Community Tourism Development: In Search of Sustainable Relationships

Developing a community tourism model is a long road, requiring sustainable cooperation from many parties to both create livelihoods for people participating in the model, create profits for businesses and create attraction for local destinations, without harming culture and the environment. On the afternoon of April 2, 2023, at Coi Da village, Ngan Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province, a seminar on ‘Developing community-based ecotourism in Quang Binh’ was held by Saigon Marketing in coordination with Quang Binh Department of Tourism and Netin Travel company.

Four years ago, businessman Tran Xuan Cuong, Director of Netin Travel Company, and his colleagues made the first trips to explore the potential of eco-tourism and community tourism in Coi Da village, Ngan Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province – where most of the Bru – Van Kieu people live.

Potential for community tourism development

Over the years, Mr. Cuong and the local people have rediscovered and developed unique traditional cultural values ​​to serve tourism. By 2022, the efforts of this businessman had achieved the first results. The first tours to explore the nature at Cha Loi cave and learn about the cultural life of the Bru – Van Kieu people in Coi Da village were carried out and attracted the attention of tourists. The first Bru – Van Kieu people here joined the tour, providing suitable products and services, partly improving their livelihoods.

“In the next 5 years, I hope that 100% of the people in Coi Da village will join us in developing ecotourism and community tourism,” Mr. Cuong shared at the seminar “Developing community-based ecotourism in Quang Binh” held on the afternoon of April 3 in Coi Da village. “We not only develop cave exploration tours, so that tourists can immerse themselves in nature, but they also have to stay with the people and learn about the unique culture here. And to do this, the business itself cannot do it alone but needs support from the local government and especially the companionship of the people.”

It is known that Netin Travel is one of the companies that has recently developed a community tourism model in Quang Binh province – a place that is considered to have a lot of potential to develop this type of tourism with many beautiful caves, many unexploited natural destinations and a large community of ethnic minorities.

Mr. Bach Thanh Hai, Director of the Management Board of Dong Chau – Khe Nuoc Trong Nature Reserve (Le Thuy district) said that in 2022, when Dong Chau – Khe Nuoc Trong is put into tourism activities, many people will be trained to serve tourism. Some households have converted their houses into homestays to serve tourists. In particular, Rum Ho village in this area is a destination for tourists who love nature tourism and experiencing the life of the Bru – Van Kieu people.

“Quang Binh has enough natural and human ecosystems to develop community tourism,” Mr. Dang Dong Ha, Deputy Director of Quang Binh Department of Tourism, shared at the seminar and added that Quang Binh province began to strongly develop the community tourism model since 2017 when a number of projects were piloted, mainly in Bo Trach district. And recently, new destinations such as Cha Loi Cave and Chau Khe Nuoc Trong Cave are contributing to embellishing the community tourism picture here. The first products on community tourism have been formed, becoming more known to domestic and foreign tourists.

According to Mr. Ha, with the above potential, Quang Binh province has issued a plan to develop tourism into a truly spearhead economic sector in the 2021-2025 period; focusing on developing agricultural tourism and rural tourism based on exploiting the province’s tourism potential and strengths. Specifically, along with encouraging and creating conditions for businesses to invest in developing agricultural tourism and rural tourism, the locality is interested in developing industry products and OCOP products to serve agricultural tourism and rural tourism; at the same time, forming high-quality resort farms to serve the needs of domestic and foreign tourists.

Join hands for sustainable development

There is a lot of potential, but there are also many challenges. That is, culture is negatively affected and the model is easy to develop according to trends, in a short time and is not sustainable due to lack of connection.

As a photographer who has been capturing the daily lives of people across the country for many years, what photographer Steven Triet has learned is that developing community tourism should not impact the people too much. “Don’t change their lives too much. Don’t let visitors feel that the community culture is no longer intact,” Triet gave an example.

Mr. Triet’s comments also received noteworthy comments from the participants at the discussion.

“Along with development, there are also certain impacts on residential areas and communities,” Mr. Ha added about the challenges when developing community tourism in Quang Binh. Therefore, according to Mr. Ha, there should be plans and criteria to both protect local culture and environment, help tourists exchange culture and help create sustainable livelihoods for local people.

Sharing the same opinion with Mr. Ha, Mr. Hai further analyzed that the potential for developing community tourism is huge. One of the advantages of developing ecotourism and community tourism is that it both protects the forest and supports forest protection and creates livelihoods for local people.

“The custom has existed for a long time. Therefore, to develop this model sustainably, close cooperation from many parties is needed. When this model really develops, it can reduce pressure on the forest because the people have another source of income. In addition, the image of the Bru – Van Kieu people is promoted nationwide and around the world,” Mr. Hai said, suggesting that it is necessary to call on domestic and foreign enterprises, cooperate with local authorities to invest in infrastructure, develop sustainable eco-tourism and community tourism models, and avoid following the trend of investing for a few years and then abandoning.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Van Ky, Chairman of Quang Binh Tourism Association, commented that to effectively do community tourism, it is necessary to change awareness from the people to local authorities and businesses.

“However, this is a long-term process, we cannot rush it,” Mr. Ky said, adding that community tourism requires developing sustainable relationships between parties. That is, businesses take tourists to eco-tourism sites, learn about nature, learn about community culture. That is, local people can produce goods to serve tourists, earning extra income.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Cuong from Netin Travel also agreed that his business also saw that it was not necessary to develop community tourism hastily, but needed to have time with the locals to be able to catch up with this model. “Up to now, people can earn more money from performing arts, guiding tourists, participating in the food supply chain, although not much, but it is a positive signal,” said Mr. Cuong.

From the above comments, it can be seen that developing community tourism is a difficult path, but it must be taken because this model, through practice, has proven to bring benefits to many parties from the local community, to businesses and tourists.

More specifically, from the goal of attracting tourists of Quang Binh tourism industry this year, it can be seen that this Central province is having certain interests in community tourism.

In 2023, Quang Binh tourism aims to welcome 3 – 3.5 million visitors, including 100,000 international visitors; total revenue from tourists will reach 3,400 – 3,900 billion VND, in which for tourists from other provinces, the focus will be on promoting and introducing typical products of Quang Binh according to the themes of experience, nature discovery; sports and resort paradise; cultural exchange and acculturation; agricultural tourism and community tourism.

The seminar had the participation of speakers: Mr. Dang Dong Ha, Deputy Director of Quang Binh Provincial Department of Tourism; Mr. Bach Thanh Hai, Director of Dong Chau – Khe Nuoc Trong Nature Reserve Management Board; Mr. Tran Xuan Cuong, Director of Netin Travel Company and photographer Steven Triet.

In addition, the seminar also had the participation of Mr. Nguyen Van Ky, Chairman of Quang Binh Tourism Association; Mr. Ho Van Tham, village elder of Coi Da village and Bru – Van Kieu people living in Coi Da village.

Within the framework of the discussion, the organizing committee of the program “Top 7 Impressive Vietnam” also awarded certificates to representatives of destinations in Quang Binh that were voted by many readers in 2022, including: Dong Chau – Khe Nuoc Trong Nature Reserve (Le Thuy district); Rum Ho Village (Le Thuy district) in the category “Top 7 eco-tourism destinations”; Hang Va (Bo Trach district) in the category “Top 7 tourist destinations with impressive scenery”.