Lao Cai, a mountainous border province in northwestern Vietnam, has many advantages for developing tourism: pleasant climate, natural beauty, and unique ethnic cultures. Lao Cai has, so far this year, received 3.5 million tourists, 42% of the yearly target. Efforts have been made to improve the quality of existing tourism products and creating more community and green products.
The homestays are spacious, clean, and beautiful.
Bac Ha district has 100 accommodation establishments which can accommodate about 3,000 guests per night.
The homestay of Van Van Tan’s family in Na Lo hamlet can accommodate 60 overnight guests in a traditional stilt house of the Tay ethnic people. In addition to providing food and beverage services, Tan’s homestay also organizes cultural activities to entertain the guests.
“We’ve cleaned the house and upgraded the furniture to make our visitors comfortable. Our guests get to experience the local culture and cuisine,” Tan told VOV.
To attract more tourists, localities in Lao Cai province have organized cultural events, festivals, and other tourism activities. Tourism promotion and advertisement has received a great deal of attention.
Bui Van Vinh, head of the culture and information section of Bac Ha district, said that they don’t receive guests carelessly.
“We try to impress them with our quality so they’ll want to come back again. We’ve encouraged local families to host homestays, and we encourage people new to the homestay service to tour model homestays in other districts,” according to Vinh.
To improve the quality of tourism, the Lao Cai administration has increased communications, raised awareness, and encouraged innovative thinking by the community and local tourism businesses on protecting the environment and creating a civilized tourism sector.
Do Van Tan, Deputy Chairman of the Sapa municipal People's Committee, said, “The Sapa administration has worked with the tourism association and management agencies to meet the need of accommodations, food, and security. It’s essential to ensure traffic and food hygiene safety.”
A morning in Sa Pa town
Lao Cai’s tourism sector has been improved by cooperation activities such as the economic corridor cooperation program of Lao Cai city, Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, and China’s Yunnan province, a tourism development cooperation program in eight northwestern provinces and Ho Chi Minh City, and a cooperation program with France’s Nouvelle Aquitaine region.
New tourism products have been promoted, including role model tourist destinations in Nam Ria village in Lao Cai city, Seng Sui village in Si Ma Cai district, La Di Thang village in Bac Ha district, and Hoang A Tuong palace in Bac Ha district.
Lai Vu Hiep, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Tourism, said that they plan to organize multiple activities to attract visitors.
“Bac Ha district, for example, will host the White Plateau Festival to develop tourism in Sapa, Y Ty, and Bat Xat by making the most of mountain peaks and waterfalls,” said Hiep, adding, “We’ve advised the provincial authorities to build community tourism and green tourism and improve tourism quality to lure more domestic and foreign visitors. Another solution is to organize an International Tourism Fair 2024 to connect other domestic and international tourism markets with Lao Cai.”
Lao Cai aims to welcome 8.5 million tourists and earn more than 1 billion USD from tourism this year. By improving the quality of its tourism products and creating new products Lao Cai hopes to become one of 10 most attractive tourist destinations in Vietnam.
Manh Phuong