Reseach on building models of community - based tourism (the case of Giang Mo Village, Cao Phong district, Hoa Binh province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES ------- RESEARCH ON BUILDING MODELS OF COMMUNITY- BASED TOURISM CASE STUDY OF GIANG MO VIL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

 -

RESEARCH ON BUILDING MODELS OF COMMUNITY- BASED TOURISM (CASE STUDY OF GIANG MO VILLAGE, CAO PHONG

DISTRICT, HOA BINH PROVINCE)

MASTER THESIS

Speciality: Vietnamese Studies

Hanoi, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI INSTITUTE OF VIETNAMESE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCES

 -

DANG HOANG GIANG

RESEARCH ON BUILDING MODELS OF COMMUNITY- BASED TOURISM (CASE STUDY OF GIANG MO VILLAGE, CAO PHONG

DISTRICT, HOA BINH PROVINCE)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 5

1 Reason for theme 5

2 Aims and objectives 6

3 History of the research problem 7

4 Subject and scope of the research 8

5 Research Methodology 8

6 The layout of the thesis 9

Chapter 1: THEORITIACL AND PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK OF COMMUNITY - BASED TOURISM 10

1.1 History and opinions of the formation of community - based tourism 10

1.1.1 History of the formation of community - based tourism 10

1.1.2 Opinions of community - based tourism 11

1.2 Conditions and principles of community tourism development 13

1.2.1 Conditions of community - based tourism development 13

1.2.1.1 Tourism resources 14

1.2.1.2 Material and technical facilities 15

1.2.1.3 Transportation 16

1.2.1.4 Support service for tourism 16

1.2.1.5 The preparation of community 17

1.2.2 Principles of community - based tourism development 18

1.2.2.3 Tourism activities decided by local community 20

1.2.2.4 Preserving resources 20

1.3 Role of community - based tourism development 21

1.3.1 The role of community - based tourism for local community 21

1.3.2 The role of community - based tourism for local economy 21

1.3.3 The role of community - based tourism for resource conservation 22

1.4 Some of experiences in developing community - based tourism model 22

1.4.1 In the world 22

1.4.2 In Viet Nam 26

1.4.2.1 Models of community - based tourism in Sin Chai village, Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province 27

1.4.2.2 Models of community - based tourism in Doi village, Namdong

district, Thua Thien Hue province 30

1.5 Conclusion of chapter 1 33

Chapter 2: CURENT SITUATION OF THE COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM OPERATE AND DEVELOPMENT IN HOA BINH PROVINCE 34

2.1 Tourism potentiality of Hoa Binh province 34

2.1.1 Natural tourism resources 35

2.1.2 Human tourism resources 36

2.2 Models of community - based tourism in Lac village, Maichau district 37 2.2.1 The formation and development of community - based tourism in Mai Chau 37

2.2.2 Characteristics of community - based tourism model in the Lac, Mai Chau district 39

2.2.2.1 The role of community 39

2.2.2.2 Types of products 40

2.2.2.3 Characteristics of tourists 41

2.2.2.4 Cooperation mechanisms and sharing related benefit 42

2.2.3 The advantages of community - based tourism to economy, society and culture 45

2.2.3.1 Positive impacts 45

2.2.3.2 Negative impacts 47

2.2.4 Evaluation of community-based tourism model in the Lac village, Mai Chau district 48

2.2.4.1 Strengths 48

2.2.4.2 Limitations and causes 49

2.2.4.3 The lessons experience 50

2.3 Characteristics of community – based tourism in Cao Phong district, Hoa Binh province 51

2.3.1 Overview of Cao Phong district 51

2.3.1.1 Geographic features 51

2.3.1.2 Administrative boundaries 51

2.3.1.3 Economic development of Cao Phong district 52

2.3.2 Tourism potentiality of Cao Phong 54

2.3.2.1 The basic values 54

2.3.2.2 Conditions of infrastructure and technical facilities 56

2.3.3 Reality of tourism development in the Giang Mo village, Cao Phong district 57

2.3.3.1 Overvew of the Giang Mo village 57

2.3.3.2 The result of tourism activities 59

2.3.3.3 Local communities with tourism activities 62

2.3.3.4 Other characteristics 62

2.3.4 Evaluation of the activities of tourism development in the Giang Mo, Cao Phong district 64

2.3.4.1 Strengths 64

2.3.4.2 Limitations and causes 65

2.4 Compare models of tourism development in Ban Lac, Mai Chau district with Giang Mo village, Cao Phong district 66

2.4.1 The same 66

2.4.2 The different 67

2.5 Conclusion chapter 2 72

Chapter 3: DETERMINATION OF BUIDING MODELS OF COMMUNITY - BASED TOURISM IN CAO PHONG DISTRICT, HOA BINH PROVINCE 74

3.1 Determine of tourism development of Hoa Binh Province 74

3.1.1 Aim of tourism development 74

3.1.2 Tasks 75

3.2 Orientation for tourism development of Cao Phong district 76

3.3 Determine building community - based tourism model in the Giang Mo village, Cao Phong district 78

3.4 Put forward community - based tourism development model in Giang Mo village, Cao Phong district 79

3.4.1 Basis of the proposals 79

3.4.2 Principles to develope community - based tourism model in Giang Mo village, Cao Phong district 82

3.4.3 Content of model 84

3.4.3.1 Defining the role of community 84

3.4.3.2 Determine the role of management 85

3.4.3.3 Determine the role of tourism companies 85

3.4.3.4 Building community mechanism in the benefit sharing between subjects 85 3.4.3.5 Identify types of products and services 86

3.4.4 The conditions to establish the model 87

3.4.4.1 The policy of authorities 87

3.4.4.2 The availability of community 88

3.4.4.3 Knowledge of people 88

3.4.4.4 Infrastructure, facilities upgraded and other essential conditions 88

3.5 Applying the model for Cao Phong 89

3.6 Some recommendations 90

3.6.1 Recommendations to the State management agency on tourism 90

3.6.2 Recommendations to the provincial People's Committee of Hoa Binh and People's Committee of Cao Phong district 90

3.6.3 Recommendations for the People's Committee of Binh Thanh commune91 3.6.4 Recommended for local people 92

REFERENCES 96

INTRODUCTION

1 Reason for theme

Nowadays, tourism has become a necessity of life It is not only a key economy of nations but also a bridge of cultural exchanges among nations and areas in the world

Recently, the tendency of visiting remote mountainous regions, where ethnic minorities live, becomes very popular, especially as for foreign tourists and the youth because of wild natural landscapes and original cultural traits Consequently, another from of tourism has been development, known as community - based tourism

Community - based tourism is one of very attractive tourism types It has brought in many benefits of economy and society to communities in the world In Viet Nam, this type has been researched and put into practice in many locals Such as: Mai Chau (Hoa Binh), Ba Be (Bac Can), Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Suoi Voi (Hue)…ete However, there is not special research on the manner of developing community – based tourism for each area Community – based tourism activities in these areas do not rely on the result of scientific research that relies on experience Therefore, we need research reality and learn from experience in order to orient the development of community – based tourism in Viet Nam

Community – based tourism in Hoa Binh has been developed for a long time The most typical is community – based tourism model in Mai Chau The tourism operations in Mai Chau relies exploring culture tradition of Thai ethnic During the tourism activities develop has been an inadequate problem such as adverse effect on culture tradition of local, pollution of environment…etc

The same Mai Chau, Cao Phong district, Hoa Binh province, has many tourism resources Among them community - based tourism relies on exploring culture of ethnic minorities in Giang Mo - the most typical village This is the main residential area of Muong people (one of the four major area

of Muong) with traditional cultural values The tourism activities at Giang Mo has been beginning and developing since 1980s Giang Mo village has become an attractive destination However, the tourism operation there has not been managed effectively to meet its potentials Thus, in the current tourism tendency, studying and expanding the community - based tourism in Giang Mo are very important

In order to improve tourism operations in Cao Phong, it’s necessary to study tourism potentiality as well as reality of the district From that, we can design and build the suitable model For these reasons, the researcher decided

to carry out an investigation into the issue titled: “Research on building

models of community - based tourism (Case study of Giang Mo village, Cao Phong district, Hoa Binh province)”

2 Aims and objectives

Aims: orientate to building community - based tourism model in Cao

Phong district, Hoa Binh

Objectives:

- To systematize theoretical issues about community - based tourism

- To analyze experience in developing community tourism in Maichau and some other locals in Viet Nam

- To analyze evaluate developing community tourism in Cao Phong

- To compare model community - based tourism of Lac village to

bring out community based model in Cao Phong

3 History of the research problem

There were a great number of scientific studies on community - based tourism such as:

“Community - based tourism for Conservation and Development” book published in 2003 by The Mountain Institute (America) The authors have given concept, role and motivation factors of community tourism The authors have also presented some of community tourism models in the South America and Malaysia Then, they presented knowledge, skills and experiences about community tourism

“Community - based tourism – theory and use” (volume 1) book, PhD

Vo Que (2006) The author presented community based tourism theory (concept, aim, condition, signification, principle and criterion of community based tourism) Beside, the author also researched some community based tourism models in Asia and Viet Nam However, he did not present concrete conditions and model

"Sustainable tourism" book was published in 2001 of Nguyen Dinh Hoe and Vu Van Hieu The researchers thought that local community is an important

in development of community based tourism However, they did not concern with factors of community based tourism for localities in Viet Nam

"Tourism with problems of ethnic minorities in Sa Pa" book was published in 2000 of Pham Thi Mong Hoa and Lam Thi Mai Lan The researchers presented the influence of tourism on local ethnics in Sapa district, Laocai province Throughout, the researchers put forward solutions to minimize negative impact and enhance benefits for local communities in tourism activities

PhD Pham Le Thao’s “To organize the territory of Hoa Binh in opinion

of sustainable development” (2006) The author analyzed, evaluated and

synthesized the factors of Hoa Binh’s arrangement and development In thesis, the author mentioned the development of community based tourism in Giang Mo

MA Nguyen Thi Hong Van’s “The effect of tourism on cultural – society of Thai ethnic in Maichau district, Hoa Binh province and development solutions” thesis (2007) The researcher studied the influence of tourism on Thai people’s economy, cultural, society in Mai Chau Since then, the author put forward the orientation sustainable development for community based tourism in Mai Chau

4 Subject and scope of the research

- Subject of research: community - based tourism form and development conditions of community - based tourism

- Scope of content: community relies on exploiting ethnic minorities’ culture

- Scope of space: Cao Phong district, with the Giang Mo village is focused to research Maichau district, with Lac village is comparison subjects

- Scope of time: information and data collected from 2005 to 2010

5 Research Methodology

Researcher used 6 methods of scientific research: Researching synthesis theory, comparative approach, methods of sociological investigation, observation, questionnaire method, methods of analysis and synthesis

Research resources:

- Books and textbooks

- Newspapers, journals and magazines related content

- The scientific work such as reports, theses

- Report of the local governments and state agencies on tourism

- Information and articles on the internet

6 The layout of the thesis

Besides the introduction, conclusion, addendums, references, the thesis includes three chapters as followings:

Chapter 1: Theoretical basis and reality of community - based tourism

Chapter 1 presents theoretical basics, concepts of community - based tourism, principles and conditions of community - based tourism Concurrently, chapter 1 also provides some experience about community - based tourism in Viet Nam and other countries

Chapter 2: Current situation of the community-based tourism development operations in Hoa Binh prefecture

Chapter 2 presents the conditions for tourism development in Hoa Binh The chapter also introduces community - based tourism model in Lac village, Maichau district The conditions and reality of development tourism operation in Giang Mo village include: the conditions about natural resources, local residents, infrastructure and technical material, the policies and support The researcher assesses advantages and disadvantages of community - based tourism model in Lac village Thenceforth, the researcher orients of building community - based tourism in Giang Mo village

Chapter 3: Orientation of building models of community - based tourism in Cao Phong district, Hoa Binh province

Chapter 3 presents tourism development orients Hoa Binh province and Cao Phong district, puts forward solution development, determines model and gives some petitions in order to exploit the conditions to develop community - based tourism in Cao Phong

Chapter 1: THEORITIACL AND PRACTICAL FRAMEWORK

OF COMMUNITY - BASED TOURISM 1.1 History and opinions of the formation of community - based tourism

1.1.1 History of the formation of community - based tourism

Community is relationship between personal, which is decided by the similar in living conditions and activities of personal in there It concludes the production activities, the similar in religious beliefs, social value system, living conditions and operational targets

Community - based tourism (CBT) was derived from tourism village operations in 1970s Visitors went on walking around village, discovered customs and culture, daily life, festivals of local residents or certain travelers

to participate in ecotourism activities Normally, this tourism activity is hold

in natural wild area or a diverse ecosystem but also remote and sparsely populated When participating in this tourism type, the visitors are able to meet with difficulties about: traffic, living conditions, and information and support tourism conditions The tourists need help from local people such as guidance, food, accommodate…etc Therefore, they called it “the trip has the support of local people” That is the premise for the concept of community tourism development and community - based tourism

After a period of time, governments and social organizations have recognized that the community – based tourism activities brought about many adverse effects for economy, cultural, politics and social in there The factors

to attractive tourists are the tourism services and the culture traditional of local people Therefore, living standards gradually improve when the tourism activities developed

Relying on the tourism activities, local residents are more aware of preserving cultural identity and their habitats If not visitors, living of local people only depend on exploring natural resources Hence, natural resources

will become exhausted However, the tourism activities are developed local residents has opportunities to heighten themselves awareness of preserve value of resources The more tourism resources preserves, the more attractive visitors and the more increasing income Like this, local people take part in the tourism activities will preserves resources while improving living standards

Community – based tourism was gradually established and generally expanded in many regions on the world Community - based tourism began to develop in Africa, Australia, and America in 1980s and 1990s with the help of NGOs and IUCN Community - based tourism began to develop straightly in Asia concluding ASEAN countries

The community – based tourism vocabulary has been widely used ASEAN countries in 5 months 1995 years since “Building a framework for developing community – based tourism” conference in Indonesia and Philippines At the conference, many reports are given different opinions, concepts, modes, conditions and how to build as well as summaries experiences about organization model of community – based tourism Then these conferences, both theoretical and practical about model community – based tourism were studied by the countries in region The theories of community – based tourism were gradually formed Through out many models, the concepts, aims, criterions and conditions for growth community – based tourism were provided

1.1.2 Opinions of community - based tourism

The researcher introduces different concepts of scientists around the world and conceptualizes community tourism in the scope of the thesis

Community – based tourism has been exited since 1970s According to the way of deference approach so have many opinions about it

The opinions of experts in community – based tourism are: developing tourism relies on community is the form of promoting ethnic minority people

participate in discussion related issues, community also benefit from tourism activities Thanks to community – based tourism, the living standard of ethnic minority people was raised

The Nicole Hausle and Wolffgang Strasdas (2000) researcher thought that: community – based tourism is the form tourism those residential locals come forward and organize and administer The profit from tourism economy will retained local economics

Some of researcher has a high opinion of community – based tourism

as well as ecotourism and sustainable tourism The report of “The application community – based tourism of Butrin national park, South Albania” (2006), Ph.D Klodianna Gorica (Tirana University, Albania) thought that: community – based tourism is the cleverer than sustainable tourism Community – based tourism be able to effect on residential locals about: providing works, creating income, supporting cultural, preserving environment The local people have an initiative power for activities tourism Especially, community – based tourism is solution of destination management The aim of community – based tourism is preserve resources nation and local cultural Hence, the local people and visitors are enjoyed from tourism economy

“The business method in community – based tourism in developing countries” report of Robert M Davison, Roger W Harris and Douglas Rvogel (City University of Hong Kong) thought that: community - based tourism is solution for the development of community and the conservation of resources natural and humanity Community – based tourism is close relationship with ecotourism Community – based tourism not only contributes to conservation

of resource but also raise the living standards of local people Community – based tourism has been carried out in developing countries with activities

such as helpfulness of wildlife management, conservation of environment, development of human and culture local

Mountain Institute in The State of West Virginia (America) gave a community – based tourism concept: community – based tourism is tourism activities with the arm conservation tourism resources for the sustainable development Community – based tourism encourage local people take in part

of tourism activities with the common mechanism to create opportunities for the community

Community – based tourism is a process of the interaction between communities with visitors The participation of both will bring economic benefit, preservation of community and environment local

From the opinions and concepts about community – based tourism on forgoing, the concept of community - based tourism within the scope of this thesis is understood as follows:

Community - based tourism develops sustainable regional community

in which the subject is directly involved in tourism activities Regional community providing travel services while conserving the culture resources, natural resources and environment Concurrently, regional community benefit materially and spiritually from tourism and conservation achievements that”

1.2 Conditions and principles of community tourism development

1.2.1 Conditions of community - based tourism development

To develop community - based tourism, it is necessary to ensure these conditions: tourism resources, material facilities, and support services for tourism, transport, participation of community and policy of local authorities, which influence the formation and development of community tourism Among them, the tourism resources and participation of local community are extraordinarily important

1.2.1.1 Tourism resources

Tourism resources are the natural landscape, natural elements, historical – cultural vestiges and the work of humans’ create labor and other human values can be used to meet the needs of tourism, is fundamental factor to the formation of tourist area, destinations, tours and tourist urban

Tourism resources including natural tourism resources and human tourism resources are being exploited and unexploited

Natural tourism resources including geology, topography, geomorphology, climate, hydrology, ecosystems, and natural landscapes can

be used for tourism purposes

Human tourism resources including a total value of material and spiritual of man were created during impact on natural and social, including myself over the course of history Human tourism resources are divided into

many groups such as: historical – cultural vestiges, festivals, the

objects associated with ethnography (house, culture traditional…etc), manners and customs, clothes traditional…etc

Tourism resources are prerequisites for the formation and development

of various types of tourism in general and community – based tourism in particular Tourism resources are determining factor to create the value of the destination Destinations the more rich in tourism resources, the more unique and attraction to tourists, promote tourism in the region Tourism product is created by many factors, but we must first mention of tourism resources To meet the demands of tourists, the tourism product must not monotonous, poor, unattractive It must rich, diverse, distinctive and fresh

For community - based tourism, tourism resources as rich and unique conditions, the more powerful and sustainable development

1.2.1.2 Material and technical facilities

Material and technical facilities have an important in the process of creation and performance tourism produces as well as decision how to exploit tourism resources in order to satisfy the needs of visitor Besides, material and technical facilities also have bad or good influence on psychology of traveler when traveling Therefore, those are one of the important factors contributing

- The transport: the local transport includes the automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, boats, vehicles using animal can be able to move the tourists during the tour All transport should make sure that safety, hygiene and quality

- The accommodation: the accommodation includes hotels, motels, private house etc These accommodations belong to the administration of residential local All accommodations needs guarantee quality, hygiene with equipment for essential needs of tourists Especially, the toilets must be equipped with appliances such as: water heaters, bathroom

- The meals: the meals are essential needs of tourists It also benefits local people The meals good will impulse the development of community – based tourism The food area needs ensure hygiene, safety and comfort The food variety with local specialties but must ensure hygiene standards and suitable to the taste of tourists

- Other Equipments: Include specific equipments for the purpose of the trip or specific tourism activities The means must be equipped suitable to satisfy the needs of visitor

We want to exploit effectively tourism resources system require material facilities good According to the above characteristics, we can understand the material and technical facilities include all of the material means serve traveler’s needs

1.2.1.3 Transportation

Transportation is one of the first – rate important factor Tourism associates with the moving of people over a region This depends closely on transportation The destination can be attractive for traveler, but still can not exploit without transport factors If the convenient transportation system, tourism operations will quickly became a common phenomenon in society

Each traffic type has distinct characteristics Road traffic allows guests

to easily follow the route chosen Railway traffic is cheaper than road traffic but only follow fixed routes Air traffic is quicker, shortening the travel time, but more expensive Waterway is slower but can be sightseeing and entertainment along the river or the sea

1.2.1.4 Support service for tourism

Communication is an important part of infrastructure for tourism It is a necessary condition to ensure the exchange of tourists In tourism operations, the communication provides information quickly and in time as well as the exchange between the regions in the country and international

The electricity, water, village hospital in destinations are indispensable The visitors move from regular residence to other places Hence, they also need ensured essential needs

1.2.1.5 The preparation of community

Community is one of the important elements that make up the type of community - based tourism Therefore, the level of participation of the community has an important in the existence and development of community - based tourism

Community residents include only the local people, whose are living in or beside areas of tourism resources, does not include people or businesses from other areas to work or business

Local community provides services to develop community – based tourism Concurrently, they also conserve nature resources, environment and culture traditional of community Community is direct subject of operations tourism They decide the existence and growth of community – based tourism Local community provides services tourism while controlling tourism resources

The involvement of local communities in tourism development is expressed through:

- The awareness of conservation tourism resources: The local community is the subject of community – based tourism type Business tourism activities depend on community is the participation, management and conservation tourism resources in their habitation Thus, they should be responsible for the conservation of natural resources, environment and local culture They must understand their interests in the conservation of these resources

- The awareness of tourism: the local community to be aware of the benefits of economic and social from tourism activities They should welcome tourists warmly If they to be shy of the impact of tourists on their lives or self-conscious about their life, it will make difficulties in community – based tourism development Also, local communities must be aware of the seriousness of tourism activities Their services must be high quality to meet

the needs of the tourists to reach economic efficiency They should not try to earn money from tourists with all forms of tourism that depressed

- The knowledge about culture – society: local community must to understand the values of local cultural They need find out customs and information of local, furthermore they need knowledge of psychology and demand of tourists

1.2.1.6 The policy of local authorities

The policy of local authorities is an impulse the development of tourism operations If the policy is advantageous, it will create favorable conditions for tourism activities development Conversely, if the local authorities do not support and make difficulties, operations tourism will not develop The local authorities can support tourism development by: creating favorable conditions for tourists to visit, encouraging and support local communities join in tourism activities, orienting and controlling tourism activities in local communities, ensuring the security in local, creating images for their locality as a safe destination for tourists, building the tourism infrastructure Also, local authorities have an incentives policy to encourage business organizations to invest in tourism development

1.2.2 Principles of community - based tourism development

Some principles in order to develop community - based tourism are: relying on local community, allocating profit reasonably, tourism activities decided by local community, preserving resources

1.2.2.1 Relying on local community

Characteristic of community-based tourism is a relying on local community In particular, the local community is the subject of tourism activities They participate in all processes of tourism such as: organizing activities tourism, providing the services tourism, conserving traditional cultural values in order to meet the needs of the tourists Therefore, the first

principle of community-based tourism activities is the relying on local community We can not develop community – based tourism without relying

on the local community

The community tourism programs must be built on the ability of local community It includes the competence for their role and position in the use

of resources and the role of tourism for the development of local community, the disadvantages of tourism activities and visitors for the development for the local community, human and financial resources to meet the requirements

of tourism development Beside, we also need assess the attractiveness and originality of the traditional cultural values of local communities in tourism development

1.2.2.2 Allocating profit reasonably

Allocating profit reasonably is one of the conditions to community – based tourism sustainable development Production of community – based tourism is the result of relationship between local communities, local authorities with business tourism

Local communities are responsible for providing tourist services, organizing tourist activities and ensuring the tourism resources They are directly involved in tourism activities in the community

The local authorities directly control the administrative formalities about tourism activities, ensure order and security for community and visitor and make local a safe destination for tourists

Tourism businesses include business travels and companies providing tourism services Business travel is a bridge-between tourists and tourism resources in the region as well as tourism services offered by local communities living there Business travel is an important factor in the development of the tourism market Community - based tourism will be difficulty develop without the participation of business travels

With the principle, the participants are benefited the same The source

of income from the tourism business is divided to all participants This benefit

is also shared by taxpayers to the overall development of society

1.2.2.3 Tourism activities decided by local community

The condition for the formation of community tourism is community All tourism activities of community – based tourism are formed on the ability

of the community Therefore, communities should be entitled to participate in discussions tourism plans In some cases, it can give ownership to the community

Local community is an element and an equal partnership in tourism development process They are the most directly participate in tourism activities None better than anybody, they are the best insight out their strengths and weaknesses when participate in tourism activities Therefore they have the right to debate development plans that best suits their ability

1.2.2.4 Preserving resources

Nature resources and human resources are prerequisite to the development of community – based tourism Tourism resources like land to grow the tourism programs Resources richer, more unique, the more easily build special tourist programs attractive tourists

However, during the process of exploitation these resources, we need to pay attention to the conservation value of the resource The purpose of most tourists is exploring the differences in culture and the living environment at diverse lands The more unique resources there are the more attractive tourist and the more profitable

If local communities have not got the detail development plan of tourism activities, that will damages tourism resources Therefore, local communities always have a high opinion of conservation and protection value

of the resource We preserve the value of environmental resources and cultural traditions also ensure sustainable development of tourism

1.3 Role of community - based tourism development

The role of community - based tourism development is analyzed in terms of: local community, local economy and resource conservation

1.3.1 The role of community - based tourism for local community

Community – based tourism creates benefit to local people They are benefited from tourism activities It is sometimes more great than benefited from food production

Local people have an opportunity to improve their knowledge during the process of training and participation in tourism activities In addition, they have a condition to contribute the development of community and conservation of tourism resources, community culture

The development of community – based tourism brings about the development of social infrastructure Moreover, it also contributes to change the face of local society The development of tourism in local communities will become a model for other local learn

1.3.2 The role of community - based tourism for local economy

Tourism is considered the smokeless industry It brings about the large economic benefits to countries and regions Business travel is considered to export goods on the spot

The development of community – based tourism will stimulate the development of handicrafts, the agricultural product and the increase of work for residential local The local people’s income is increased will stimulate consumable and create again works

The income from business tourism is invested again in infrastructures, technical facilities Therefore, it creates conditions to the development of other profession Community – based tourism mobilizes all resources and

explores the potentiality of local into products These have an important in economy of local

1.3.3 The role of community - based tourism for resource conservation

In the backward living conditions and economy poor, local community may be become the agents which damage the environment Because, their knowledge of environmental damage caused by cognitive limitations Because of the backward living conditions, they have been deforested for firewood, food and agricultural development Hence, it is the cause of ecological imbalance In addition, they are not interested in the conservation

of environment If the environment and local culture character do not preserve, it will easily become to recession The more unique resources there are the more attractive tourist and the more profitable

1.4 Some of experiences in developing community - based tourism model

1.4.1 In the world

Community - based tourism has been existed and developed in the world since 1970s such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei…Especially, the community – based tourism model in Huai Hee village, Mae Hong Son province of Thailand

Huai Hee village is located in Mae Hong Son national park It is a small, ethnic Karen community, covering 26 km southeast of Mae Hong Son city The village lies at the base of Doi Pui, the provinces’ highest mountain Local residents of are ethnic minorities Mostly Karen people is mainstream economy of Karen people is the exploitation of forest resources People's lives are very difficult This area has rich resources and very attractive tourist The visitors are more and more crowded so the quiet of primeval forest is break and living of local people is influenced

Government of Thailand has established the Mae Hong Son national park management to protect forest resources However, it always contradicts

between local communities with national park management since the Mae Hong Son national park has started operations Especially, after the park management have the intention move the whole village out of the national park area The plan failed and cause of the negative reaction of people like burned forest, forest exploitation levels raise etc

In front of reality, Thailand government has been associated with some non-governmental organizations and some business travels to build community - based tourism in there The purpose of the program is improvement for people's life conditions, increase understanding and awareness of community responsibility for protection of articles on natural resources

Plans to build the model:

The Thailand government with organizations such as REST (Responsible Ecological Social Tours), PRLC (The Project for Recovery of Life and Culture), national park, the support fund for research, the security of ethnic minorities fund, travel companies and local communities had to build models of community development through the steps of: investigating tourism resources, building the intention about tourism products, determining arm and plans of action, training tourism operations and testing the products

The function of participants:

The above organizations have invested in infrastructure for tourism development, technical facilities for the community The travel companies’ assignment is spread tourism resources and the region's tourism product for tourists The local community provides tourism products and tourism services for tourists In order to serve the executive general manager, the local community has established a tourism management of village This tourism management works out of the program for tourism development, decides strategic business and spread the tourism programs The board has a chairman

and five functions are: service, security, finance, secretarial and training departments improve advertising and promotion

During effectuating a plan, the complicated issues of the project are the participation in settlement discussions Concurrently, local people also participate in work out of plan and their self-assigned members of the tribe

do The community is also proposing several important ideas about the regulations and policies for tourism development and pricing of services, provisions of services provided to tourists Members of the community correct justice by the provision services in shifts

The mechanism of sharing benefits between the participants:

The service is a local community The function of local people is distribution of tasks and contribution a percentage as follows: service providers are entitled to 80% of income from service activities, contribute to community development funds 5%, and contributing to the management of village tourism 15%

Some results:

Tourism activities: local communities have organized and implemented

ecotourism programs such as: to conquer the top of Mae Hong Son, to discovery flora and fauna in the forest and visit places of orchid cultivation, to learn about community life such as visiting the house ancient architecture, exploring cultural beliefs, performing and exchange cultural; to organize tourism adventure such as hiking, exploring primeval forest, providing accommodation, home-stay, transport and guides services

Situation of tourists: Huai Hee village have attracted a large number of visitors to visit Most visitors are tourists from countries like Britain, Australia, Netherlands, America, fewer domestic tourists The average age of guests is from 22 to 44 years The standard of spending is from 40 to 60 USD per day The average length of stay of a guest is about 3 to 4 days Revenue

from tourism has quickly increased over the years In 1997, the revenue reached 35.777 million baht to 268,675,000 baht in 2003 Thus revenues in

In there:

+ Management and organization: Non-governmental organizations, the authorities of Thailand

+ The performers: local communities

+ Effect factor: tourism resources, customer market and mechanisms policies

- Sharing benefit between the participants: the services providers are enjoyed 80%, the management of project are enjoyed 15%, contribute to the community development fund 5%

The model has been clearly defined roles, tasks and responsibilities as well as the interests of participants Especially, the community was joined in the creation planning, organization and provision tourist services Therefore, they were benefited directly from tourism activities Basically, the model has achieved the objectives that conservation natural resources, improvement quality of life for the people and the preservation unique culture of the local community

Some experiences:

- The development of tourism should be planned and built detail programs in every phase In each phase, we must identify the tasks of the participants and clearly define the objectives of the model

- The role of communities in tourism activities is highly valued In the project design period, local people have been directly participated in the discussion about building plan development of tourism During the performance project, local people have to be directly participated in tourism activities In the division of benefits, local people must be directly benefited from tourism activities

- The benefits are equally divided between among participants Concurrently, we must also equally divide the benefits for other member of the local community They contribute to the creation of the community’s social environment They also join in the conservation of traditional culture of the locality

- The supporting of nongovernmental organizations is necessary They support financial, organizational experience and knowledge tourism for the local community

In conclusion, after a period of research, local community, government organizations, and authorities of Thailand have brought out community - based tourism model in Huai Hee Due to, the local people’s live

non-is better and preserving forest resources of Mae Hong Son national park non-is more effective

1.4.2 In Viet Nam

In the late 1990s of the 20 century, community - based tourism forms began to develop strongly in Viet Nam Community - based tourism in Viet Nam is held in various forms such as: visiting ancient villages, going to mountain forests, going to country sides, discovering ethnic minorities’

culture…Among them discovering ethnic minorities’ culture is the most attractive

1.4.2.1 Models of community - based tourism in Sin Chai village, Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province

Sin Chai village lies at mountain side of Hoang Lien Son line, 4 km from Sa Pa town The population is mainly ethnic H’Mong living about 120 households migrating from China since the 17th century H’Mong in the Sin Chai still preserves many their traditional cultural identities The natural conditions and economic – cultural – social conditions are attractive Therefore, in recent years, there are great number of visitor go to visit However, besides the benefits that tourism brings, the negative impacts on the life of local residents are very great The forest resources are destroyed, the cultural traditions of local community are also declined and social evils are increasing

In 2001, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) together with The Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) planned a community - based tourism development program in the Sin Chai within the framework “Reinforcing competence for sustainable tourism imitative” Criterion

of model is aspiring to take part in tourism services in order to develop sustainable community, preserve community culture and natural resources

The non-governmental organizations IUCN, SNV and local governments study together with local communities to determine potential and market demand such as: determining the ability of provision travel service’s the community, the trend of tourist market Management board has also studied characteristics of the population and characteristics of resources to assess the attractiveness, sensitivity and possibility of participating of community

Relying on the results of survey, they form policies, plan realization and determine the orientation of tourism development They also determine the operation of management, the role of community participation and the

operations of the model They organize the journeys, training course to raising local community’s ability and plan to advertise for tourism products

Model of community – based tourism in the Sin Chai is organized as follows:

- Participants:

The organizations, authorities, unions have been involved in developing community - based tourism in the Sin Chai are: People's Committees have an important in orienting the development of local tourism through the Service of tourism, the Bureau of tourism and the Support of development tourism The non-governmental organizations such as IUCN, SNV have an important in initiating, supporting economic issues and financial Other organizations such as: the Women society, Farmer society mobilize members of community participate in tourism activities

- Tourism products:

Currently, more than 40 households participate in providing services to tourists

The specific activities include:

+ Providing accommodation, food services and specializes in manufacturing household food supplies, food for the business

+ Guiding and leading the way for visitors Local people organize tours for visitors to learn ecosystems in the mountains Fanxipan

+ Guiding visitors to the village to learn about the culture and traditions

of their community

+ Organizing performances art

+ Performing the production of handicraft items to serve the needs of visitors

- Operating mechanism of the model:

+ The support organization and management broad including governmental organizations and local governments

non-+ The impact factors: natural resources, human resources at the Sinchai and tourists

+ The factor involved in providing services and participating in environmental conservation is a community of Sin Chai

- The benefit sharing: community agreed the division of profits as follows: 70% of proceeds from tourism services for the local people, 15% of for the Management broad and support of tourism development village, 15% for the Contribution development of the infrastructure fund

The activities tourism has brought many benefits to local communities

in many aspects:

Economic benefits: the initial success of the model is more and more

attractive tourists and creates income for local communities The development

of community - based tourism has contributed to poverty-alleviation movement and improved the lives of ethnic minority villages In 2000, Sin Chai has 68% of poor households, to only 26% until now

Cultural benefits: tourism activities have enhanced the pride of the people of the cultural values They are aware of the responsibility to preserve and develop their culture because which is one of the factors attracting more tourists

Social benefits: the ownership and responsibility of community for each

member and society are increased; the living conditions are improved; the relationship in village, awareness of affection in the community and the hospitality are increased

Environmental benefits and protection of natural resources: the local

people raised the awareness and responsibility for natural resource protection

They recognized that the protection of the diversity of natural resources is also ensuring the sustainability of their income

1.4.2.2 Models of community - based tourism in Doi village, Namdong district, Thua Thien Hue province

Doi Village is located in Thuong Lo commune, Nam Dong district, Thua Thien Hue province, 60km from Hue city in the valley near Bach Ma National Park The residents are mostly Co Tu ethnic estimated with approximately 37.000 people The life is very difficulty because of the economic self – sufficiency

- Develop and implement projects

In order to eradicate hunger and poverty and exploit the natural and humanity tourism resources in Doi hamlet, in July, 2003, SNV organization that cooperated with Service of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thua Thien Hue province build based community tourism development project Aim of the project was to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, and develop of natural tourism and human tourism resources in Doi village Criteria of model ware

to develop the potential of community - based tourism to reduce poverty, promote sustainable livelihoods and other rural development objectives The project is deployed at Doi hamlet in 2nd, 2004

- To raise local people’s awareness of tourism: the improvement

awareness activities include discussions between the local community with professionals; the learning experience of other communities Thus, people's awareness of the role of tourism development was enhanced They also understood the essential factors in tourism development as well as the impact positive and negative of tourism for the community Those were fundamental

to ensuring the people's decision involved in tourism development

- To plan relying on community: the aim was assess tourism potentiality

as well as build action plans In order to implement these aims, the project

was deployed by creating mechanisms for local people to have the right to participate in the process of planning and implement project The local community was decided the way of implementation of project such as the scale of tourism activities, the number of visitors and frequency of visiting local, the way of management tourism activities, the mechanism for sharing costs and benefits from tourism

- To organize community: After deeply discuss with the local

community about how organizations work, three groups of tourist services have been established: a group responsible for guiding activities in the waterfall, a group responsible for providing food for guests, a group responsible for performance art culture The members of the community were the free choice to join the group Local community has established tourism management in order to supporting the coordination of tourism activities The board consists of a village patriarch, three representatives of three services groups and an accountant The board will meet regularly to solve problems and offer solutions

- To divide profits reasonably: according to the plan of the project in

order to ensure equitable and sustainable, even families not directly involved

in tourism activities but they were benefit from tourism Because they were also membership of the community so they were owner of community’s tourism resources

- To support financial: SNV organization has supported a small

investment to launch the product development program It shows the commitment of SNV organization for tourism development projects, which impulse the participation of the community in tourism activities

- To improve the knowledge and tourism skills in the local community:

the old people in the village were responsible for training members of the group performed rely on volunteer spirits; the staffs of Bach Ma national park

were responsible for training management skills; Hue College Tourism trained in food safety, organizations and welcome visitors skills

- To take form partnerships: the good partnership will create favorable conditions for the succession of project with low cost

The main partners include:

+ People's Committee of Nam Dong district: supporting wood to build communal house and administrative for the project

+ Hue College Tourism: training skills for local people

+ Bach Ma national park: training on environmental management + Travel Company Tokyo: bringing tourists to the village

- Some of the results:

The project development rely on community in Doi village has brought many benefits for local community The project has created employment opportunities and income for people in the area, open up opportunities for preserving and developing traditional cultural values which have been eroded Here are some of the results achieved

+ Conservation and restoration of traditional culture: the project has been restored many traditional cultural activities which have been lost in oblivion Many members of the community put their traditional costumes when they perform art By his efforts, the community has established two teams of children's performances Some other activities were implemented such as restoring the instrument manufacturer and weaving

+ Reduced poverty and creation income opportunity: among 50 out of

110 households have new income sources directly from tourism Although these are only part-time job, but gives the income is important for those living below or near the poverty

+ Market local products more exciting: the opportunities income for community when they participated in tourism businesses, welcomed guests,

sell honey products and handicrafts to visitors The profits from tourism have influence greatly on contributing to the economic community

+ Gender equality: gender equality issues was also greatly improved with the majority of people who get income from tourism are women in the community Furthermore, women also held a number of important positions

in the management broad

+ Improvement the strength of local management capacity: the local community board elected travel management broad It has contributed to the conservation of fairness and the wide participation of people in travel planning, as well as creating the basis for them to participate in other management activities

The achievement of community-based tourism activities in Doi village has achieved the targets of project The community – based tourism in Doi village helped to learn experience for other village

1.5 Conclusion of chapter 1

The basis the knowledge of the theory and practice in domestic and foreign, we can see the community – based tourism has been developing popular in the world It created many benefits to the local people in aspects

The first, local people are profits from providing services to visitors Especially, it is larger than agricultural production sometimes The second is the development of infrastructure The development of a destination will attract the attention of the authorities; attract investors to develop in infrastructures for the tourism These are the specific benefits to the community generally; improve the material life, the spirit of the people

Chapter 2: SITUATION OF THE COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM OPERATE AND DEVELOPMENT IN HOA BINH PROVINCE

Chapter 2 presents the conditions for tourism development in Hoa Binh The chapter also introduces community - based tourism model in Lac village, Maichau district The conditions and reality of development tourism operation in Giang Mo village include: the conditions about natural resources, local residents, infrastructure and technical material, the policies and support The researcher assesses advantages and disadvantages of community - based tourism model in Lac village Thenceforth, learning from the experience in order to orient community - based tourism model in Giang Mo village

2.1 Tourism potentiality of Hoa Binh province

Hoa Binh is a mountainous province lying in the northwestern region

of Viet Nam It borders Phu Tho and Son La province at the northern and north-western relatively, Ha Tay (old) and Ha Nam province at the eastern and southeastern, Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa province at the southern and southwestern

Hoa Binh is one of the northern mountainous provinces with many ethnic minorities making up a culture of diversity This is a great strength of tourism there

The Hoa Binh’s terrain was formed by the valleys with hundreds of large and small streams create the field is relatively flat and fertile The climate is temperate with temperature from 22.50 C to 27 0C

Hoa Binh’s the geographical position and natural conditions are very favorable Thousands of years ago, Hoa Binh area was selected to live by the ancient They built up the bright Hoa Binh culture in the history of Viet Nam Until now, the archaeologists have been founded many evidence of archaeological vestiges of the humanity’s resides in ancient times over the

province area The historical and ethnography documents have also proven Hoa Binh is lager population center hundred years ago

Nowadays, Hoa Binh is one of the northern mountainous province has many ethnic minorities According to the statistics of the census in May 2009, about 789,000 people in Hoa Binh On the entire province have 15 ethnic groups live together (only the ethnic have total population from a dozen or more) Among them the mostly the Muong, Kinh, Tay, Dao, Mong, Thai population accounted for 99.72 of the population province Thus, it created a culture of diversity, strong national character

The Hoa Binh’s road systems are advantage to move The highway 6 has an important in the traffic province, which passes through the Luong Son district, Ky Son, Hoa Binh town, Tan Lac District, Hoa Binh Mai Chau This way connects those with the capital Hanoi and the North West provinces The highway 15A connects Maichau district with the mountainous district of Thanh Hoa province The highway 12A connects Tan Lac, Lac Son, Yen Thuy districts with Ninh Binh province The highway 12 B connects the districts Lac Thuy with Kim Boi and Cao Phong These roads systems connect the districts, communes and town in the province with the other nearby provinces so very favorable for the socioeconomic exchange

2.1.1 Natural tourism resources

Hoa Binh is rich in natural tourism resources including some of the highlights as follows: Hoa Binh Lake, Kim Boi mineral water springs, stalactite cave system, the system of primeval forest

- Hoa Binh Lake: Hoa Binh Lake has a surface area of nearly 10,000ha with many floating islands It is compared with Halong bay and considered like a "Ha Long" on high The shores of the lakes have a lot of hills, caves, impressive natural landscape The road is more than 30km with many stops in the ethnic minorities’ villages People used boats, rafts, boats and barges to

move around The landscape still retains wild beauty of the northwestern mountains

- Kim Boi mineral water springs: this is a natural mineral springs at Mo

Da village, Ha Bi commune, Kim Boi district Water is always at a temperature from 340C to 360C which is very good for human health

- Stalactite cave system: due to the limestone topography has created many caves which great attractions for tourists to admire and explore, such as the Hoa Tien cave (Lac Thuy district), the Phu Lao cave (district Tan Lac), Hang Luon (Lac Thuy district)

In addition, Hoa Binh also has a primeval forest great valuable such as Thuong Tien (Kim Boi district), Pu Hooc (Mai Chau district), Phu Canh (Da Bac) These conditions are favorable for the development of tourism hiking through the forest programs

2.1.2 Human tourism resources

By the end of October 2005 the province of Hoa Binh had 158 monuments of all kinds included in the vestiges list It consisted of 80 monuments of archaeological monuments, 14 historical sites and 34 cultural vestiges spots Among them, 31 vestiges were recognized and ranked by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 6 vestiges were ranked special monument to the provinces Specifically:

- The historical and cultural monuments: many historical and cultural relics of Hoa Binh have been classified as National monuments such as the Dong Thech tombs of the Dinh family (about 17th century) with an area of 4ha It has been ranked as National monument by the Ministry of Culture for

in 1997; the Sang caves - where were found the remains of two paleopithecus

It clarified to the Viet Nam's history of prehistoric process; hero Cu Chinh Lan statue - which marks the victory of the heroic Cu Chinh Lan in Hoa Binh campaign in 1951-1952

- Typical festivals:

+ Khai Ha Muong Bi Festival (Tan Lac district): the festival is took place from the 7th to the 10th of January every year The festival of the Muong people is the largest scale and attractive many people participate in provinces

+ Bo temple festival (Cao Phong district): it holds the opening ceremony on 7th of January (lunar calendar) to the end of month This festival

is the most crowed of the Kinh The festival is a symbol of solidarity of the Kinh - Muong - Dao ethnics in the Hoa Binh It is not only historical but also the spiritual beliefs relics so very attractive many visitors of attention in recent years

Beside, there are some other special festivals such as the Dinh Xam festival (Yen Thuy district) hold on 6th to 8th of January lunar; Tien pagoda festival (Lac Thuy district) hold on 3th of to 5th of January lunar every year

- Object of ethnology: this is the most strength of Hoa Binh tourism

resources Currently, the province of Hoa Binh has many attractions associated with ethnographic tourist attractions such as Giang Mo (Cao Phong district), the Lung Van (Tan Lac district) of the Muong ethnic and the Thai village in Maichau district like the Pom Coong village, the Van village

- Works of modern inventions: such as Hoa Binh hydroelectric plant,

the Hoa Binh Museum, Ho Chi Minh statue in the locality of Hoa Binh City which are very convenient for tourists to visit

2.2.1 The formation and development of community - based tourism in Maichau

Maichau is a mountainous district located the western province of Hoa

Binh, about 140 km away from Ha Noi Lac village is located in the Chieng

Chau commune, Maichau district People living here are mostly White Thai

ethnic with special cultural tradition Community - based tourism in the Lac village was established in 1960

Since 1960, some customers of the foreign embassies have visited some

of the Thai villages, Mai Chau district This period, the Mai Chau people’s Committee has not motel for visitors so they usually stayed and ate at Ha Cong Nham’s house in the Lac village

It can be said that who prepare the ground for tourism of Mai Chau is a district staffs, whose are local people of the Lac, the Pom Coong villages In the years 1992 - 1995, Mr Ha Van Tich, who managed the district guest house, often permitted visitors to sleep and eat at his home At the first period, local people did not collect money of visitors With the characteristic hospitality, lifestyle friendly of local people so they considered visitors like their relative Gradually, Lac village and then the Pom Coong have been being come to landscape

In 1993, the district guest house was built but still not enough room for visitors Moreover, tourists prefer staying at inhabitant’s home than guest house Since, visitors visited Lac village more and more In 1995, the People's Committee Mai Chau district has promulgated statute No 400 about some regimes, rules and financial for visitors After that the administrative procedures, business registration for the households gradually improved In

1997, the income tax was applied to guest business

Currently, Lac village has 110 households, among them 27 households registered tourism business There are also many other households who run business but do not register with local authorities

Over a period of formation and development, the Lac village has become to an attractive destination of tourists both domestic and foreign visitors The number of visitors to Mai Chau usually increases over the years