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recommended by many tourists. Patrice
Nathan, a French tourist, had much
praise for Hung homestay in Can Tho
province: “I and my girlfriends spent
two nights in Hung homestay and I
think that is great way to see this land.
Hung is great man, has excellent Eng-
lish, a crazy sense of humour and did
everything to ensure that we enjoyed
the visit. Hung also provides a boat trip
to Cai Rang floating market and a walk-
ing tour through his local village which
is fun and informative.”
In central Vietnam, community
based tourism is very developed be-
cause of the high awareness of its value
there. Hoian Ecotour is a travel agent
which has created many unique and
quality tours of this kind. 35 year old
Jacky Tran, manager of the agent, says:
“Experiencing country life is what tour-
ists can enjoy from our tours. They can
join fishing in Cua Dai, rice planting in
Cam Thanh and vegetable growing in
Tra Que. Many individual tourists and
foreign travel agents contact us when
they see our products.”
In many places, after develop-
ing community based tourism, local
people’s income has been improved
considerably; therefore, Vietnamese
agents and authorities are aiming to
expand this model.
MUCH POTENTIAL, BUT
MANY CHALLENGES
After a visit to Cao Bang, I kept
wondering why community based tour-
ism has not developed there – it has
wild, stunning landscapes, a diverse
ecosystem, and a rich local culture with
many minority groups.
Nhan Thi Minh Thi, deputy director
of Cao Bang’s Department of Culture,
Sport and Tourism, explains: “People
here are unfamiliar with the tourism
business. We have carried out a com-
munity tourism project in Pac Ngoi vil-
lage, but we have not had the budget
to continue in another place.”
At Tu Ne, a village of Muong people
in Hoa Binh province, I witnessed how
hard it is to carry out such a project.
“Most of the people in Tu Ne are Muong,
but when we came here, they did not
wear their traditional costume. Wooden
stilt houses had been destroyed to clear
space to build concrete ones. They were
on the brink of losing their local charac-
teristics,” said Le Thi Van Hue, director of
Cecad, which started the project of com-
munity based tourism in Tu Ne in 2008.
Cecad sent people to Tu Ne to teach
people how to develop tourism by tak-
ing back their own traditional culture.
However, it did not work as they lacked
the money to provide basic facilities in
the village; that is, until Huong Giang
Travel joined them in 2011.
“Many people said they wanted
an authentic homestay; however, very
few of them would feel comfortable
living in an authentic place with very
poor living conditions, with the mos-
quitoes, the heat and humidity and a
hard bamboo bed. So, we have had to
change a few things to meet certain
requirements.”
Community-based tourism has
brought back the original look of Tu
Ne commune. People are always ready
to smile and talk to strangers. They
know how to show their tradition and
culture off - they wear their traditional
costume and do traditional jobs, such
as bee keeping, rice planting and sugar
crane planting.
That said, Tu Ne is not seeing as
much success as expected having wel-
comed only around ten guests in 2013.
This is not an outcome which will en-
courage other locals to follow suit.
Jacky Tran acknowledged the dif-
ficulties of this business: “This kind of
tour is now very popular, and the key
is creating the difference.” He also fo-
cusses on pricing strategy: “We focus
on high quality products which may be
rather expensive, but we can ensure
that at every moment our guests feel
satisfied as they get a true taste of daily
life.” He added: “We are now working
with over 30 households in Hoi An and
we ensure them monthly income from
VND4-7million per family.”
Helping out on the farm
17
timeout