Bac Ha 'White Plateau' - an attractive destination in the Northwest region

Bac Ha (Lao Cai) has cultural tourism resources associated with ranked and registered cultural heritages, including 4 relics ranked as national relics by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: Hoang A Tuong Palace, Bac Ha Temple, Trung Do Temple, Thien Long Cave and 1 relic ranked at provincial level, Bac Ha Fort relic.

Bac Ha has 11 national intangible cultural heritages of ethnic groups, of which "Tug of war ritual of Tay and Giay ethnic groups" and "Then practice of Tay, Nung and Thai ethnic groups" have been recognized by UNESCO in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism in Bac Ha (Lao Cai) has flourished again with many attractive cultural and tourism activities and events. In 2023, the total number of visitors to Bac Ha will reach 650,000 (more than double that of 2020) and in the first 9 months of 2024, it will reach 609,000.

Over the past years, Bac Ha district has made efforts to focus on preserving and effectively promoting the traditional cultural values ​​of ethnic minorities. The district is building 10 groups of unique tourism products associated with the "White Plateau" brand and building a cultural space typical of the Mong, Dao, Tay and Nung ethnic groups.

Cultural tourism products such as Bac Ha night market, horse racing festival, Bac Ha White Plateau Festival associated with the four seasons of the year are loved and highly appreciated by tourists. Cultural values, folk songs, traditional folk dances, festivals are preserved, restored, and organized regularly, creating unique cultural products serving tourism development.

Traditional craft villages are preserved and promoted to attract tourists to experience and create more livelihoods, such as blacksmithing of agricultural tools in Na Hoi and Ban Pho communes; silver carving in Na Hoi commune; sewing Tay ethnic costumes in Ta Chai and Na Hoi communes; weaving conical hats in Ban Lien commune; making black banh chung in Ta Chai commune; making Mong ethnic musical instruments in Ban Pho commune; making saddles of Phu La ethnic group in Lung Phinh commune;...

The People's Committee of Bac Ha district is striving to make tourism a spearhead economic sector and a breakthrough for the district. In the period 2018 - 2023, the growth rate of tourists in Bac Ha reached an average of 10.2%/year.

However, the tourism industry of Lao Cai province determined that Bac Ha has not yet effectively promoted its potential to affirm its tourism position in socio-economic development. Developing Bac Ha district into a unique destination of Lao Cai province and the Northwest region in the period of 2024 - 2030 is the goal of the project that the Department of Tourism submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for implementation in the near future.

Bac Ha needs synchronous orientations and solutions to make a breakthrough in sustainable tourism development, contributing to effectively implementing the goals and tasks of "developing new tourism spaces in Bac Ha, forming unique and different tourism products" according to Resolution 11 dated August 27, 2021 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on tourism development in Lao Cai province to 2030, with a vision to 2050.

From now until 2030, to become a unique destination in the Northwest region, Bac Ha must build high-quality and unique tourism products based on promoting the core values ​​of Bac Ha tourism; build a brand identity for Bac Ha destination associated with tourist attractions, resources, and tourism products that are representative, unique, and impressive of Bac Ha tourism; focus on upgrading and developing a system of synchronous tourism service business establishments according to ASEAN tourism standards.

In addition, the district needs to invest in upgrading the transport infrastructure system connecting to tourist destinations and build special and attractive policies for tourism. The goal is that by 2025, Bac Ha will welcome 1 million tourists; by 2030, it will welcome 2.5 million tourists, with total revenue from tourists reaching nearly 5,200 billion VND.