(HBO) - Over the past years, Mai Hich commune, Mai Chau district in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh has become an attractive tourism destination for both domestic and foreign visitors. Coming to the area, visitors will have a chance to immerse themselves into the beauty of natural landscapes and experience its unique cultural features reflected in cuisine, costumes and daily lives of the locals.
Minh Tho homestay in Hich 2 hamlet, Mai Hich commune, Mai Chau district is an ideal stopover for visitors.
Hich 1, Hich 2 and Hai Son hamlets are known for their charming landscapes with traditional stilt houses and numerous homestays.
In addition to accommodation and food services, many activities such as trekking, climbing, spelunking, cycling, kayaking, wading and fishing have brought many intriguing experiences to visitors.
Besides, tourists can enjoy popular local dishes, ruou can (wine drunk out of a jar through pipes), and Xoe dances of Thai girls.
Currently, Mai Hich commune has 11 homestays, mainly in Hich 1, Hich 2, and Cha Lang hamlets with a capacity of 25-30 guests per homestay. The commune has two high-class resorts, including Mai Chau Valey Retreat in Hai Son hamlet and Mai Son De Mai Hich in Hich 2 hamlet.
Homestays have worked with hamlets in other communes such as Buoc in Xam Khoe commune, Lac in Chieng Chau commune and Pom Coong in Mai Chau township to enhance experiences for tourists and propularise the culture of local Thai ethnic people to both domestic and foreign visitors.
Ha Van Bong, Chairman of Mai Hich communal People’s Committee said that in the coming time, the locality will continue to encourage people to tap its potential and advantages to develop community tourism, thus preserving and promoting local culture, helping increase incomes for the locals and turning Mai Hich into an ideal destination for both home and foreign visitors.
Currently, average income per capita in the commune reaches 40.8 million VND (1,700 USD) a year./.
In the first 9 months of 2024, Hoa Binh province continues to implement the expanded tourism development cooperation program plan of 8 Northwest provinces with Ho Chi Minh City; deploying digital transformation content in tourism and developing a smart tourism province. Hoa Binh province received about 3.6 million views, an increase of 7.9% over the same period. In which, international visitors are about 380 visitors, domestic visitors are estimated at 3 million 220 visitors.
Spanning thousands of hectares and winding gracefully along mountain slopes, hillsides, and riverbanks, the terraced rice fields of Lac Son District present a stunning and captivating beauty. This region, renowned for its remarkable terraced landscapes, is also the centre of Hoa Binh Culture known for numerous archaeological sites.
The life of Mong people in Hang Kia and Pa Co communes of Mai Chau district has improved much thanks to tourism development.
The man-made Hoa Binh Lake, with a water surface area of approximately 9,000 hectares and a capacity of 9.45 billion cubic meters, stretches over 200 kilometers from Hoa Binh to Son La provinces. With the goal of developing into a national tourism area, the Hoa Binh Lake tourism area is expected to not only become the largest tourism centre in the province but also one of the 12 key tourist destinations in the northern midland and mountainous region of Vietnam.
Da Bia hamlet, now Duc Phong, in Tien Phong commune, Da Bac district, was once almost isolated from the outside as the only way to the hamlet was to get a boat ride across the Hoa Binh reservoir. However, as its tourism potential has been unleashed, the hamlet has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations on the tourism map. It has even received the ASEAN Community-Based Tourism Awards in 2019.
In the first 9 months of 2024, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province welcomed over 684 thousand visitors to visit and relax. In which, over 516 thousand domestic visitors and more than 168 thousand international visitors. Total revenue from tourism is estimated at over 821 billion VND.