Kon Tum promotes community tourism development

Kon Tum province is blessed with many beautiful landscapes and unique culture. This is also a land with a long history with 7 local ethnic minorities and many unique traditional cultural values, creating a diverse and rich picture of community life. This is also considered a great potential for developing community tourism in the locality.

A corner of Kon K'tu community tourism village, Kon Tum city.

In order to preserve and promote the unique cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities in the province, prevent cultural loss due to the impact of the development process, create a spiritual foundation for sustainable development, socio-economic development of the people, and at the same time mobilize all resources, exploit the potential and unique advantages in the cultural field to develop tourism, Kon Tum province has approved and issued many Projects, Programs and Plans such as: Plan to preserve and promote traditional costumes. Project to preserve and promote the heritage of gong cultural space, plan to preserve and promote traditional communal houses of ethnic minorities, plan to inventory intangible cultural heritage in the province... have been implemented synchronously, contributing to the preservation and development of traditional culture, associated with the development of community tourism in the current period.

Over 60 years old, old man A Biu said that at the most he owned nearly 20 sets of gongs, but he gave them away to communes and districts in and outside the province, so now he only owns 7 sets of gongs at home, including three priceless sets of gongs: Lao gong, Bom Pat gong and Klang Brong gong. These three sets of gongs are unforgettable memories for him.

Old A Biu enthusiastically introduces his gong set to tourists.

The house of old man A Biu or A Biu homestay has become one of the quite famous community tourism destinations, a stopover for culture lovers at home and abroad every time they pass through Kon Tum. There are two rows of stilt houses of ^120m2 , a food court specializing in serving traditional dishes of the Ba Na people, and especially, the front yard of the house was renovated by artisan A Biu, transforming it into a "stage" for gong performances, xoang dance, campfires, etc., performed by artisan A Biu himself and his family members along with artisans in the village. This "homegrown" art troupe gathered by him has also become a nucleus to preserve the special intangible culture of the Central Highlands, regularly participating in traditional cultural festivals of ethnic groups.

In addition to the economic benefits of doing homestay tourism , he also wants to maintain, preserve and promote the cultural values ​​of his people. Thanks to the attractive services associated with the cultural identity of the Ba Na people in the tourist area, on average each month, the homestay welcomes from three to four groups of guests, each group from 10 to 25 people. The average monthly income from tourism, excluding staff costs, food, artisans' salaries... the family earns a profit of 10 to 25 million VND.

Currently, in Kon Tum province, many traditional cultural villages and hamlets are interested and focused by authorities at all levels in preserving and promoting traditional cultural heritage associated with developing community tourism such as: Kon K'tu village, Dak Ro Wa commune, Kon Tum city; Bar Goc village, Sa Son commune, Sa Thay district; Kon Pring village, Dak Long commune, Kon Plong district; Kon Trang Long Loi village, Dak Ha town, Dak Ha district; Dak Rang village, Dak Xu commune, Ngoc Hoi district, etc. In these villages, traditional gong teams, brocade weaving, wine making or related religious rituals are still maintained. People are also starting to boldly and gradually get used to welcoming tourists to their villages and hamlets for sightseeing and experience.

Meritorious artisan Y Lim, in charge of managing Kon Pring tourist village, welcomed us in a stilt house built with support from the Kon Plong District People’s Committee for community tourism. “Previously, Kon Pring villagers worked hard in the sun and rain to cultivate their fields, earning only 50 million VND a year. But when we started doing tourism, we could earn 10-15 million VND/month...”, Ms. Y Lim shared.

Ms. Y Lim next to the house used as her homestay.

Ms. Y Lim is the pioneer in community tourism in the village. After receiving support from the district to build a stilt house to welcome guests, she boldly borrowed 16 million VND to buy mosquito nets, mattresses and furniture. “After three months of operation, I paid off all my debt. Gradually, I saved up about 360 million VND, and I decided to use it all to build another stilt house next door with three fully furnished bedrooms,” she said. It is worth mentioning that she always shares the work with the villagers, who often come to help her cook, receive guests... to help them earn more income.

Living not far away, Dinh Thi Dien, a Mo Nam ethnic, learned about tourism at Y Lim. “The current difficulty of Kon Pring village is the human problem. People are still not used to communicating in tourism because they are too shy. Now I have to find a way to find young people in the village who are capable and train them so that when I am old, I will be able to replace them and help the community do tourism. Dien is one of these few,” Y Lim shared.

In addition to being a homestay owner, Y Lim regularly opens classes to teach children in the village how to preserve the beauty of the Mo Nam people. She also spends her own money to maintain and expand the Kon Pring gong performance team. As for Dinh Thi Dien, in addition to introducing herself directly, she also sets up a social media account to help tourists from afar know and come to her homeland.

Delighted with the experiences at Kon Pring community tourism village, Ms. Nguyen Thi Diu, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, shared: "I have traveled to many places but the experiences here, being immersed in nature and the culture of the local people, are really different. I have enjoyed the gong melodies, local specialties, watched xoang dance, learned about brocade weaving, making traditional communal houses... Being immersed in the cultural space here is wonderful."

The beauty of a Ba Na child on the poetic Dak Bla river.

Comrade Nguyen Van Binh, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Kon Tum province, said that community tourism not only contributes to changing the appearance of many villages and hamlets of ethnic minorities, improving people's lives, but also actively contributes to preserving, promoting and spreading unique ethnic minority cultural values ​​in Kon Tum province.

Kon Tum province has been promoting propaganda work, especially for the younger generation, so that people understand the value and importance of cultural identity of each ethnic group, thereby having the awareness to preserve and promote the traditional cultural values ​​of their ethnic group; promoting the resources of the whole community in managing, preserving and promoting traditional culture associated with developing community tourism to promote sustainable socio-economic development, associated with ensuring national defense and security; organizing vocational training classes, cultural management, organizing folk art activities, community cultural tourism services to serve tourism...

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/kon-tum-day-manh-phat-trien-du-lich-cong-dong-232819.html