A community-based tourism and cultural village in Ha Giang’s Meo Vac district. (Photo: VNA)

Ha Giang – With its advantages in terms of natural landscapes, rich cultural
identities, customs and preserved traditional festivals, the northernmost province
of Ha Giang has attracted attention from a large number of travel companies and
tourists, and several potential community-based tourist sites have been formed.

Ha Giang province is home to 19 ethnic groups which have their own
cultural traditions and identities.

The effective preservation and promotion of cultural values
has helped the province in general and the ethnic groups in particular have a special
attraction for travelers and those who want to learn about traditional ethnic
culture.

According to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of
Culture, Sports and Tourism Trieu Thi Tinh, over the past years, the province
has selected outstanding cultural products to develop to create more highlights
for tourism development. It has also paid attention to community cultural and tourism activities,
and carried out projects on improving the quality
of services and activities of community-based tourism and cultural villages.

Currently, the province has 40 identified community-based tourism
and cultural villages, and 16 cultural villages recognised by the provincial
People’s Committee as meeting standards to serve tourists.

The provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism
assessed that these villages have operated well and attracted a large number of
tourists, contributing to increasing locals’ income and promoting the value of tourism
resources and cultural identities.

In addition to the achieved results, the community-based tourism
in Ha Giang is facing many difficulties and challenges in terms of transport
infrastructure and product quality that hinder it from developing sustainably
and gaining high economic efficiency.

Therefore, in the coming time, the province will continue
paying attention to improving the quality of services, training human
resources for community-based tourism sites, and stepping up the communication work to
raise locals’ awareness of maintaining and developing their cultural
identities, said Tinh./.