Mai Chau’s political resolve to develop community-based tourism

10/11/2017 - 9:51:26 PM

(HBO) – Mai Chau district in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh has emerged as an attractive destination for tourists both in and outside the country thanks to its great strides in community-based tourism development.

Mai Chau strives to attract some 618,000 domestic and foreign visitors by 2020.

Before 2010, Mai Chau, which was highly valued for its tourism potentials, was stuck in unorganized and small-scaled tourism activities. Statistics show that at the end of 2011, the district had only eight communes which took part in community-based tourism activities, with 11 hostels and 54 families providing community-based tourism accommodation services. Mai Chau welcomed only more than 64,250 visitors and earned just about 9.8 billion VND from tourism services a year.

In that context, a resolution of the district’s 24th Party Congress for the 2010-2015 tenure and Resolution 03-NQ/HU dated May 31, 2011, of the district’s Party Committee demonstrated the high resolve of Mai Chau’s Party organisation in stepping up tourism development.

Right in 2011, the Mai Chau People’s Committee devised a plan on community-based tourism development associated with new-style rural area building for 2011-2015 and submitted it to the district People’s Council for approval. In 2012, the People’s Committee approved the planning on the development of a community-based tourism network in association with new-style rural area building for 2011-2015. A steering board for Mai Chau tourism was set up in 2013 and tasked with advising the district’s authorities about tourism management.

To continue making a breakthrough in community-based tourism development, the resolution of the district’s 25th Party Congress for the 2015-2020 tenure targets that Mai Chau will become a community-based tourism hub by 2020. This serves as a lodestar for community-based tourism activities in Mai Chau, creating a favourable prerequisite for the local Party Organisation and administration to take tourism-related actions.

For example, the district’s Party Organisation issued Resolution 04-NQ/HU on July 13, 2016, on shifting the crop and livestock farming structure in association with new-style rural area building and tourism development for 2016-2020. The district also issued a plan on Mai Chau’s tourism development between 2015 and 2020, with a vision to 2030. On August 30, 2016, the Standing Board of the Hoa Binh provincial Party Committee issued Resolution 06-NQ/TU on turning Mai Chau into a national tourism destination in 2020.

Community-based tourism in Mai Chau has gained a facelift. The district now has 146 accommodation establishments, including seven hotels, 22 hostels and 117 community-based hostels. Tourism infrastructure has been substantially improved in recent years with such notable facilities as Mai Chau Lodge Hotel (Mai Chau town), Mat Troi Hotel (Chieng Chau commune), Ecolodge Hotel (Na Phon commune), and the tourism area of Mai Chau Villas (Mai Hich commune).

In the first half of 2017, the district welcomed more than 164,000 tourists, including more than 48,260 foreigners, and earned nearly 43 billion VND from tourism services. Community-based tourism sites have been making efforts to diversify activities and attract more holidaymakers such as the hamlets of Lac (Chieng Chau commune), Van and Pom Coong (Mai Chau town), Buoc (Xam Khoe commune), Xa Linh and Pa Co (Pa Co commune), Hich (Mai Hich commune), and Xam Pa (Na Meo commune). With community-based tourism as the core, Mai Chau’s tourism is increasingly appealing to visitors both in and outside the country. Community-based tourism is considered key tourism attraction of Hoa Binh and holds numerous new chances to make the province a national tourism area in 2020.

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