CHANGE YOUR THINKING ABOUT DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES
The development resources in the traditional society of ethnic minorities in Western Nghe An are mainly forest land, swidden fields, rice fields, in general, resources associated with their lives.
In a market economy, new resources are needed such as social relationships, social networks, folk knowledge, market information, geographical location, professional skills, cultural knowledge, degrees, social status, etc. However, not everyone is aware of and understands these resources. Families participating in community tourism and families less involved in these activities can see more clearly the grasp of development resources due to differences in market experience.
Community tourism workers know how to build social networks through many different channels. First of all, relationships with local authorities. Right from the time of the community tourism development project and being taken to visit some models, these people knew how to create necessary relationships such as with tour guides, community tourism organizers, and even with some people in the places they visited to exchange. Then, when the first groups of visitors came, they knew how to maintain relationships with tourists. In particular, they knew how to create and expand relationships with travel companies and tour guides and considered this an important relationship, a source of customers for them.
Not only knowing how to create social relationships outside, community tourism workers also show agility and know how to gather other people in the village to participate in this activity. They focus and train people on cooking, organizing receptions, organizing activities to serve tourists. When divided into groups/clubs such as folk song clubs, culinary groups, experience groups, etc., community tourism workers are the bridge between these groups. They are the ones who receive information about tourists and notify, organize related activities as well as negotiate prices and share benefits with each other.
Thus, through community tourism, participants have clearly recognized that social relations and organizational capacity are a resource for economic development. They also understand that ethnic cultural identity is an important capital and can be applied in the development process.
CHANGE YOUR THINKING ABOUT ECONOMIC PLANNING
Community tourism itself is an economic process consisting of many steps and many different activities that are related to each other. Therefore, developing community tourism also requires an economic planning strategy. First of all, a financial investment strategy.
To develop community tourism, it is necessary to have a certain financial source and investment strategy, using finance. Mobilizing a large amount of capital from selling buffaloes, pigs, or borrowing from relatives, even borrowing from banks is not easy for the people in the mountains. Therefore, when pursuing it, they must be very careful in their investment plans. People who do community tourism have shown that they are bold in doing business. And they are also very calculating in investing in this new field. However, they do not devote all their resources to this activity but still maintain other production activities, in case these activities do not bring the expected benefits, family life will not be in a deadlock.
CHANGE YOUR MINDSET ABOUT CULTURAL VALUE SYSTEM
Value systems are ethnic identities. But these are abstract concepts and change over time. Value systems are shaped in different periods and they change according to circumstances but still retain their basic features.
In the past, most ethnic minority communities in Western Nghe An had an inward-looking basic value system. Creative and production communities were all oriented towards serving themselves, their families and their communities. For example, a beautiful outfit was a tribute to the woman who produced it. These are called inward-looking cultural values. But when developing community tourism, the value system also changed.
To develop tourism, people have even modernized cultural elements to serve tourists; they have renovated their houses, added corrugated iron roofs, raised the pillars to use the first floor as a living room and dining area. They have purchased modern appliances such as refrigerators, rice cookers, hot and cold showers, septic tanks, etc. Many dishes have also been changed to better suit tourists' tastes. Many new services have appeared such as coffee shops, pubs, clothing, fashion and souvenir shops.
Not only that, the costumes are often innovated, the songs and dances are also modified to be more reasonable, more exciting, and more splendid. That proves that community tourism has changed the value system of those working in community tourism from inward to outward, serving customers.
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