Tourism potential of ethnic minority areas

Ethnic minorities in the province with diverse traditional cultures are potential for tourism development. *In the photo: Ha Nhi women in Ta Ko Khu village, Sin Thau commune, Muong Nhe district perform the pig liver screening ritual during the traditional New Year.*

During the survey, the famtrip team visited potential tourist destinations, cultural villages of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas in the following localities: Tua Chua, Tuan Giao, Muong Ang, Muong Nhe, Nam Po, Muong Cha, Muong Lay Town.

In Muong Lay town, the delegation stopped at Bac village, Lay Nua commune. This is the resettlement area after the construction of Son La Hydropower Plant of the White Thai ethnic community with a rich traditional cultural identity, carrying its own unique colors. The impressive thing about Bac village is the stilt houses along the hydropower reservoir, curving and reflecting on the lake, creating a unique and poetic beauty. Bac village has both the modern appearance of the neighborhoods and the characteristics of traditional villages, very attractive to tourists. In addition, the village is developing the craft of making banh chi chop and khau xen into a traditional craft village recognized as an OCOP product, bringing economic efficiency to the people. Similarly, Quan Chieng village, Na Lay ward also mainly concentrates on the White Thai ethnic group with many traditional cultural features preserved such as the Swallow-tailed Boat Racing Festival, Kin Pang Then Festival, Thai Xoe art... Especially the traditional stilt houses roofed with natural stones and a neat and airy planning along both sides of the lake. In the village, there are many large and beautiful houses, capable of serving as accommodation for guests. The people here also really want to do community tourism and currently there is 1 household doing homestay... Both villages in Muong Lay town have the strength of traditional stilt houses with airy and suitable planning, so the products that can be exploited here are community tourism with homestay services, experiencing indigenous cultural life, fishing cruises, sightseeing...

Long village belongs to Toa Tinh commune, Tuan Giao district, about 5km from the old National Highway 6, the route passing through the old Pha Din pass. Long village is located in a relatively isolated valley. This is the living space and cultural exchange of about 100 Mong ethnic households. Through the survey of the delegation, traditional dances and customs are still preserved and passed down. The community here still retains traditional rammed earth houses. With its existing natural and cultural values, Long village has great potential to become a community tourism village. Regarding traffic infrastructure, access to Long village is relatively convenient because the road from the old National Highway 6 to Long village as well as the internal traffic roads have all been concreted. This is an ideal condition for tourism development in the coming time. In addition, Long village's main source of income is still agriculture , in which the products of hawthorn and Ngoc Linh ginseng stand out. These products will play an important role in building a supply chain of complementary products and services for Long village when developing tourism in the coming time.

These are just a few surveyed villages that have the potential to build and develop suitable tourism products, connect and form typical tourism programs of ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Dien Bien. There are many other locations in the districts: Muong Ang, Tua Chua, Muong Nhe, Nam Po... also full of tourism potential for development in the future. However, to "awaken" those potentials is not simple. First of all, the road traffic system of Dien Bien is affected by weather and natural disasters, so it is deteriorating rapidly. Traffic in remote communes is particularly difficult; accommodation facilities still have many shortcomings (small scale, mainly concentrated in Dien Bien Phu city, no high-class hotels, accommodation facilities in the districts are limited in quantity and quality). Along with that, the system of food service establishments in districts and towns is still relatively limited, not yet interested and developed. The system of rest stops in districts and towns is almost non-existent. In fact, the travel routes between routes and tourist destinations are relatively far and many roads are being upgraded and repaired, so building and developing a system of rest stops is a necessary requirement and a practical problem for localities to solve. Not only that, entertainment services have been invested with socialized capital, but the quality of entertainment facilities is still low, the professionalism is not high, so there are difficulties in extending the length of stay of visitors... Therefore, when these difficult problems are solved, the tourism potential of ethnic minority areas of the province can be turned into real products, put into service for tourists, contributing to the socio-economic development of the area.

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