With a legitimate desire to get rich, Mr. Phang A Pao, born in 1984, a member of the farmer's union in Cha Day village, Pa Co commune, Mai Chau district, has been constantly learning, and he boldly started a business and succeeded with the homestay business model.
A Pao’s homestay facilities in Pa Co commune (Mai Chau) have been invested to meet the relaxation needs of tourists.
Pa Co is home of Mong ethnic people, having a cool climate, favorable for developing homestay tourism. Since 2018, Mr. Phang A Pao has invested in and designed the houses with the traditional style of Mong ethnic people for homestay business. In addition to accommodation and dining services, the family's homestay exploits a number of accompanying services such as performing arts, visiting villages, experiencing the cultural colors, indigenous people's lives, and traditional folk games. To gain more experience, he went on a tour, studied the effective models in the provinces, and participated in the training courses on tourism skills and operations organized by the district and province. In addition, he has actively been promoting the homestay on the social networking sites, thanks to which the number of guests staying at the homestay has been increasing.
So far, his family's homestay has attracted thousands of turns of visitors. On average, each year A Pao Homestay A gives an income of nearly 1 billion VND, creating stable jobs for 4-5 local employees. Mr. Giang A Pao says: The family's homestay model is full of experiential activities such as beeswax painting, traditional Giang paper making, visiting Mong villages, tourism attractions, rattan hunting spots, and Pa Co market, the cultural and artistic exchanges imbued with the traditional national identity. In addition, visitors can also enjoy the traditional ethnic cuisine such as alcohol made from corn, alcohol made from plum, indegious pork, H'mong black chicken...
Along with that, he has enthusiastically been participating in the social and humanitarian activities. Through the movements launched by the State, his family has mobilized and supported annually by giving 150 - 200 Tet gifts to the poor households, each gift worth from 200,000 - 250,000 VND; sponsoring the soccer tournaments organized by the Youth Communist Union, Women's Union, and Communal Farmers' Association; regularly sponsoring the village’s and commune’s athletes participating in the tournaments organized by the superiors; Supporting the building of Pa Co night market’s cooperative group.
As a member of the Farmers' Union and the Head of the Professional Farmers' Union "Farmers doing homestays and experiencing Pa Co agriculture”, he always obeys and propagates to his family, the members and the people to strictly comply with the Party’s policies and guidelines, the State’s policies and laws, the local conventions and conventions; building the professional associations to effectively promote the available potential, creating close links between the members with the same passion for the community tourism business, contributing to building the new rural areas in the locality.
Mr. Phang A Song, the Chairman of Pa Co Farmers' Union, says: Mr. Phang A Pao is a typical farmer member in the commune's family economic development movement. His family is one of the pioneers in investing in modern facilities to develop homestay services. With the eager spirit of learning, daring to think, and daring to do, Mr. Pao has overcome all difficulties to successfully build a highly effective economic model. Not only is he good at doing economics, he has also been actively participating in the local activities, being ready to share experiences to help other members achieve the economic development. For many consecutive years, his family has been recognized as a typical cultural family and received a certificate of merit from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee rewarding the farmers with good production and business in the period of 2021 - 2023.
Mr. Phang A Pao's success in developing the model of homestay service business has created a ripple effect to members and people in the area. To date, the commune has 4 households providing homestay services to welcome tourists to visit and experience, contributing to promoting the local socio-economic development.
As the new year begins and festive spirit fills the air, visitors flock to Hoa Binh lake, often dubbed the "Ha Long Bay on land," to enjoy its breathtaking beauty and serene atmosphere. In spring, the lake comes alive with lush greenery and delicate blossoms, while boats carrying eager tourists glide across its tranquil waters.
With effective business operations, significant increases in the number of visitors at weekends and on public holidays, and being listed among the 71 most beautiful places to visit worldwide by the prestigious US travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller, Hoa Binh’s tourism is "spreading its wings" on its journey towards the targets of welcoming 4.9 million visitors, including 1 million foreigners, and achieving total tourism revenue of 5.4 trillion VND (211.89 million USD) in 2025.
On February 21, the Provincial People's Committee held a conference to implement the tourism plan in 2025 and meet with tourism businesses operating in the province. The event was chaired by Mr. Nguyen Van Toan, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the Head of the Provincial Tourism Steering Committee.
Tien Pagoda is located in the valley of Lao Noi and Lao Ngoai villages, Phu Nghia commune, Lac Thuy district; it is surrounded by two mountain ranges stretching like two giant dragons reaching for the blue sky. Every year, when spring comes, thousands of Buddhists and tourists from all over the country make a pilgrimage to Tien Pagoda. The relic complex of Tien Pagoda is ranked as a national relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with 21 relic sites of many types: historical and cultural relics, scenic relics, and archaeological relics.
Cao Phong has paid due attention to developing tourism, creating impetus for socio-economic development towards completing the targets set in the resolution of the district’s 28th Party Congress for the 2020-2025 tenure.
A great number of visitors have flocked to tourist attractions in Hoa Binh province in the first lunar month every year to admire the beautiful scenery, fully enjoy the spring atmosphere, and immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere in many localities.
