Nguyen Minh Phu, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Bien Province, said that Dien Bien has 19 ethnic groups, 18 of which are ethnic minorities, who are living in almost all districts, towns, and cities in the province. Each ethnic group has its own customs and cultural traditions, which are the strengths that attract tourists to visit and experience the area.
Promoting the advantages of this type of community tourism in ethnic minority villages, since 2003, Dien Bien Province has selected eight villages of the Thai ethnic group to build a model of community cultural tourism, including: Noong Bua, Co My, Ten, U Va, Phieng Loi, Men, and Him Lam 2.
Accordingly, each village selected to develop community tourism is supported to build a community cultural house. They are also supported to build standard toilets for some families in the village who commit to welcoming guests to stay (eat and sleep overnight). Additionally, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Bien has also organised training for human resources serving community tourism selected from the villages and supports the construction and staging of art performances for people to exchange culture and art with tourists.
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Every year, the community tourism site of Na Su Village, Cha Nua Commune, Nam Po District, welcomes tens of thousands of visitors. |
Lo Thi Xuyen, a member of the Phieng Loi Cultural Village Community Tourism Team, Thanh Minh Commune, Dien Bien Phu City, said: With financial support from the locality and professional training from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Bien, since 2003, she has met with many families in the village to agree on a model of welcoming guests to stay in, visit, and experience Phieng Loi Village.
For families who have committed to welcoming guests to stay, the people have proactively repaired their houses to facilitate the daily activities of family members and meet the needs of tourists.
In the regulations of the village tourism team, the families have been required to regularly clean their houses and the space around the village; and send members to join the art troupe, culinary troupe, and customs performance team to be ready to serve visitors and experience.
To date, the community tourism model of Phieng Loi Village has been operating for 21 years. This model has helped many families escape poverty; the children and grandchildren in the village have learned how to organise and arrange things to serve tourists at home during the tourist season.
Therefore, currently, almost all families in Phieng Loi are ready to welcome visitors; the community tourism model of Phieng Loi Village has also become a typical example of this type of tourism in the locality.
Operating after the Phieng Loi Village community tourism model for many years, the Na Su Village community tourism model at Cha Nua Commune, Nam Po District, Dien Bien Province, is now also a destination attracting domestic and international visitors.
Thung Thi Lam, a member of the Na Su Village community tourism group, said that building a community tourism model associated with nature, associated with the White Thai ethnic people in the Northwestern region, they have used locally available materials to make utensils and tools for visitors to eat, sleep, and play.
In 2021, appreciating the contributions and values gained from community tourism in ethnic minority areas, the 14th Provincial Party Committee of Dien Bien (term 2020-2025) issued Resolution No. 03-NQ/TU on tourism development in Dien Bien Province until 2025, with a vision to 2030.
Specifying the content of Resolution 03, the People's Committee of Dien Bien Province issued Decision No. 345/QD-UBND on March 3, 2023, approving Project 345 on tourism development in Dien Bien Province, with special emphasis on the task of developing community tourism spots in Dien Bien Phu City, Muong Lay Town, and the districts of Dien Bien, Muong Ang, Tuan Giao, Muong Cha, Nam Po, Muong Nhe, and Tua Chua.
Typical spots include community tourism in Phieng Loi Village, Che Can Village (Dien Bien Phu City); the Na Su Village community tourism site (Nam Po District); the Ta Kho Khu Village community tourism site (Muong Nhe District); the Quang Chien Village community tourism site, Nam Can Village, Bac 2 Village (Muong Lay Town); the Co Village community tourism site, Long Village, Sang Village (Tuan Giao District); and the Nam Cum Village community tourism site, Ang Cang Village (Muong Ang District).
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People of the cultural and community tourism villages in Dien Bien along with tourists. |
Step by step implementing the content of the Dien Bien province tourism development project while creating motivation to attract visitors to community tourism sites, in the period of 2021-2023 alone, Dien Bien Province has invested more than 5,000 billion VND to develop commercial, tourism, and service infrastructure.
From now until 2030, Dien Bien plans to allocate 1,037 billion VND from the state budget, socialised capital, and mobilised contributions from the people to invest in tourism development such that Dien Bien tourism can truly become a spearhead economic sector with strong Dien Bien tourism identity, including historical tourism, cultural tourism, and community tourism.
