LuongThi Hong Tuoi, of the Thai ethnic minority group in Vat village, Muong Sang commune, Moc Chau district in the northern province of Son La, tidies up a room in her homestay. She received support from the GREAT programme to open the service.(Photo: VNA) Son La (VNS/VNA) - Localauthorities in the northern province of Son La have kicked off a new tourism project in thecapital town of Moc Chau aiming to promote local tourismpotential and enhance the community's role in offering tourism services toimprove income among locals, especially women.
The “Moc Chau Inclusive Tourism Destination Management”project has been planned based on the Government’s and province’s decisions tobuild Moc Chau into a national tourism site, according to Nguyen Thi Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the Moc Chau People’s Committee.
The budget for the project is 553,028 AUS (384,000 USD), with 73 percent funded by the GREAT (GenderResponsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism) Programme supported by theAustralian government and the rest by local authorities.
The project will be implemented in Moc Chau District andneighbouring Van Ho District in Son La province over an 18-month period.
Hoa said the project will enhance destination managementefforts among authorities and locals, transfer skills and experience incommunity tourism to locals and encourage more ethnic minority women to jointourism activities like agriculture – cuisine tours. A night market offeringlocal delicacies and promoting ethnic cultures will be established in Moc ChauTown.
In addition to a team of six local co-ordinators from theCulture – Information Division of Moc Chau District, the project will receive guidancefrom four foreign experts specialised in developing destinations, developingdestination management organisations, marketing destinations and developingcommunity tourism.
“Here we have favourable conditions for developing tourismlike cool weather all the year round and beautiful natural landscapes, as wellas the diverse cultural identity of 12 ethnic groups, but we still lackexperienced experts in tourism,” Hoa told Viet Nam News.
“GREAT has not been the first organisation to support us indeveloping tourism. However, it is the one that has implemented properlyexecuted specialised projects in developing agriculture and tourism in Moc Chau.
“GREAT has chosen partners with lots of experience intraining ethnic minority people in tourism skills in other localities already.That’s why when they came to Moc Chau, they have found almost no difficulties.”
Hoa said after one year of project implementation, the numberof visitors is expected to increase 8 percent, while the number of familiesgetting higher incomes from tourism will be 144 households or 288 people.
As many as 128 women are expected to benefit from theproject, half of them from ethnic minority groups.
“In addition to activities to promote ties between travelagencies, tourism enterprises and create more jobs for locals, especiallywomen, the project has many activities to promote gender equality inside localfamilies and communities,” said Cao Dai Hung, Tourism Advisor of GREAT.
“Women are important ambassadors in tourism,” he said. “Theyare bridges to link tourists and the local community and often are the ones whoprovide tourism services at Community Based Tourism sites. Some women havedifficulties in communicating with visitors due to language barriers or socialnorms prevalent in the local community. This new project is helping to breakdown these barriers.”
The GREAT programme, which is funded with 33.7 million AUS (23.4 million USD) by the Australian government, focuses on ethnicminority women in Lao Cai and Son La in the agricultural and tourism markets whilestrengthening women's voice in economic decision making.
The programme lasts for four years (2017-2021) and works withthe private sector, government agencies and NGOs to create opportunities forwomen within the agriculture and tourism sectors.
Some 40,000 women in Son La and Lao Cai are expected to improve their income while 4,000new jobs are hoped to be created for women. The programme also plans toincrease the number of women leading or co-managing businesses or cooperativesby 15 percent.
In Moc Chau District, the programme has been implementingvarious projects in the vegetable sector, fruit sector, seed industry, fruitprocessing, tea planting and processing and community tourism.
Moc Chau plateau is located 200km northeast of the capital Hanoi and has an average altitude of more than 1,000m abovesea level. The area has a temperate climate and rich soil, which underpins thegrowth of the vegetable, tea, fruit and diary sectors in the area.
The 1,000sq.km district hosts a population of more than100,000, with 62 percent from ethnic minority groups./.
VNA
