Developing green and sustainable tourism

Kinhtedothi - With its potential and advantages in diverse and unique natural and cultural resources, Son La currently has about 30 locations for exploiting agricultural and rural tourism activities, most of which are being developed according to the community tourism model and the eco-tourism garden experience model.

By creating green tourism products, Son La province is attracting more and more tourists to visit, explore, and experience.

Tourists experience the seven-tiered waterfall in Chieng Khoa commune, Van Ho district.

Van Ho District has the advantage of favorable natural conditions and a cool climate, and the ethnic minorities here still preserve unique traditional cultural features. In recent years, the district has promoted community tourism development, linked with the preservation and promotion of cultural values.

In particular, the district focuses on preserving and restoring folk festivals, cultural activities, and traditional crafts to serve tourism development, such as: the Ethnic Culture Festival; the Hoa Ban Festival in Chieng Khoa commune; the Hoa Dao Festival in Long Luong commune...

In addition, the district has established more than 100 amateur performing arts groups in villages, hamlets, and sub-districts, regularly practicing, performing, and participating in cultural exchanges, festivals, competitions, and performances. Thanks to this, the amateur cultural and artistic movement in Van Ho is increasingly developing, creating a good environment for preserving traditional dances, folk songs, and musical instruments, contributing to the preservation of cultural identity, enhancing the spiritual life of the people, and serving tourists.

The unique and distinctive cultural features of the ethnic groups have created an important foundation for the development of community tourism in Van Ho. Currently, many community tourism villages are well-known, such as Buot, Na Bai, and Phu Mau villages in Chieng Yen commune; and Hua Tat and Chieng Di villages in Van Ho commune... Here, tourists can participate in community activities, experience farming, enjoy dishes with the rich flavors of the mountains and forests, and immerse themselves in the lively bell dance and flute playing.

Thanks to its breakthrough in community-based tourism development, Mai Chau district has become a highly attractive destination for tourists and faces many new opportunities for further development... The entire district has nearly 150 tourist accommodation establishments, 7 community-based tourism destinations, 12 hotels, 28 guesthouses, and 106 homestays, attracting and creating jobs for over 1,200 workers in the tourism sector.

In Mai Chau district, there are 15 tourism and trade projects whose investment policies have been approved by the Provincial People's Committee, with a total registered capital of over 1,178 billion VND. These projects are all large-scale and capable of meeting the demand for high-quality resort accommodations for tourists. Thanks to these efforts, the trade, service, and tourism sectors now account for the largest proportion of the district's economic structure (37% in 2024), exceeding the target set by the Resolution of the 26th District Party Congress.

In order to maximize Son La's potential and advantages for sustainable tourism development, the Resolution of the 15th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025, identified three breakthroughs and nine groups of key tasks and solutions. Among these, tourism was identified as a crucial and central task group.

Recognizing tourism as a key economic sector, driving the development of other industries and contributing significantly to the formation of a modern and sustainable economic structure, Son La has focused on developing tourism rapidly and sustainably in recent years, linked to the preservation and promotion of the cultural identity of ethnic groups, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and local products; developing eco-tourism and resort tourism while protecting and enhancing the environmental landscape. Cultural tourism, with its core value being the traditional cultural identity of ethnic groups, serves as the foundation for other types of tourism; nature tourism is developed as a unique product to increase competitiveness. The province encourages the expansion of community-based tourism, creating jobs and linking it to poverty reduction and rural development; leveraging its agricultural advantages to create attractive tourism products.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/son-la-phat-trien-du-lich-xanh-va-ben-vung.html