Developing Tourism in Craft Villages

The Hanoi People’s Committee has discussed and contributed valuable ideas for the draft “Preserving and developing craft villages in Hanoi” submitted by the city’s Department of Industry and Trade. According to the Department’s report, there are currently 25 craft villages which are under threat of falling into oblivion and need to be restored and preserved. Those villages can be named as Ha Thai lacquer village (Thuong Tin district), Nghia Do "sac" paper village in Cau Giay district (a special kind of paper formerly used for conferring feudal mandarins' titles), Dao Xa folk musical instrument village (Ung Hoa District), La Khe silk weaving village (Ha Dong district)…
From the fact that many craft villages are developing unsustainably because of slow improvement and changes in manufacturing technology, the draft suggested to found a supporting fund and encourage some families to do the traditional craft demonstration for tourism purpose. For the unstably-developed crafts, it’s advisable to establish centers, improve product models and apply advanced technologies in parallel with traditional technology preservation…
The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (DOCST) addressed that efficient craft village tours such as Bat Trang pottery village, Van Phuc Silk village, and Chuong conical hat village was developed… However, these tours were not properly exploited and behind their potentialities. It’s necessary for the draft to consider tourism the chance to trade the products right in the villages, then create favorable conditions for restoring and developing the villages. Moreover, tourism business training for the locals should also be counted.
In conclusion, Mr. Nguyen The Thao, Chairman of the City People’s Committee asked the DOCST to absorb all constructive ideas, complement and complete the draft.