About 15km from the center of Hanoi, only 30 minutes drive, Duyen Thai commune (Thuong Tin district) has two famous craft villages, imbued with cultural and historical values. They are Phuc Am votive paper craft village, known as the "capital of the underworld" and Ha Thai lacquer craft village.
Elevating core values
Mr. Phung Quang Thang, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Travel Association, said that Phuc Am is a village famous for producing votive paper and offerings associated with the spiritual culture and folk beliefs of the Vietnamese people, especially the quality of beautiful and sophisticated votive paper serving the practice of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess Worship (recognized as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2016).
This is one of the largest villages producing votive paper in the North. Phuc Am votive paper has reached a level of sophistication, produced in large quantities, and transported throughout the North, Central and even the South. The products carry folk beliefs, are made entirely by hand. All are environmentally friendly.
Meanwhile, Ha Thai lacquer craft village has existed and developed for more than 200 years. Here, every stage from raw materials to sophisticated ones is done by hand, the paint is also of natural origin to create products with high durability and eye-catching colors.
In 2020, Ha Thai was officially recognized by the Hanoi People's Committee as a craft village tourist destination. What's special, according to Mr. Phung Quang Thang, is that the lacquerware production and experience workshop is not a single household, but the whole village has agreed to form a lacquerware workshop center.
“If Phuc Am produces artistic products honoring folk gods or ancestors, Ha Thai lacquerware honors the beauty of everyday objects, reaching the level of art and fine art. The world's trend is shifting to the art and craft style, and this is where we want to promote to express the core value of the tour,” Mr. Thang emphasized.
Representative of the lacquer product manufacturing facility, Mr. Ta Anh Dung (Phuc Cuong Lacquer Company), shared that in the past, the number of tourists coming to Ha Thai lacquer craft village was often small, sparse or sudden, so preparations for welcoming them were not thoughtful. Moreover, when tourism development was determined, the craft village would have more suitable products. Currently, most of them are quite large in size, difficult to transport abroad when customers buy them as gifts or souvenirs.
New destination in the City tour program
Therefore, to introduce the unique values of the two professions to tourists, especially international visitors, the Hanoi Department of Tourism and the People's Committee of Thuong Tin district and Duyen Thai commune recently organized a program to introduce the tour "Duyen Thai handicraft village art".
This is a tourism product promotion activity in the program to make tourism economy one of the main activities for socio-economic development of Duyen Thai commune, in parallel with the implementation of the plan of Hanoi Department of Tourism and Thuong Tin district on improving the quality of tourism products, tourist destinations associated with heritage - relics, and craft villages.
Mr. Tran Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism, said that Hanoi aims to complete the entire itinerary of special experience tours associated with the values of heritage - relics and craft villages, following the "Heritage Road South of Thang Long - Hanoi" through 3 localities: Thanh Tri, Chuong My and Phu Xuyen this year or early next year.
Mr. Vu Van Tuyen, CEO of Travelogy, assessed that the products of Duyen Thai craft village are not only tangible objects but also have heritage, cultural - historical and indigenous values. Both craft villages also meet all the standards for sustainable tourism development.
He said that for a long time, inbound tourism companies (welcoming international guests) have been struggling to find City tour programs (city tours, usually during the day) of craft villages around Hanoi, forcing them to combine and link tour programs to different locations because some craft villages do not exist fully and regularly. For example, when Travelogy's French tourist groups came to Hanoi or neighboring areas such as Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, ... some craft villages only work seasonally or according to the daily schedule, so they cannot see the work directly up close.
Therefore, the destinations are still Thay Pagoda, Tay Phuong Pagoda, Chuong Village, Thach Xa, Bat Trang, Chang Son... Now, adding Duyen Thai Commune to the itinerary is a new and extremely impressive and vibrant destination not too far from the center of Hanoi.
“Wine paper and lacquerware are two independent tourism products, but can be combined into a tour product for international visitors to take a day or half-day trip,” said Mr. Tuyen.
Blue Ocean Tourist representative suggested that travel agencies can cooperate with other craft villages in Thuong Tin district, because this is considered the "capital" of craft villages, with 126 craft villages, including 48 traditional craft villages.
In addition to Ha Thai lacquer craft village, there are embroidery crafts in Quat Dong, Thang Loi, Le Loi communes; wood turning crafts in Nhi Khe village (Nhi Khe commune); sculpture crafts in Nhan Hien villages (Hien Giang commune), Thuong Cung (Tien Phong commune), Thuy Ung (Hoa Binh commune)...
A representative of Vidotour Tourism Company said that, in addition to daily production activities serving visitors directly, craft villages need to create events, product demonstration programs or periodic products, such as once a week, to facilitate travel agencies in building tour products and bringing visitors.
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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/dua-thu-phu-coi-am-va-lang-nghe-son-mai-vao-tour-cho-khach-quoc-te-2330410.html
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