The Mong man went from nothing to the most famous homestay owner in Son La

Sharing at the tourism conference organized by the Government on the morning of November 15, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that he had just gone to Van Ho (Son La), where the Prime Minister had visited and encouraged the couple Trang A Chu - a Mong ethnic group - to do community tourism. "They have 60 homestay rooms that are always full of guests even though it is a very remote village. I want to say that to show that our rural tourism and community tourism potential is huge. If tourism corporations know how to support, I think it will create a miracle," said Minister Hoan.

In the last two months of the year, Moc Chau ( Son La ) entered the season of blooming daisies, rose gardens, and orange gardens full of fruit, attracting tourists from all over. Thanks to that, the homestay in Hua Tat (Van Ho, Son La) of Mr. Trang A Chu entered the peak period, the room rate reached 60%, and the weekends were fully booked. "The number of guests is currently equal to the time before the Covid-19 pandemic, there are many international guests. Travel companies constantly contact me to book rooms and experience tours," said Mr. A Chu. Busy with the work of managing the homestay, welcoming tourists during the peak season, but every week, Mr. A Chu still takes time to travel more than 30km to Hang Tau - the "primitive village" in Ta So 1 village (Chieng Hac commune, Moc Chau) to work with local cultural officials to mobilize people to do community tourism.

Hang Tau is a farming and agricultural production area of about 1 hectare, with an extremely wild and peaceful landscape. Tourists come here to experience a journey "back in time", returning to "primitive life": No electricity, no phone signal, no internet. This area has 20 H'Mong households living. Previously, the Mong people only worked hard on farming on the high mountains, all year round "selling their faces to the land, selling their backs to the sky". Since the community tourism development program was launched, the road to Hang Tau has been expanded and spacious. To ensure that tourists have a good experience, local officials have mobilized people to build toilets, graze livestock in separate areas, preserve the natural landscape... However, changing the awareness and living habits of the Mong people is not easy. “The lifestyle of the Mong people has existed for many generations, so there is no need to propagate or persuade them to understand and follow it immediately. I am also a Mong person who escaped poverty through tourism, so the local officials trusted me and asked me to meet and persuade the people,” said Mr. A Chu. Arriving at Hang Tau, Mr. A Chu used his ethnic language to share with the people about his journey of giving up his dream of staying in the city to return to his poor hometown, and starting a tourism business on his own, despite everyone’s skepticism. He said that about 10 years ago, the land where he currently operates his homestay was just a mixed garden. At that time, Hua Tat village was still a poor village, where people lived in poverty, self-sufficient in everything, and every house grew opium poppies. Young men smoked opium like young men smoke cigarettes now. “Before 2013, I, like the locals, did not know what community tourism was. In 2013, I happened to participate in a tourism program of Son La province, and for the first time, I came across basic knowledge about community tourism. Then, God blessed me and I met Mr. Duong Minh Binh, a leader of a tourism company who was passionate about projects to build community tourism models associated with local culture. He said that Hua Tat location at that time was very difficult to do tourism, requiring diligence and perseverance because the location was far from Moc Chau and the situation of opium and drug trafficking was complicated,” Mr. A Chu recalled. At that time, A Chu and his wife sold all their corn and rice and had only 1 million VND. They “risked” borrowing 28 million VND from a friend and asking their parents for another 1 million VND. With 30 million VND in hand, A Chu put down a deposit on an old house, asked young men in the village to help repair and build a house for a homestay, and when they had money, they would pay him back. Up to now, after many years of renovation and expansion, the homestay has 10 private rooms and two spacious communal stilt houses, which can serve about 60 guests per day.

“Our ethnic people only trust real people and real events. Therefore, when I tell them about my journey, they believe and are motivated to respond to local policies,” said Mr. A Chu. “Of course, mobilizing people is not a job that can be done overnight, but must be done slowly and steadily. Every week, when I take tourists to Hang Tau, I spend time meeting people, introducing, explaining, and encouraging them to do the smallest things like grazing livestock in a separate area, building a polite private toilet, renovating their houses to make them community resting places…”, Mr. A Chu shared. Over the years, A Chu has visited many different highland villages in Son La, Hoa Binh, Ha Giang, Thanh Hoa, etc. to share about his homestay model, introduce people to community tourism, and mobilize and support them to work together to improve their economy .

"If we want tourism to develop sustainably, we need the community to fully understand and be aware of it, and join hands to create civilized destinations rich in experiences. That is why I am not afraid of difficulties and hardships, and I go to many places to share with people, hoping that people will have a sustainable direction and change their difficult lives," said Mr. A Chu. [caption id="attachment_564400" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]

[/caption]

After nearly 10 years of overcoming difficulties and hardships, the H'Mong engineer from Hanoi University of Science and Technology - Trang A Chu, who was once empty-handed, has become the most famous homestay owner in Son La. At the end of May 2022, A Chu homestay was honored to be visited by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during his business trip to the Northwest. From 2017 to present, Trang A Chu has been awarded many certificates of merit from the Provincial People's Committee, Provincial Youth Union, Provincial Tourism Association, and Van Ho District People's Committee. A Chu Homestay was honored by the Vietnam Tourism Association as a typical eco-tourism destination in 2018. Notably, within the framework of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2019, Achu Homestay was one of 15 units in Vietnam honored to receive the ASEAN Tourism Award 2019 - an annual event to honor tourist destinations, tourism products, and high-quality tourism services in the ASEAN region.

Not only is he the first Mong person in Hua Tat village to pioneer community tourism, but over the years, Mr. A Chu has also guided and helped his brothers, relatives, and neighbors in the village and other villages to develop this model. Many youth groups in the northern mountainous provinces have come to A Chu homestay to learn. He is always willing to share his entrepreneurial experience, encourage and support them to do sustainable community tourism.

Giang A La (28 years old), a Mong ethnic in Hang Kia (Hoa Binh) is one of the young people who was directly guided and trained by Mr. A Chu to do community tourism. A La was also born and raised in an area that is famous for being a drug hotspot. With the thought of finding a new direction for sustainable economic development, in 2020, he discussed with his family to convert ineffective land area to growing fruit trees and doing community tourism. Searching online, A La read information about the tourism model associated with preserving Mong ethnic culture of Mr. Trang A Chu. A La admired it very much. He went to A Chu Homestay to learn. A La was directly guided by Mr. A Chu to participate in leading tourists to experience typical production activities of the Mong people, build cultural programs to serve tourists... From the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, A La came to A Chu Homestay to work to learn about operations, management, and services from A Chu. “In other places, if you want to learn a trade, you have to pay for tuition, food, and accommodation. But when we came to Mr. A Chu, he took care of our accommodation, every meal, and shared and taught us the trade very enthusiastically. He did not hide anything, was willing to hold our hands and guide us through every step, from using social networks to attract customers, to changing services to suit Asian, European, Northern, and Southern customers. He also came to my homestay to see the current situation and give suggestions on how to change it,” A La shared. “Mr. A Chu is very straightforward, if there is anything wrong or unsatisfactory, he will say it right away,” said the Mong man. According to A La, the special point in Trang A Chu’s community tourism is to respect and preserve the traditional culture of the nation, while at the same time having creative ways to promote it, bringing that culture closer to tourists. [caption id="attachment_564405" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]

[/caption]

Thanks to the dedicated guidance of "teacher" Trang A Chu, A La is currently doing very well in the position of Director of Hang Kia Agricultural and Tourism Service Cooperative. A La has 4 unique stilt houses, interwoven with the traditional architecture of the Mong and Thai people. Not only stopping at homestay services, Giang A La also attracts guests with agricultural experiences and participation in unique cultural activities such as: beeswax painting, indigo dyeing, making do paper... "I don't dare to claim to be their teacher, I am just a pioneer, sharing experiences and accompanying them on the journey of doing community tourism, preserving national culture", Mr. Trang A Chu confided. [caption id="attachment_564411" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]