Hue holds high hopes for community based tourism

Community based tourism is seen as a gateway to economic improvement and tourism opportunity in Vietnam. A seminar was held to promote community based tourism services in central Thua Thien-Hue Province on December 7.
The event was aimed to review the two-year implementation of this type of tourism under the cooperation among farmers, the Responsible Tourism Group and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation.
To date, four community tourism sites have been set up in the province, attracting thousands of visitors, including tours to the ancient village of Phuoc Tich, the Thanh Toan tiled bridge, the Tam Giang Lagoon and the mountainous district of Nam Dong.
Tourists are given the opportunity to see special products made by local farmers, featuring Thua Thien-Hue’s identities such as a handmade-wooden models of Thanh Toan tiled bridge, folk paintings of Sinh Village and paper-made lotus flowers of Thanh Tien Village.
One such place is Ruong House, which is hundreds of years old (a type of panel home typical to Hue) in Phuoc Tich Village, eat cakes and rice with the house owners and then relax in fruit gardens.
If you wish to explore the traditional beauty of Cho House (houses less than 5 square metres set up by fishermen) on Tam Giang-Cau Hai, the widest lagoon in Southeast Asia, this is the place. Here, you can see tools and traditions of local fishermen and enjoy fresh seafood products.
The model of community tourism will help travel firms to bring more tourists to rural areas in Thua Thien-Hue and increase revenue for farmers as well as diversify tourism products in Thua Thien-Hue, according to Pham Thi Duyen Anh, SNV Tourism Advisor.
The following are photos of community tourism in Thua Thien-Hue and farmer’s unique tourism products.