The Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport in north-central Thanh Hoa Province has recently launched new community-based tours in Pu Luong Nature Reserve.

Connecting various hamlets with rich ethnic minority cultures, the tours offer a host of activities such as trekking, hiking, and cycling to discover old stilt houses, terraced rice fields, primeval forests, waterfalls, rivers, and mountains.

Guests can also visit traditional trade villages, experience the daily activities of local people, enjoy local specialties, especially those from ethnic minority groups, and join in their traditional festivals.

Dozens of local people participate in the tours, offering homestay services in their house.

Tours range from one day and two days and one night to three days and two nights as well as customized tours spanning the three districts of Ba Thuoc, Quan Hoa and Lang Chanh and connecting with rural areas in nearby Hoa Binh province and Hanoi.

As the number of foreign visitors to Pu Luong has increased recently, the development of community tourism is expected to attract more travelers to the area and raise the incomes and improve the livelihoods of local residents, contributing to bolstering the locality’s socioeconomic development.

Pu Luong has in recent years focused on upgrading infrastructure at tourist destinations, promoting community tourism, and restoring traditional cultural activities, together with conserving and developing intangible cultural values and training human resources for the tourism sector.

Pu Luong Nature Reserve was established in 1999 and is about 170 km south of Hanoi. Three-quarters of its 17,662 ha is primary tropical forest on many mountain ranges. It is also home to ethnic Muong and Thai people, making it an ideal destination for homestays. The area is also considered a valuable natural reserve for scientific research and socioeconomic and ecotourism development.

VN Economic Times