VietNamNet Bridge – The escalating number of international tourists visiting Vietnam over recent years has motivated almost every ethnic group to set up their own homestay and this type of tourism is rapidly gaining in popularity.

For ethnic groups in mountainous areas that cannot make extensive infrastructural investment but possess an abundance of tourism richness, homestays are an attractive tourism product.

It entails a tourist living in an ethnic minority household to experience and learn about their way of life including local food and drinks and interaction with family members and friends.  The tourist also has an opportunity to take part in daily activities such as cooking, farming and shopping.

A few years ago, the livelihood of Giang A Tu and his wife-Ma Thi Chu in Giang Ta Chai Village, Ta Van Commune, Sapa District in the northern province of Lao Cai centred solely on rice cultivation and selling a few novelty items and souvenirs to passing tourists.

Now they operate a homestay, which can accommodate up to 20 people at any one time and over the past several months, they have welcomed more than 300 tourists in total into their home.

In the Northern Region, homestay tourism is robustly growing in both Hoa Binh and Lao Cai provinces.

The model is also gaining a firm foothold in the Central Region around Phuoc Tich Village in Thua Thien-Hue Province and Hoi An City and is making a great contribution to the tourism industry in terms of job creation and revenue.

However, due to the lack of sufficient capital and formal governmental assistance mechanism from functional agencies, homestay is not realising its fullest potential, said Pham Hung Son, head of the management board of Duong Lam ancient village in Son Tay Town, Hanoi.

This is also why the board is offering guidance for local ethnic people on how to establish and operate a homestay business, Son said.

Son expressed his concern about the way some homestays have expanded their facilities into something more closely resembling a guest house--hosting a large number of visitors at a time (like a hotel) and departing from the intimate essence of the homestay.

Pham Thanh Tam, Head of Domestic Tour Department, Vietrantour Company, in turn said homestay services are developing vigorously in line with the trend of tourism development throughout the world, meeting the needs of the majority of international visitors interested in learning of the ethnic culture.

Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Ha Van Sieu echoed Tam’s views adding that to develop homestay to its fullest the experience should encompass all aspects of everyday cultural life including culture, cuisine, customs, and climate of the ethnic culture.

To ensure that homestay tourism flourishes, this service should only be done by ethnic people for their benefit, Sieu said.

There is tremendous potential in homestay as it is fuelled by the inherently beautiful natural landscapes, the culture of the indigenous peoples, customs, lifestyles, and the rich culinary culture of the region.

However, there needs to be a specific policy mechanism with oversight from the State to shape it into a community driven sustainable tourism product of the country.

VOV/VNN