“Combining people and businesses to do community tourism...”

Two years ago, Mr. Ha Dong Minh, Director of Binh Lieu Community Tourism Company Limited, conducted the first surveys to select suitable locations to develop community tourism in Binh Lieu. Last October 2024, Company In coordination with the People's Committee of Binh Lieu district, the first famtrip delegation was organized to survey the trekking route through the forest and visit the homestay accommodation model of the Dao Thanh Phan people in Dong Van commune that the unit supported to develop.

On this occasion, reporters from the Quang Ninh Provincial Media Center had a conversation and exchange with Mr. Ha Dong Minh. (image) on the connection between people and businesses to develop community tourism in Binh Lieu.

- Hello Mr. Minh! Could you please tell us who is in the famtrip group experiencing trekking through the forest in Binh Lieu and what role will these guests play in the development of local community tourism?

+ The famtrip group includes representatives from about 50 companies. They are mainly business directors and product directors of travel companies specializing in inbound tours bringing international tourists, here mainly European and American tourists, to visit Vietnam. Their target customers are those who like to experience lands like Binh Lieu. They like to explore terraced fields, indigenous people's houses, and natural forests on their own.

The purpose of this famtrip is to introduce to tourism workers and tour operators so that they can directly witness and experience the trekking route to visit the golden season and the anise and so forests of Dong Van commune, Binh Lieu district, so that they can then introduce and sell Binh Lieu tourism products to foreign visitors.

- How is the connection between businesses to bring tourists to Binh Lieu specifically implemented?

+ We work with the locals to do tourism together. For example, in Khe Tien village, Dong Van commune, we support the locals with techniques and capital to rebuild the rammed earth houses to make them more spacious and suitable for foreign visitors. When the rammed earth houses become accommodation facilities, we develop products such as walking, forest trekking, tourism activities such as kayaking, cycling, etc., combining them into a "package", that is, a tour package. And the travel companies participating in the famtrip are introduced to our products, they will buy our tour packages and develop together.

In this story, our company specializes in product development in Binh Lieu, and inbound businesses with many tours in all countries will combine Binh Lieu tours into their big tour packages. That is the combination of Binh Lieu Community Tourism Company with international travel companies in Vietnam.

Fammtrip group experiences trekking in Dong Van commune, Binh Lieu district.

- After organizing the famtrip, what will be the upcoming plan of Binh Lieu Community Tourism Company?

+ After the famtrip, if travel companies want to send guests to Binh Lieu, we can welcome them right away because we already have usable accommodations and later, we will develop similar accommodations with the people in Khe Tien. When the number of guests increases, the accommodations will increase and we will meet the needs of international guests coming here.

We plan to cooperate with 20 households in Khe Tien village, Dong Van commune. And after developing the model here, other villages in Binh Lieu can develop similar models.

- In your opinion, why does developing community tourism in ethnic minority areas like Binh Lieu require cooperation between businesses and people?

+ To develop tourism in mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas, culture is very important. We want international visitors to experience real culture. That means being closer to the people, having them cook for us or talking to them every day. We work with the people to make this tour more complete.

Specifically, in Khe Tien, people have only known how to cultivate agriculture and forestry, and tourism is completely new to them, so we came to support them from how to build houses to meet the standards of foreign guests. We will also train people in tourism from receiving guests, cooking, serving... so that they can become professionals in serving international guests in the future.

Tourists are excited to experience the culture of the Thanh Phan Dao people in Binh Lieu.

- So in the story of community tourism development in Binh Lieu, what role does the state management agency play, sir?

+ Quang Ninh province is very interested in developing community tourism and Binh Lieu was chosen as one of the first places to develop community tourism. The government is providing great support. For example, with the famtrip to welcome inbound tourism companies to survey in Binh Lieu, Binh Lieu district coordinated with us to invite international tourism businesses.

There will be many problems in the future when bringing international visitors to Binh Lieu and the facilitation of the government plays a very important role in solving them. For example, international visitors to Binh Lieu now have to apply for a "child visa": They have to ask for permission to enter the border area and this procedure also takes time for foreign visitors. Businesses hope to have facilitation from the government so that Binh Lieu can welcome international visitors more conveniently, like in other border areas such as Cao Bang or Ha Giang. More convenient procedures will attract more tourists to Binh Lieu.

- Back to the beginning, when you first went to survey to choose a suitable location for community tourism development in Quang Ninh, what was the reason you chose Binh Lieu?

+ Binh Lieu not only has a community with different cultures, customs, and activities, but is also very close to a famous tourist destination, Ha Long. When visiting Binh Lieu, tourists can visit the world famous tourist destination, Ha Long Bay, and vice versa. Tourists can go to Ha Long for relaxation and return to Binh Lieu to explore the culture. Besides Binh Lieu, there are also Tien Yen, Hai Ha, Mong Cai, Ba Che, etc. with great potential for community tourism. The connection between localities to develop tourism will help community tourism in Binh Lieu in particular and community tourism in Quang Ninh to develop in the future.

- Thank you for taking the time to share!

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