In the early days of spring, accommodation businesses and tourist sites in Hoa Binh province have welcomed a large number of visitors, with many of them remaining open throughout the week-long Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.
Tourists taking a stroll in a forest in Hien Luong commune, Da Bac district.
In recent years, as many people have become
better off, more and more have switched from celebrating Tet to enjoying Tet,
and the demand for traveling during the longest festival in a year of Vietnamese
people is growing. The Northwest region in general and Hoa Binh province in
particular are always ideal destinations for tourists.
To best meet their needs, local homestays
had received booking from before Tet and made all necessary preparations to welcome
visitors on the first days of the new year.
Bui Van Thu, owner of Thu Bi homestay,
Chien hamlet, Van Son commune, Tan Lac district, shared: "In order to meet the
needs of tourists, we are ready to receive visitors to stay overnight during
Tet. My family has a community house that can accommodate about 30 people. In
addition to discovering the cultural identity of Tan Lac mountainous district
during Tet, tourists can also visit Nam Son cave, Thung waterfall and attend
the Khai Ha festival”.
Long, owner of a homestay in Hien Luong
commune (Da Bac), said: "Lunar New Year is an opportunity for tourists to come
to Hoa Binh, we accept visitors booking rooms throughout Tet. To meet their
demand, it is necessary to do a good job of preparing facilities and food and
creating entertainment activities for them”.
Nguyen Thanh Binh, a tourist from Hanoi,
said: "Tet is a long holiday, so I want to go out with my family, explore and
experience new lands and cultural beauty in different regions during Tet. Hoa
Binh is an ideal choice because of its unique cultural features, along with
typical dishes, friendly and hospitable people, and still retaining many
traditional lifestyles of ethnic groups. When we come here, we can immerse
ourselves in nature, enjoy the immense beauty of mountains and forests that are
rarely found in the city.
In recent years, community-based tourism
has been a direction of local economic development, exploiting existing
potential and strengths to develop services, create jobs, and raise people's
income, thus contributing to poverty reduction in remote and ethnic-inhabited
areas.
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.