Homestay in Nghe An is ready to welcome Tet tourist season

Infrastructure renovation and upgrade

Ban Nua, Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong) is the first locality in the Western region of Nghe An to have a community tourism homestay since the early 2000s. From the early days, when they were initially confused when approaching a new type of business under the sponsorship and guidance of experts from the JICA Project (Japan), homestay owners in Yen Khe commune have persistently pursued this profession, and have constantly upgraded and innovated their operations according to market tastes.

In the last days of December 2024, which is also the time approaching the Lunar New Year of At Ty, Yen Khe village is bustling with the atmosphere of labor and production to prepare for the traditional New Year of the nation. Homestays here have also begun to prepare for the business season. Having just harvested and dried a batch of golden corn from her family's field, Ms. Lo Thi Hoa - owner of Hoa Thu homestay, chose large, beautiful flowers to decorate the stilt house.

“Every year, we try to create some new features in both home decoration and cuisine, creating excitement for visitors. This year, the homestay chose yellow and red as the main colors to create color for the space. At the same time, a new highlight is that there are more rooms equipped with air conditioning,” Ms. Hoa happily said. In addition to the bright yellow color of corn symbolizing abundance, this year the homestay also ordered brocade panels to decorate, creating a festival space imbued with indigenous national identity when combined with traditional rattan and bamboo woven items.

The highlight of the homestays in Nua village is the traditional stilt house space of the Thai ethnic group with the dining area arranged under the floor, while the floor is used to arrange the resting rooms. And the stilt house homestay is also the main house of the family, built and passed down through generations.

At Nhuong Thanh homestay, Ms. Vi Thi Thanh introduced her family's tourism business space and said that the stilt house was built during her grandparents' time, now renovated, upgraded and has become a place to stay and serve food for tourists for more than 10 years. In 2024, she invested in upgrading the ground floor rooms with new living items and more sturdy wooden partitions. In addition, around the homestay, Ms. Thanh and her husband arranged a garden space with neatly trimmed plum trees, surrounding the corn gardens and seasonal flowers and vegetables.

In Con Cuong district, there are currently 25 accommodation service establishments, including 14 homestays serving eco-tourism associated with the local community, mainly concentrated in Yen Khe, Luc Da, Mon Son, Bong Khe communes, and some others in Chi Khe and Chau Khe.

According to the Department of Culture and Information of the People's Committee of Con Cuong district, up to now, homestays and accommodation establishments in the area have invested more in upgrading infrastructure to serve tourists. In addition, there are preparations for food sources with dishes and ingredients that are imbued with local identity and mostly grown and processed by local people.

In addition to investing in upgrading infrastructure, tourism establishments also pay equal attention to building locations and check-in spaces to serve tourists. Each destination, each year, homestays have designs that change the scenery to create attraction and avoid boredom.

For example, in Que Phong district, homestays and farmstays here such as Lam Khang Homestay (Hanh Dich commune), Nhat Minh Farmstay (Chau Thon commune), Pu Kep eco-tourism site (Chau Kim), Tam My eco-tourism (Tri Le commune) ... each year have designs of flower and tree landscapes and spaces for taking photos that are quite eye-catching, friendly and full of identity to meet the needs of "delicious food, beautiful photos" of tourists.

Proactive food source

Like homestays in Con Cuong district, households and communities operating ecotourism businesses in Ky Son and Que Phong districts have also proactively decorated their houses, both to celebrate Tet and to prepare for the new year's tourist season. In Muong Long commune of Ky Son highland district, on the fields and farms of farmers, vegetables and fruits are green. Ms. Le Thi Van - a member of the Muong Long Agricultural and Community Tourism Cooperative said that the beginning of November every year is the peak time for cooperative members to prepare food supplies to serve tourists during Tet.

With the unique terrain and climate of the highlands, associated with the culinary customs of the Mong people, on this occasion, people focus on growing vegetables, taro, harvesting and storing sticky rice, green squash, cucumbers and bamboo shoots. In addition, raising yellow cows, black chickens, and native black pigs is both to process specialties such as beef jerky, pork jerky, sausages, Chinese sausages, and smoked meat and to prepare fresh food sources for culinary activities. "All cooperative members participate in raising and growing specialty plants and animals with a commitment to ensuring quality and food hygiene and safety," said Ms. Van.

The trend of proactive self-sufficiency in food sources for culinary activities has been implemented by most community tourism homestays for many years. Self-growing and processing food at homestays not only ensures quality, but also preserves the flavor and unique culinary identity of the locality when prepared by the locals themselves.

Ms. Vu Y Ai in Muong Long 2 village, Muong Long commune said that since her family joined the cooperative to supply vegetables and black chicken to catering services when there are tourists, her family's income has been more stable, no longer worrying about "unsold goods" like in previous years.

In Yen Khe commune (Con Cuong), most households operating community tourism services have flower gardens, ornamental plants, and areas for growing vegetables, raising chickens and pigs. Mr. Nguyen Manh Ha - Vice Chairman of Yen Khe Commune People's Committee said that the Commune People's Committee always pays attention to supporting homestays to operate effectively, and also regularly reminds households to comply with regulations on food hygiene and safety, and provides training to improve community tourism skills.

On the occasion of Tet, the superior departments and branches also have many activities to support the establishments to improve their skills and tourism expertise, for example, recently the Department of Science and Technology and the People's Committee of Con Cuong district organized a scientific workshop "Building, selecting and promoting Thai ethnic elements in the community tourism model in Con Cuong" in Yen Khe commune.

Thanks to this workshop, homestay service businesses have more understanding on how to choose culinary elements and indigenous knowledge to incorporate into community tourism models. Especially using indigenous knowledge for brocade products, weaving products, weaving techniques, indigenous materials to design and build culinary practice spaces.

And now homestays are actively practicing the newly equipped knowledge, training, ready to welcome tourists when Tet comes, Spring comes.