Tourism development in western Nghe An

In addition to the advantages bestowed by nature such as being one of more than 10 Biosphere Reserves of Vietnam; having a dense system of rivers and streams with many waterfalls and rapids; having many different microclimates creating a diversity of natural landscapes, western Nghe An also preserves many unique customs and cultural features of ethnic minorities such as Thai, H'Mong, Kho Mu, Dan Lai... That is a quite diverse tourism resource. However, to effectively promote this potential, the locality needs to have a comprehensive strategy with appropriate and methodical solutions.

Western Nghe An is an area that preserves many unique cultural features of ethnic minorities. (Photo: DINH TUYEN)

Selected by Con Cuong district as a place to develop community tourism, Khe Ran village (Bong Khe commune) has now become an ideal destination for many tourists. This is a village with 100% Thai ethnic people. Coming to Khe Ran, visitors can admire the simple, original stilt houses; immerse themselves in folk songs and dances, experience the life of the local people, and enjoy attractive traditional cuisine .

Exploiting individual identity

Mr. Lo Huynh Lan, Director of Khe Ran Community Tourism Service Cooperative, said that in 2015, his family and Mr. Lo Van Tinh's family joined forces to establish the first homestay group in the village. To ensure service for tourists, his family invested in a closed sanitation system and purchased beds, mattresses, and blankets. From the first guests, his family has welcomed thousands of visitors each year. Currently, Khe Ran village has five homestay models; during the recent April 30 and May 1 holidays, they welcomed and served more than 3,000 visitors.

"To meet the development needs, in 2017, Khe Ran Community Tourism Service Cooperative was established. With 20 members, the cooperative is divided into a reception team, an administrative team, a culinary team, and an art team. Since the cooperative was established, coordination has been smoother and the service has been more professional," Mr. Lan shared.

Con Cuong is a leading district in developing community tourism in Nghe An province. In addition to Khe Ran village, there are also Nua village, Pha village (Yen Khe commune), Xieng village (Mon Son commune) participating in the model. Ms. Vi Thi Thoa in Xieng village said that her family's homestay service has been operating since 2018. She regularly shares information and images of activities on social networks such as Facebook, Zalo..., thanks to which more and more tourists come.

Next to Ms. Thoa’s family is the homestay of Ms. Dang Thi Nguyet’s family, which can serve the food and accommodation needs of 50 tourists every day. In addition to the clean, airy three-room stilt house, close to Pha Lai Eco-tourism Area, where there is Pha Lai dam and the poetic Giang River, her family also built additional private rooms, fully equipped with basic amenities to serve tourists.

One of the reasons why Con Cuong is chosen by many tourists is the attraction of the pristine primeval forests with rich and diverse flora and fauna; majestic waterfalls with white foam; clear, cool streams that relieve the sweltering heat of summer.

These days, Khe Kem waterfall located in the core area of Pu Mat National Park always attracts tourists to visit and experience. The waterfall is about 500m high, the water falls down strongly through three steps, creating white foam. Standing at the foot of the waterfall looking up, the water is like a white silk strip floating in the middle of the mountains and forests.

Ms. Le Phuong Bao Tram, a tourist from Hanoi, shared: "The landscape here is still very wild, little affected by human hands. During the day, people go to explore nature, check-in, immerse themselves in the cool water of the waterfall, and in the evening, enjoy the rich flavors of rustic dishes and unique xoe and sap dances."

According to Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Con Cuong district Pham Trong Binh, the above community tourism model has contributed to preserving and promoting traditional cultural values, promoting local socio-economic development. With the support of the province, Con Cuong tourism industry has achieved initial results. In 2022, Con Cuong welcomed more than 22,000 visitors, by 2023 it had increased to more than 28,000. Revenue from accommodation, food and beverage, and shopping services increased from VND 3,974 million to VND 6,289 million.

"This number is not large but is a good result for a locality that is new to community tourism and is facing many difficulties like Con Cuong. This is the motivation for the locality to continue to strive to build and improve facilities and services to meet the increasing needs of tourists. We are focusing on improving tourism products, forming tours and routes to visit natural landscapes with historical relics, developing rural tourism associated with the program "Each commune, ward, one product"... The spirit is to do tourism in a practical, effective and sustainable way, determined to turn Con Cuong into an eco-tourism city of the southwestern Nghe An", Mr. Binh emphasized.

Ecotourism and community tourism are gradually building the tourism brand of western Nghe An. Destinations such as Pha Lai Ecotourism Area, Khe Kem Waterfall, Pu Mat National Park (Con Cuong District); Sang Le Forest (Tuong Duong District); Seven-tiered Waterfall Complex (Que Phong District); Tea Hills (Thanh Chuong District); Bua Cave (Quy Chau District) and villages such as Muong Long (Ky Son District); Nua, Khe Ran (Con Cuong District) or Hoa Tien (Quy Chau District)...

Building "One route, many destinations"

To promote tourism development, on July 22, 2020, Nghe An Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 07/2020/NQ-HDND on a number of policies to support the development of community tourism in the province, period 2021-2025.

Accordingly, there are six support policies for three target groups, including supporting household models to purchase initial equipment and toilet equipment; supporting villages, hamlets, and communes to purchase musical instruments, traditional costumes for performing arts activities and installing systems of signs, directional signs, advertising signs, and explanations; supporting funds for districts to organize professional training for people and funds to propagate, promote, and promote community tourism.

According to the assessment of Nghe An Department of Tourism, the above policy has contributed to raising the thinking and awareness of tourism development in general and community tourism in particular among leaders and people in localities. In Nghe An province, the community tourism model has been developed in 23 villages with 54 households providing homestay services. The models put into operation have created jobs and income for people, contributing to preserving, promoting and disseminating cultural values.

Many experts believe that in recent years, tourism in western Nghe An has achieved positive results, but in general, the region's tourism products are still quite simple. In particular, because the districts in the same area have many similarities, leading to similar culture, cuisine and landscape, the products are still duplicated, easily boring for tourists. In addition, most of the tourist attractions are still fragmented, not well planned; the geographical distance between tourist attractions is quite far, the traffic infrastructure is still difficult... therefore, the great potential of tourism has not been exploited.

Chairwoman of the Western Nghe An Tourism Coordination Center Limited Company (TNT Tay Nghe Tourist) Vi Thi Tham said: "The planning of destinations will clearly form routes and tours, thereby clearly defining the key products of each destination and locality. For example, Con Cuong district develops eco-tourism products and Thai ethnic cultural communities; Tuong Duong district develops Kho Mu ethnic cultural community tourism products and craft villages; Ky Son district develops health care and medicinal tourism products and H'Mong ethnic cultural experiences; Nghia Dan district follows the direction of agricultural tourism... Districts with the same tourism products should discuss together to have appropriate and sustainable development orientations and solutions. From there, create suitable routes and routes for tourists to experience".

Director of Nghe An Province Department of Tourism Nguyen Manh Cuong said that Nghe An tourism industry is implementing a number of solutions to diversify products such as: Ecotourism, community tourism, experiential tourism, adventure tourism, agricultural tourism to exploit the resources of the western districts... Especially mobilizing resources to invest in building tourism infrastructure, in which priority is given to traffic infrastructure connecting from national highways to tourist exploitation points; calling on large enterprises to invest to create tourist attractions, thereby spreading to the whole region.

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