Rich tourism products
Coming to Mu Cang Chai commune, the western land of Lao Cai province, visitors will be amazed by the endless terraced fields in the middle of the green forest. When arriving at the Nature Homestay community tourism site owned by Mr. Thao A Chua, we were surprised by the unique way of doing tourism here.
Thao A Chua shared: “Foreign tourists are very excited to choose this place as a long-term accommodation, experiencing activities during the flood season. Coming here, tourists join the locals in plowing and planting rice on terraced fields, catching fish and black chickens, and preparing meals with dishes in the style of the H'Mong people of their village.”
It is known that A Chua graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of Thai Nguyen University. He boldly borrowed money from the bank, built a stilt house, planted flowers, and linked up with tours and many H'Mong households in Pung Luong village to do community tourism. Thanks to his diligence and always listening to tourists' suggestions, A Chua's community tourism site is getting better and better, earning more than 150 million VND annually.
Thac Ba Lake (Yen Binh Commune), home to more than 1,300 small islands, is an attractive tourist destination. This season, visitors come to the dreamy grape hills planted on the islands.
Mr. Ta Huu Tinh, owner of a grape island in Khe Gay village, Yen Binh commune, said that three years ago, after learning from experience at grape farms in the suburbs of Hanoi, he started building a tourist farm, specializing in growing small-seed grapes and peony grapes.
Thanks to the application of science and technology in the care process such as building greenhouses, automatic irrigation, pollination treatment... this crop, Mr. Tinh harvested about one ton of fruit. With a selling price of 150,000 VND/kg along with income from visitors who come to experience and participate in the grape harvest, Mr. Ta Tinh's family has a comfortable life.
Next door, the grape island of Mr. Dinh Dai Thanh's family with 6,000 milk grape trees also attracts quite a lot of tourists. When traveling to Thac Ba Lake, in addition to experiencing the grape farms, visitors can also enjoy special dishes such as: Grilled catfish with galangal, fried golden oil fish, dried red-eyed fish... which are aquatic resources exploited from Thac Ba Lake itself.
Located in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam, Sa Pa has long been a unique tourist destination with majestic mountain ranges, traditional culture of ethnic minorities, and some European-style architectural works. This place is likened by some tourists to "Switzerland of Vietnam".
Sa Pa's unique landscape has attracted the attention of foreign tourists. According to Korean travel company Hana Tour, the total number of customers booking service packages for the Sa Pa area (Lao Cai province, Vietnam) in the first half of 2025 increased by 333% compared to the same period in 2024.
Inter Bus Lines is one of the prestigious and high-quality passenger transport brands specializing in the Hanoi-Sa Pa route and famous tourist destinations in the north. Responding to the peak of summer tourism this year, this business has launched an attractive incentive program for families who want to take their children to explore - the misty land full of colorful culture and majestic nature.
Sun Group also has many special promotions and festivals to attract customers, such as the attractive summer promotion program exclusively for Vietnamese tourists. When buying and using Fansipan cable car tickets after 13:00, tourists will be given a free dinner buffet at one of the two most luxurious restaurants in the tourist area, Van Sam or Hoa Hong. The promotion program also extends the journey to explore Fansipan peak from dusk until sunset, when the majestic natural scenery takes on its most dreamy beauty...
Fast but sustainable development
The Northwest is a land of majestic landscapes, unique terraced fields, misty villages and ethnic communities with rich cultural colors. In that picture, Lao Cai and Yen Bai, two neighboring provinces that used to lean against the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, are now united, gradually joining hands to build a "tourism belt" with great potential.
Mr. Nong Viet Yen, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lao Cai province, said: The merger of Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces to form a new province is a major, strategic policy of the Central Government to create a new growth pole for the midland and mountainous region of the North. For the tourism sector, this is an important turning point, creating many opportunities, but also posing many challenges that need to be identified and resolved synchronously.
Lao Cai now owns many attractive destinations, from Fansipan peak to Thac Ba lake - a series of prominent destinations such as Sa Pa, Bac Ha, Mu Cang Chai, Suoi Giang, Muong Lo... with majestic landscapes, unique cultural identity and climatic advantages. Along with that, the implementation of the Tourism System Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 according to Decision 509/QD-TTg and the goals identified in the period 2025-2030, will create a clear legal corridor and orientation.
On that basis, the industry also proposed key breakthrough solutions for the 2025-2030 term, in which Lao Cai tourism will be developed into a "Dynamic tourism center of the northern mountainous region" associated with the strategy of "Red River Prosperity Axis" and building a high-quality tourism cluster "Sa Pa-Bac Ha-Nghia Lo-Mu Cang Chai-Suoi Giang".
The new province after the merger has a great advantage in attracting investment and developing synchronous tourism infrastructure. With an increased socio-economic scale, a more abundant population and budget, the capacity to mobilize investment resources has been improved.
In particular, the transportation system continues to be strongly connected: Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway, the expressway connecting Nghia Lo-Tram Tau-Sa Pa in the near future, Sa Pa airport, Thac Ba lake waterway... will help the tourism industry access a larger customer market. This is an ideal condition for developing unique tourism products associated with international tourism.
Lao Cai province has favorable conditions to become a tourist center of the Northern midland and mountainous region, participating more deeply in the international tourism chain through Lao Cai International Border Gate, developing products associated with the Chinese market and ASEAN countries.
With the combined strength, it is expected that by 2030, Lao Cai will welcome about 16.5 million visitors, making tourism a key economic sector, contributing significantly to the province's GRDP growth.
However, according to Nong Viet Yen, Director of Lao Cai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, along with opportunities, the province's tourism industry will face many challenges. One of the biggest challenges is how to balance rapid development with sustainable development. Without a master plan and effective management mechanism, the tourism industry may face the risk of overload, affecting the landscape, ecological environment and indigenous culture, the core values that the province is striving to preserve.
Notably, because the two old localities have different strengths, if Lao Cai (formerly) stands out with international tourism, high-end resorts and Sa Pa tourist urban area; then Yen Bai (formerly) strongly develops eco-tourism, community tourism associated with indigenous culture, so unifying orientation, dividing functions and ensuring harmonious development is an urgent requirement, requiring a synchronous, scientific approach and a clear roadmap.
Improving the quality of human resources and industry management capacity is also a problem that needs to be solved soon. As the area and scale expand, the number of visitors increases rapidly, the pressure on human resource training, digital transformation and organizing the promotion and advertising apparatus is increasing. If the Lao Cai tourism industry, localities and tourism businesses in and outside the province do not have a systematic plan for training, selecting and using this important resource, growth will lack sustainability...
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/du-lich-lao-cai-hua-hen-but-pha-post648429.html
Comment (0)