Na Tong tourist village

Na Tong village, Thuong Lam commune, on cold November days, appears and disappears under the clouds surrounding 99 mountains shaped like the wings of a Phoenix. Anyone who comes to Na Tong feels like time has slowed down. Here, people still preserve intact the typical cultural features of the Tay ethnic group: from language, beliefs, costumes, music to cuisine. Na Tong cultural tourism village is also one of 130 tourist villages of 11 APEC economies selected to be introduced and promoted on the APEC website.

Tourists experience tourism in Na Tong village. Photo: To Mai

The whole village does tourism

Coming to Na Tong today, few people can imagine that this place used to be a poor village of the province. Everyone thought that Na Tong would stay stagnant forever because the people's economy mainly depended on agriculture.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Thuong Lam Commune Ma Cong Kham said that in 2014, Ms. Trieu Thi Xuong's family in Na Tong village pioneered the development of community tourism called Hoang Tuan Homestay. After being consulted and supported by officials on how to do homestay tourism and encouraged by the commune government, Ms. Xuong proactively renovated her house to provide services. From 2014 to now, on average, her family has welcomed over 500 visitors each month to visit and experience, bringing in tens of millions of VND in revenue.

Mrs. Xuong said she never thought that the things available in her village could become tourism potential. Currently, her family also has three boats to take tourists to visit the Na Hang - Lam Binh ecological lake.

In 2019, the Tay boys of the group "Tai Ngao in the fairy tale land of Thuong Lam" came up with the idea of ​​setting up a homestay in the style of young people. With a land area of ​​nearly 2,500 m2 located right on the road to Ben Thuy, supported by more than 400 million VND from the National Fund for Employment along with contributions from members, after nearly a year of construction, in May 2019, Tai Ngao Homestay officially came into operation.

The first days of opening to welcome guests were a difficult time with many worries for the young men. Thanks to friends' introduction and through smartphones, they learned about tourism on the internet. They quickly created a Fanpage "Homestay Tai Ngao", took photos, posted beautiful landscapes of the lake, promoted the image of community tourism, attractions and local specialties.

Up to now, on average, each month, Homestay Tai Ngao welcomes about 250 - 300 guests to stay. Mr. Hoang Van Minh, owner of Homestay Tai Ngao and Secretary of the village Party Cell, said that they also set up Facebook and Zalo groups to communicate online, share information about tourism products of the family and the locality, and assign households in the village to participate in serving tourists. This approach has helped tourists experience better quality and more professional services.

Towards sustainability

Tourists coming to Na Tong can not only rest in the hundreds of years old stilt houses of the Tay people but also enjoy traditional folk songs and simple dishes of the people. Up to now, the whole village has established 12 performing art teams to serve tourists when they come to visit and relax.

Traditional crafts such as weaving, embroidering patterns on ethnic costumes, making silver jewelry such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, head scarves, making green rice flakes and sticky rice cakes have also been restored. Tourists can also visit the Na Hang - Lam Binh ecological lake and enjoy traditional meals with the host family - these are unforgettable experiences.

Na Tong village maintains the performance art troupe to serve tourists.

Mr. Hoang Van Minh enthusiastically shared: To ensure that the benefits from tourism are shared fairly, the village has arranged and established groups of households with similar interests to professionalize each stage and improve service quality. Specifically, the village has a group of households specializing in providing livestock food and growing clean vegetables; a group of households specializing in cooking, when there are guests, each household cooks a dish; a group of households welcome guests to experience weaving and making souvenirs; a group of households make sticky rice cakes to serve guests to enjoy and for them to experience.

Life improves thanks to tourism

Chairman of the People's Committee of Ma Cong Kham commune said that since implementing community tourism, people's awareness of environmental hygiene has been significantly improved. Families doing tourism voluntarily clean and keep their houses clean and tidy, paying attention to personal hygiene and food safety every day. Food served to guests is mainly local specialties such as upland vegetables, pond fish, chicken, pork, all of which are raised, grown and caught by villagers themselves, ensuring safety.

Currently, households developing homestay services in Na Tong village are all linked together and with villagers, creating stable jobs and helping to increase income.

Ms. Hoa Thi Hien, one of the "millionaires" of the village, shared: Since 2018, her family has invested in developing livestock farming, and now maintains 30 goats, 6 cows, 20 pigs and more than 100 chickens, geese and ducks. Homestay establishments in the village all take her products, and each year, after deducting expenses, the family earns nearly 200 million VND in profit. Ms. Hien excitedly said that thanks to tourism, the village has changed, and all the products made have a place to sell.

For generations, the Tay Na Tong people have been living off firewood, rice fields, corn fields, shrimp and fish in lakes and streams. Now, these people have become the owners of a potential form of rural tourism. And thanks to tourism, Na Tong today has no poor households.

Le Duy

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/van-hoa/202511/lang-du-lich-na-tong-f3f0d24/