For example, Binh Lieu District has boldly exploited its potential and advantages to develop community-based tourism based on traditional cultural values, creating unique products imbued with national cultural identity. Thereby, economic development can be promoted through tourism, towards improving the locals’ lives.
Grasping the local tourism potential, Ly Hong Cong from Ban Chuong Village, Luc Hon Commune, Binh Lieu District, renovated his house into a homestay to welcome tourists with an investment capital of over 1 billion VND in 2021. Despite its simplicity, since going into operation, Cong’s homestay has been full of guests almost every weekend.
Providing tourism services has given Cong’s family and many households in the locality not only a high and stable source of income but also opportunities for locals to exchange with tourists so that they can get rich off the land where they live.
Cong shared that in addition to accommodation, his family also provides catering services for guests with materials grown and raised themselves. Thanks to the shift towards tourism, the earned profits are enough for his family to cover living expenses and save money to expand business activities, contributing to promoting the economic development of the locality.
The staff of Ban Chuong Homestay prepare to welcome tourists
As a mountainous and border district, Binh Lieu is blessed by nature with a typical temperate and cool climate and beautiful natural landscapes, especially anise and cinnamon forests and vast terraced fields. The district also has many famous landscapes and historical relic sites that attract a large number of tourists, including Khe Van waterfall, magic rock at Cao Ba Lanh Mountain, Cao Xiem Mountain, Khe Tien Waterfall and Mooc River.
To serve the increasing accommodation needs of tourists, Binh Lieu District has been encouraging people and businesses to invest in and develop accommodation facilities. Up to now, the district has three hotels and dozens of homestays, with over 300 rooms, meeting the accommodation demand of more than 1,200 tourists.
With many ethnic minorities living together, Binh Lieu District has a diverse and rich traditional culture, with numerous customs, practices, festivals, costumes, musical instruments, and folk dances. The forms of folk art performances such as then singing, tinh flute and soong co-singing have also been preserved and used by the locals in daily life, creating an extremely rich spiritual life. This is the unique strength and potential for Binh Lieu to develop community-based tourism and explore and experience a rich and unique cultural space.
To maximise the value of the landscapes, associated with creating new tourism products to attract tourists, every year Binh Lieu District has organised many attractive programmes, such as the Yellow Harvest Festivals, the Flower Festivals, cultural and sports activities and folk games. As a result, the traditional cultural beauties of ethnic minority groups have been promoted, gradually affirming the unique mark of Binh Lieu tourism on the domestic tourist map. In addition, the district has also been focusing on developing OCOP products while investing resources to strongly develop transportation infrastructure connecting routes and tourist attractions in the locality, towards creating convenience for tourists.
Hoang Ngoc Ngo, Vice Chairman of Binh Lieu District People’s Committee, said to develop local tourism quickly and sustainably, the district has built a sustainable tourism development project associated with poverty reduction and socio-economic development and issued Resolution No. 13-NQ/HU dated March 31, 2023, on tourism development in Binh Lieu District to 2025, with an orientation to 2030. It is crucial to emphasise the solutions to develop community-based tourism on the preservation and promotion of the traditional cultural values of ethnic minority groups associated with environmental and landscape protection, as well as focus on forming cultural villages of the Tay, Dao and San Chi ethnic groups, creating highlights and increasing experiences for tourists.
Visitors to Binh Lieu Flower Cooperative in Cao Son Village, Hoanh Mo Commune
In addition to destinations that have become famous and familiar brands, such as Ha Long Bay and Yen Tu, the expansion of tourism space to border and ethnic minority areas like Binh Lieu District is the right direction for Quang Ninh.
To promote advantages, the Provincial People’s Committee issued a decision approving the Project on sustainable development of community-based tourism in the province. The project’s goal is to develop community-based tourism sustainably, contributing to preserving and promoting traditional values, especially the cultural identities of ethnic minorities. The project is expected to contribute to improving the quality of cultural, spiritual and material lives of locals while changing perceptions about livelihoods to reduce poverty sustainably.
