The life of Mong people in Hang Kia and Pa Co communes of Mai Chau district has improved much thanks to tourism development.
Tourists visit the Mong ethnic market in Pa Co commune, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province.
The two communes usually become much busier on weekends when domestic and foreign tourists flock to experience and explore the local daily life.
Phang A Pao, a farmer in Cha Day hamlet, Pa Co commune, said that since 2017, his family and some households in the hamlet have combined agricultural production with community-based tourism development. Their daily life and production such as growing rice, harvesting Shan Tuyet tea, dyeing indigo, painting beeswax, and making paper are utilised and exploited as tourism products.
In the last few years, transport infrastructure in the two communes has been improved, creating favourable conditions for tourism development. Tourists can easily travel to destinations by motorbikes, cars or coaches. Other infrastructure of telecommunication, electricity, clean water has been improved too together with attention being paid to increase quality of human resources for tourism, and financial support for ethnic minority households. With the effective preservation of traditional cultural values and natural resources, the two communes have become attractive tourist destinations.
Cao Thu Ha, a tourist from Hanoi, shared that she has travelled to the communes five or six times. Ha said she enjoy going to the market with the Mong people, practicing beeswax painting, eating hot fried sticky rice cakes and watching the sunrise on the mountain.
There are more than ten homestays in Hang Kia and Pa Co communes. Tourism development has created jobs and sustainable livelihoods for hundreds of local labourers. In Hang Kia commune, a community-based cooperative has been established while in Pa Co commune, homestay services providers established an association to support each other.
Community-based tourism sites in the two communes welcome visitors all year round with the high season falling in summer, long holidays, new year celebration of the Mong people and Lunar New Year.
They are also focusing on exploiting new and attractive tourism products associated with ethnic cultural identity to attract tourists, such as Mong ethnic cultural exchange night market, cloud watching or night camping in Hang Kia.
According to Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Pa Co commune Phang A Song, the community-based tourism models have significantly changed the life of local Mong people. Tourism development not only helps increase income for local residents but also contributes to better protection of natural resources as people are aware of the importance of keeping forests and creating ecological landscapes. Local unique cultural features are promoted while people can better sell agricultural specialties and handicrafts.
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 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.
Da Bac district, bestowed with stunning landscapes, is developing ecological and resort tourism offerings. Several tourist sites, put into operation this year, has attracted throngs of high-spending and young domestic visitors.
In the first nine months of 2024, Da Bac district has intensified efforts in preserving and promoting the cultural values of ethnic groups in tandem with community-based tourism development. Many cultural tourism products have been built on the basis of preserving and maintaining the architecture of ethnic minority houses as well as traditional crafts such as making do (poonah) paper, brocade weaving, embroidery, and indigo dyeing.
