LAO CAI: SUCCESSION THANKS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY TOURISM

The names such as Cat Cat, Sin Chai, Ban Den, Trung Do, Ta Chai, Na Hoi, Ban Pho...of Lao Cai province now become closer and more familiar with both domestic and foreign tourists. It’s because there is a significant growth of community tourism.

A right direction Recognizing the particular strength of community tourism, in 1998, Lao Cai  constructed a pilot model of community tourism at Cat Cat, Sin Chai (San Sa Ho – Sapa), and on the first step, it contributed to improve the local people’s life.  However, since the day Spanish Government funded for the project “Increase the capacity of Vietnamese tourism in the implementation of tourism development strategy for the period of 2011 – 2020, 2030 vision focused on policies for social responsibility”. Lao Cai is one of the provinces which gets benefits from the project’s activities, mainly as supported training for presenter, supported training capacity improvement for women in tourism development, supported training regarding green tourism brand, established Mong’s Khen club at Sapa...These activities have had a positive impact to the development of tourism in particular and the growth of economy and society in general. Until now, the province has built 13 community tourism destinations, mainly in Sapa district and Bac Ha district. According to the leader of the Department of Culture, if in 2010, there were just 30 households getting license for doing business the service of temporarily reside at home, there have been nearly 100 households so far. Thanks to participating in tourism activities, local people have more jobs and income. Some households are from famine to dramatically improved living standard. The average revenue of each household reaches 25,000,000–27,000,000/year (Ta Van Commune), 35,000,000–40,000,000/household/year (Trung Do Commune). Apart from raising income for the residents, with the participation of the project, Lao Cai also encourages the local people to consciously restore, preserve, maintain and protect the traditional cultural beauty, their lifestyle and their production methods for creating typical tourism products, bringing visitors the opportunity to explore directly and increasing the temporarily residing time of visitors. Development in depth The development of community tourism in depth is the sustainable growth direction which Lao Cai has posed. Accordingly, in the period of 2013-2017, Lao Cai focuses on investing identically regarding emplacement, infrastructure, products and service for developing 3 community tourism centers at Ta Van Giay (Ta Van – Sapa), Trung Do (Bao Nhai – Bac Ha) and Lao Chai (Y Ty – Bat Xat).  At present, Ta Van Giay is the best option for domestic and foreign tourists, tourists at weekend...Therefore, the special tourism products which the village concentrates developing, are traditional cuisine, temporarily reside and folk games. Unlike Ta Van Giay, Trung Do village (Bao Nhai – Bac Ha) has the specific characteristic of river route for tourism from Chay river to Lung Khau Nhin (Muong Khuong), through Ban Me (Si Ma Cai) to Coc Ly, Bao Nhai (Bac Ha).  For this reason, the typical tourism products of this place include yacht tourism on Chay river with the wild beauty of poetic river, spirit tourism to Trung Do temple where the general Vu Cong Mat protected the Northwest in Le – Mac dynasty, and the indispensable attraction of house on stilts and the folk music of Tay people. In particular, Lao Chai 1 (Y Ty – Bat Xat) is hoped to bring to the tourists the simple and pristine beauty of terraced fields, the spectacular waterfalls, the rice bruisers by water power, the Trinh Tuong unique house architecture, and the traditional foods of the ethnic. The tourism experts expect that Ta Van Giay – Trung Do – Lao Chai tourism route will become the community tourism tour in depth, create the attraction for visitors who stay at Lao Cao for a longer time and spend more their money.