Difficulties in craft village tourism

Developing craft village tourism will help create livelihoods and effectively preserve craft villages. Photo: VL

Lack of featured products

In November 2009, Dong Khuong Craft Village Cluster (Dien Phuong Ward, Dien Ban) announced its planning. Accordingly, all local traditional handicrafts such as Phuoc Kieu bronze casting, wood carving, rice paper, Chiem Tay mats, Le Duc Ha pottery... will be concentrated in a common space.

The establishment of Dong Khuong Craft Village Cluster, in addition to the purpose of conservation and concentrated production, also brings the expectation of developing craft villages in the direction of tourism. After nearly 15 years of implementation, it seems that the above two goals have not been achieved, especially the goal of tourism development.

At Nguyen Van Tiep Fine Art Woodworking Facility (Dong Khuong Craft Village Cluster), in addition to producing goods, artisan Nguyen Van Tiep also invested in renovating the space, completing service infrastructure, and designing streamlined product models to meet the needs of tourists buying souvenirs...

However, very few visitors come to visit. Not far away, Le Duc Ha Terracotta Factory also develops products and production models in the direction of tourism, but the number of visitors is insignificant, mostly students from neighboring areas, and tour groups are almost deserted.

Quang Nam has about 30 craft villages and traditional craft villages along with more than 2,200 craft production establishments. Many of these are associated with tourism, but most are fragmented.

In some craft villages such as Tra Nhieu mat weaving, Ma Chau silk weaving (Duy Xuyen), Cua Khe fish sauce (Thang Binh) or Zara brocade weaving (Nam Giang), including Kim Bong carpentry (Hoi An)... despite the advantage of being close to tourist centers or possessing many unique cultural values, tourism development is still quite slow.

Mr. Le Sy Quyen - Director of Asia Pioneer Travel (Hanoi) - an expert in developing sustainable tourism products, said that in order for craft village tourism or any type of tourism to develop, the role of businesses is indispensable, especially in the current situation of a shortage and weakness of local tourism human resources.

“Therefore, the tourism industry and localities need to be more determined with this issue, must plan, prepare and design a methodical and professional experience itinerary with the participation of businesses, not fragmented and spontaneous as in the past,” Mr. Quyen suggested.

Quang Nam's craft village tourism is still fragmented, lacking connection. Photo: VL

Complete the connection

Craft village tourism is not new and has been implemented by the tourism industry for more than 20 years. The success of traditional craft villages in Hoi An such as Thanh Ha pottery, Tra Que vegetables, lantern making, etc. has become a typical example encouraging many establishments and craft villages in the province to plan and develop in this direction. However, not all have been successful.

Mr. Pham Vu Dung - Director of Hoa Hong Tourism - Service Company Limited (Hoi An) acknowledged that the lack of novelty and duplicate products have made Quang Nam craft village tourism not really attractive.

“We see potential everywhere, but the important thing is how to do it, how to design products so that travel businesses and tourists can accept them. In particular, there must be a difference, because some local products are similar to each other such as pottery, wood, mat weaving…” – Mr. Dung listed.

In fact, this is just one reason. There are many factors that have caused craft village tourism to not develop. From limited human resources, unconnected transport infrastructure to fragmented development, lack of business role…

Mr. Le Quoc Viet - Chairman of Quang Nam Destination Club said that lack of connection is the most important reason. "We must find a way to connect craft villages near Hoi An such as Dien Ban, Duy Xuyen, and even Thang Binh... to make it convenient for tourists.

Next, craft villages must have specific products, and convenient transportation infrastructure, because transportation is a problem. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the promotion and introduction because customers do not know much, and even confuse products between craft villages" - Mr. Viet explained.

Mr. Van Ba ​​Son - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam affirmed that tourism businesses are currently only exploiting available factors and paying little attention to craft village products, leading to a lack of connection between travel agencies and craft village owners.

The role of the tourism industry is also limited to support such as guidance, training in tourism skills for craft village communities, promoting craft village destinations...

“There must be businesses coming in to introduce and exploit the products of craft villages, but the craft villages themselves must also have connections with each other, organize more frequent sightseeing tours, promote the consumption of goods, preserve the craft villages, and aim for sustainable development,” Mr. Son analyzed.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/kho-khan-du-lich-lang-nghe-3141111.html