Take advantage of tourism potential

Mr. Phang A Pao, a member of the Farmers' Association of Pa Co commune, Mai Chau district in Hoa Binh province, is a pioneer in community tourism in his hometown village of Cha Day. He said that the rice fields and tea hills around his house have become tourist attractions.

To turn his family's advantages into tourism products, Pao researched and decided to develop the homestay model that can preserve the cultural identity of the Mong people.

Coming to his village, tourists will stay overnight in community rooms; hunt clouds and see dawn in the mountains; visit tea hills and forests; try traditional crafts such as indigo dyeing, do paper making, beeswax painting and visit Mong Space - a miniature Mong people's cultural space...

As the owner of a homestay estabslishment, Pao is also a tour guide who accompanies his tourists throughout the journey to explore this place.

Since late 2022, the Pa Co night market has opened regularly to serve tourists and become a new tourist product every Saturday night. 

In addition to providing accommodation and food services, farmer households also offer accompanying products and services such as performing arts, producing and providing brocade goods, organizing folk games and giving explanations to visitors to help them learn about long-standing historical and cultural traditions, the lives of indigenous people. More and more local residents have been participating in this model.

Local people have developed new tourism products that are closely associated with the national cultural identity of the Muong, Thai, Dao, and Mong people. Sung village in Cao Son commune, Da Bac district, Ngoi village in Suoi Hoa commune, Tan Lac district, Cha Day village in Pa Co commune, Mai Chau district have introduced many new tourtism products to enhance tourists’ experience.

Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Hoa Binh province, Bui Xuan Truong, said that community tourism that connects natural landscapes, indigenous culture, and rural tourism has been developing with various models in his province.

Over the past years, Hoa Binh has developed the homestay and farmstay types to turn the unique advantages of ethnic communities into tourism products, contributing to socio-economic development, improving material and spiritual life of the residential community, protecting the natural environment, promoting the traditional cultural identities of ethnic groups in the province.

Hoa Binh has achieved initial results in tourism development associated with building new rural areas and rural agriculture such as: building farms and agricultural production zones to provide products to tourists, for example organic vegetables in Tan Lac, oranges in Cao Phong, Lac Thuy, fish cage farming on Hoa Binh lake...

The province has built a model of resort farms such as Dong Goi Farm, Fun Farm in Luong Son district, which are cow farm combining educational and ecological experiences, or Eco Farm in Kim Boi district.

Hoa Binh tourism sector has also developed cultural tours associated with agricultural experiences and homestay tourism that operate very effectively. There are many sites recognized as ASEAN Community Tourism.

Important solutions

The fact shows that agricultural tourism brings many benefits to both agricultural production and the lives of people in rural areas, not only contributing to diversifying commercial activities and opening new markets for agricultural products, but also directly creating jobs and increasing income for farmers.

In addition, agricultural tourism in some localities is associated with the National Target Program on New Rural Areas, the OCOP Program, the Program on Preserving the Cultural Values of Traditional Craft Villages.

Developing tourism associated with building new rural areas is an important solution set by Hoa Binh authorities in the program to build new rural areas by 2025. The province strives that by 2025, each district and city in Hoa Binh will have at least 1 recognized rural tourism destination associated with advantages in agriculture, culture, craft villages or the ecological environment;

to have 50% of rural tourism service businesses recognized to meet tourist service standards; at least 50% of recognized rural tourist attractions digitized and connected to tourism promotion platforms.

To achieve the above goal, the People's Committee of Hoa Binh province requires state agencies at all levels to focus on 5 key tasks including: Upgrading and investing in developing rural tourist attractions associated with implementing the criteria for building new rural areas; Developing rural tourism products with regional characteristics; Developing quality rural tourism human resources; Promoting communication and promotion of rural tourism; Developing and implementing pilot models for rural tourism development towards green, responsible and sustainable tourism.

The Hoa Binh Provincial People's Committee also assigned the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to preside and coordinate with relevant agencies to review agricultural and rural tourism models, based on the National Tourism System Planning for 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2045; research and develop criteria to evaluate the quality of service activities of agricultural and rural tourism models in accordance with the province's tourism development orientation;

Promote tourism development, turn the unique advantages of ethnic communities into attractive tourism products in order to contribute to socio-economic development, improving the material and spiritual life of the locl community, protect the natural environment and promote the traditional cultural identities of ethnic groups.

In fact, rural tourism models in Hoa Binh are still small and spontaneous, and the province still lacks products that attract tourists, especially international visitors. Some new agricultural tourism models only meet the simple needs of tourists for sightseeing, relaxation, and experience, without many attractive services. Local people and travel firms do not have a close connection with local governments and state management agencies to develop tourism products in a methodical, quality and professional manner.

Mr. Ha Van Thang, Chairman of the Hoa Binh Province Tourism Association, said that in the next term, his agency will pay special attention to turning agricultural activities into tourism products, bringing practical values to investors, organizations and individuals participating in the agricultural sector, turning production sites into attractive tourist destinations.

The Hoa Binh Tourism Association hopes that the local government will pay more attention to this field through issuing favorable mechanisms and policies, investing appropriately in infrastructure to serve agricultural tourism, providing technical support, technology, human resource training, incentive interest rates to develop agricultural products, innovating forms of production organization in rural areas... By doing so, rural tourism in Hoa Binh will develop sustainably, bringing high economic efficiency to farmers and businesses.

Thanh Minh