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According to the APEC website, the cultural village of Na Tong is about 130km from Tuyen Quang city and 290 km from Hanoi’s capital. The village is inhabited by the Tay ethnic group residing along Thuong Lam Valley and boasts both beautiful natural scenery and fresh air.

Upon arrival in Na Tong, visitors have the opportunity to enjoy the majestic natural landscape and discover the traditional culture of the Tay ethnic people, such as the architecture of the house, accommodation, food, culture, art, traditional legends, and rituals, says the website.

In 2017 Na Tong started welcoming and letting tourists stay overnight in the village. Since then, the name Na Tong has become well known among tourists from near and far.

The website also offers guidance in detail about how to travel to the area, the best things to do in Na Tong village, what’s good to eat in the village, as well as information about accommodation there.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific region.

Currently, the website of the APEC with the address https://communitytourism.apec.org focuses on tourism promotion, in which the APEC Secretariat selects typical destinations for APEC members. It provides an opportunity to promote community tourism in the Asia-Pacific region, thereby attracting more and more tourists to those destinations.

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The family of Vang Thi Can, the owner of Ban Lien Forest Homestay, is one of five households in Ban Lien participating in developing the community-based tourism model. Visitors to the homestay can stay in a traditional stilt house with a palm leaf roof – the typical house of Tay ethnic people. Can said that, since joining the project, her family has offered visitors an opportunity to explore the traditional customs, daily lives, and festivals of the Tay ethnic group. The tourists can also join locals to try their hands at harvesting rice, picking tea leaves, and making cassava cakes. “Despite facing many difficulties due to the COVID-19 epidemic, my family and I consider tourism as a means to earn a long-term livelihood,” she said. Can’s neighbor, Lam A Luan, also renovated his house and turned it into Che (Tea) Hill Homestay – a facility that can serve up to 20 visitors. Luan’s family has a 60-year-old tea hill that covers more than 10 hectares behind the house, making his homestay have a huge advantage in developing tourism while farming organic tea. Visitors to Che Hill Homestay can not only take part in tours to local tourist sites and waterfalls but may also try picking and drying tea leaves for brewing tea.

The families of Vang Thi Can and Lam A Luan are two of the five households participating in the project on increasing incomes and the role of ethnic minority women through the development of community-based tourism in Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province.

The project is part of the Australian Government-funded programme on Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT), which is being implemented in the provinces of Lao Cai and Son La.

Under the projects, participants were provided loans, receive training in communication skills on social networks, learning foreign languages from experts of Centre for Rural Economy (CRED), in order to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and skills in the hospitality and tourism industry.

As a result, the project participants now can develop contents to advertise their homestays on websites and social networks including Facebook and Zalo. They also renovated and redecorated their homes to give them a more beautiful and environmentally friendly appearance while exerting efforts to preserve and promote the treasured traditional cultural values of their ethnic group.

Thai Thi Huyen Nga, the project’s officer, said that the GREAT program was launched in March 2019 with three main goals: generating jobs and increasing incomes for locals, particularly women, through the development of community-based tourism; enhancing the confidence of ethnic minority women in doing business; and encouraging men’s support for women to participate in doing business, play a decisive role in the family, and take part in community activities.

In addition to bringing about obvious changes in enhancing women’s role and equality, the project has contributed to helping the participants to starting career in tourism in a professional way and encouraging them to pay greater attention to preserving traditional cultural values.

“We believe that tourism development in Ban Lien Commune will generate sustainable livelihoods for the people, thus driving economic growth in the locality,” Nga said.

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The Workshop took place in 3 days, from 23rd to 25th November 2022, in which focusing on building and enhancing the sustainability of the tourism industry of the CLMV countries. Tourism managers from the public sector, tourism entrepreneurs from CLMV countries, experts from Japan, Thailand and regional tourism experts from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Laos, exchanged and shared experiences in theory and practice in the implementation and development of outstanding tourism models of the region and of each country.

At the Workshop, each country introduces the typical community-based tourism development model of their country to exchange and learn from each other, thereby gradually bringing the type of community-based tourism to development. The participants conducted theoretical and field training; visited Tad Kuangsi waterfall and typical community tourism sites in Luang Prabang province.

Organisation and service at each tourist destination, the development of a new tourism model for businesses and the public sector were also brought to discuss and comment at the Workshop.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Tourism Information Technology Center

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In the list of promoting community tourism villages of 21 APEC economies, Ha Giang has 18 cultural and tourism attractors selected for promotion, including Nam Dam, Lo Lo Chai, Du Gia, Thien Huong, Lung Cam, Ma Le, Pa Vi Ha, Thon Chi, Nam Hong, Lung Tam weaving village, Na Thac village, Ha Thanh village, Khuoi My village, Lung Vai village, Van Chai commune, Xa Phin commune, Ban Luoc, Hoang Su Phi district. The community-based cultural tourism attractors of Ha Giang Province account for the largest number of Vietnam’s tourist attractions introduced on the APEC website.

Today, tourism is an economic sector in which micro, small, and medium-sized tourism enterprises account for the majority, especially in rural areas. While many rural areas have rich natural resources and cultural identity to develop tourism, tourism businesses here have difficulties in approaching partners and attracting visitors to visit and promoting and introducing their products to partners and visitors. Therefore, Vietnam has raised an idea and been approved by the APEC Secretariat to implement the project “Increasing the prospect of connecting tourism businesses through the application of information technology to build and promote a network of micro, small and medium enterprises in community tourism in APEC rural areas”. The product of the project is the satellite website of the APEC website https://communitytourism.apec.org/ to introduce information and connect tourism communities in rural areas, thereby forming a network of tourism community tourism in the APEC region.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Tourism Information Technology Center

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