
Showcasing the “valuable” art collection aboard Lux Cruises’s Heritage Binh Chuan (https://www.heritagecruises.com) is deemed a bold move. What are your thoughts on this?
It could be considered one of Vietnam’s most significant, daring, and pioneering innovations as LuxGroup takes the initiative to bring a multi-million-dollar art collection onto a cruise for the first time.
The art transcends mere beauty; Pham Luc’s artworks narrate tales of war and peace, tradition, culture, heritage, and Vietnam’s societal evolution across different eras. This exclusivity offers an experience only discerning travelers visiting Heritage Binh Chuan can cherish.
This daring move earned a “sweet reward” as Lux Cruises (https://www.lux-cruises.com) received the “Best of The Best” award in the Travelers’ Choice Awards on Trip Advisor 2023, World’s Best Boutique Cruise Line by World Cruise Awards, and World’s River Cruise Line and World’s Leading Ships Cruise Line 2023 by the Oscar of Tourism Industry World Travel Awards.
This significant recognition affirms LuxGroup as a pioneering entity in heritage tourism experiences, conducting luxurious cruise and yacht tourism, exploring Vietnam’s most beautiful bays like Nha Trang Nay, Bai Tu Long Bay, Halong Bay, and Cat Ba Archipelago. Soon, Lux Cruises will sail along the Vietnamese coastline from Halong Bay to Saigon through the heritage waterway once traversed by Cruise Ships Bạch Thái Bưởi (1874-1932) a hundred years ago with three cruise ships.
The artistic masterpieces by painter Pham Luc displayed aboard Heritage Cruises Binh Chuan Cat Ba Archipelago make it “truly unique, different, authentic, innovative and immersive.” Safeguarding such valuable artwork on the yacht must be quite challenging, isn’t it?
Many believe that natural elements like sun, heat, wind, light, humidity, and sea salt could damage paintings. Conversely, on the cruise, humidity remains at 50%, with an average temperature of 72 degrees F (22 degrees C), ideal for preserving paintings, akin to museum conditions.
The artworks are securely hung to prevent shaking yet are easily removable in emergencies. They require special care if dirtied and routine maintenance by experts. All valuable paintings must be insured.
With a love for Vietnam’s heritage and inherent “artistic heritage essence,” LuxGroup surely aims to advance the cultural heritage cruise on its long journey ahead. How does LuxGroup plan and steer its mission to promote Vietnamese culture?
At LuxGroup, we take pride in Vietnam’s rich culture, heritage, and history, considering promoting these values as the tourism industry’s mission.
All LuxGroup projects encompass emotional richness, presenting cultural and historical stories of Vietnam to tourists. We transform the “soft power” of culture into input resources for economic development.
Especially for international visitors, experiencing and understanding Vietnamese culture becomes possible, fostering deeper pride among Vietnamese people in their national heritage.
The touchpoints designed by us for tourists revolve around cultural experiences paired with luxurious services. On the cruise, luxury travellers engage in artistic culture, cuisine, architecture, fashion (where travellers wear traditional áo dài or traditional dress and vovinam). In my view, Vietnam’s tourism should evolve towards being an intriguing destination, an experience, and a memory.
Vietnam boasts abundant heritage resources, culture, people, and natural landscapes. From planning to execution, Vietnam must excel to become a tourism powerhouse. Achieving this requires an expedited short, medium, and long-term recovery strategy, focusing on resolving institutional policy issues, human resources, tourism products, national brand positioning, effective promotion, destination management, and comprehensive digitization of the tourism and cruise industry.
You’re welcome!
by Minh Chau
