(HBO) – As a magnet for tourists, Mai Chau has been honoured by the Traveller Review Awards, which evaluates the hospitality of tourist destinations, as one of the 10 most hospitable destinations in Vietnam in 2023.
An Italy tourist group pose for a photo in Hich village, a community-based tourist site in Mai Hich commune, Mai Chau district.
The award was based on more than 240 million verified reviews from Booking.com travellers. It shows Mai Chau’s role in Vietnam’s tourism map, and reflects the efforts of the Party Committee, administration and local residents of Mai Chau in promoting tourism.
Hoang Duc Minh, Vice Chairman of the Mai Chau People’s Committee, said that Mai Chau is a mountainous district, which is home to seven ethnic groups with diverse cultural identities.
Over the years, the committee has taken great efforts to preserve and promote the cultural identity of the ethnic groups through the issuance of many plans, directives, resolutions and projects in the field.
The locality’s efforts have reaped fruits. The district has revived and restored "Xen Muong” festival of Thai ethnic minority people, and "Gau Tao” festival of Mong ethnic minority people. In 2021, "keng long” dance of the Thai people was proposed for the title of national intangible cultural heritage.
Today, Mai Chau is one of the bright spots in the Vietnamese tourism map with 197 accommodation facilities for tourists, including four resorts - Avana Resort, Mai Chau Ecolodge, Ba Khan Village Resort, and Mai Chau Hideaway Resort. The district has eight community-based tourism sites.
Mai Chau welcomed 324,536 visitors in 2017, 332,000 visitors in 2018, and 379,500 visitors in 2019. After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022, the district served 534,000 tourists, including 19,713 foreigners and 504,287 domestic visitors.
In the first nine months of 2023, Mai Chau welcomed 467,713 visitors, including 54,807 foreigners. Revenue from tourism has greatly contributed to the district's socio-economic development.
Ngan Van Tuan, head of the district’s Division of Information and Communications, in the time to come, in order to maintain its position as an attractive and hospitable destination, Mai Chau will continue to invest in tourism development, while expanding community-based tourism in association with environmental protection, encouraging local people to join hands in promoting cultural values and building the image of Mai Chau tourism.
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.
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