Finding solutions for community tourism and tourism in Western Nghe An to develop comprehensively, quickly and sustainably

On the afternoon of March 22, in Ky Son district, the Provincial People's Council's Committee for Culture and Society coordinated with the Department of Tourism to organize a conference to review 3 years of implementing Resolution No. 07 dated July 22, 2020 of the Provincial People's Council on a number of policies to support community tourism development in the province for the period 2020 - 2025; solutions to develop tourism in Western Nghe An according to Directive No. 08 dated February 23, 2024 of the Prime Minister on comprehensive, fast and sustainable tourism development.

Comrades: Chu Duc Thai - Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Manh Cuong - Director of the Department of Tourism chaired the conference.

Attending the conference were Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh - Director of the National Tourism Administration; Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen - National Coordinator of the Small Project Funding Program, Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Also attending were members of the Provincial Party Executive Committee: Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Bui Dinh Long - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of a number of provincial departments and branches and districts and towns in the Western region of Nghe An; a number of experts, researchers and businesses operating in the tourism sector.

Many potentials and strengths

Tourism is a comprehensive service economic sector, interdisciplinary, inter-regional and highly socialized, and the Politburo has set the goal of developing it into a spearhead economic sector in Resolution No. 08, dated January 16, 2017. On February 23, 2024, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 08 on comprehensive, rapid and sustainable tourism development.

For Nghe An, the Provincial People's Committee has issued the Tourism Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2035, with the goal of developing tourism into a spearhead economy. With many potentials and advantages, Nghe An has determined to develop diverse types of tourism associated with each region, including: sea tourism; spiritual tourism; eco-tourism; homestay community tourism.

At the conference, the discussions focused on evaluating the 3-year implementation of Resolution No. 07, dated July 22, 2020 of the Provincial People's Council on a number of policies to support the development of community tourism in the province in the period of 2020 - 2025; at the same time, proposing solutions to develop tourism in Western Nghe An according to Directive No. 08, dated February 23, 2024 of the Prime Minister on comprehensive, fast and sustainable tourism development.

Opinions affirm many potentials and opportunities for tourism development in Western Nghe An. This place has the largest terrestrial Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam, with diverse terrain, many high mountain peaks (the highest peak is Puxailaileng, 2,720m high in Ky Son district); a dense system of rivers and streams with many waterfalls and rapids; many different microclimates create diversity in natural landscapes, many beautiful caves, creating attraction for tourists.

Opportunities for tourism development

The Western Nghe An region still preserves many customs, practices, folk songs, folk music, folk dances, traditional crafts, culinary culture, costumes, stilt house architecture... bearing the unique regional culture to develop sustainable tourism.

In addition to the potential, this place also has many opportunities for tourism development. Resolution No. 39, dated July 18, 2023 of the Politburo on the construction and development of Nghe An province to 2030, with a vision to 2045, clearly stated: "Rapid and sustainable development of the western region of Nghe An on the basis of maximizing the potentials and advantages, especially the advantages of forest economy, forest canopy economy, border gate economy, historical and cultural resources".

In the Nghe An Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, the development space of the Western Nghe An region has also been identified as community tourism; eco-tourism, adventure sports; agricultural and rural tourism.

Regarding the tourism development policy in Western Nghe An, on July 22, 2020, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 07 on supporting the development of community tourism in Nghe An province for the period 2021 - 2025.

Suggest and propose many solutions

However, after 3 years of implementing Resolution No. 07 of the Provincial People's Council, the number of beneficiaries is still small, only 36 families, 12 villages, 12 communes of 9 districts have benefited, with a total cost of 6.12 billion VND. The exploitation and development of tourism has not been commensurate with the potential and advantages of each locality.

Based on the assessment of the potentials, advantages, limitations, difficulties and obstacles to develop tourism in Western Nghe An, many opinions at the conference suggested and proposed a number of solutions to develop tourism comprehensively, quickly and sustainably in the spirit of Directive No. 08 of the Prime Minister.

Accordingly, the most important thing is to rely on the community on the basis of exploiting the cultural values ​​of the community; the community manages, organizes exploitation and benefits. People must want to do tourism and must form a common community, the role of the State is only to help the people in this "story", avoiding the State designing the tourism model and then handing it over to the people to implement.

On the other hand, it is necessary to focus on connecting and coordinating between relevant departments and sectors to diversify tourism products; strengthen connections between community tourism destinations through the role of tourism connection units and travel agencies; promote tourism promotion; train and develop human resources...

Regarding mechanisms and policies, the most important thing is to attract investment in developing tourism infrastructure and technical facilities; invest in preserving and promoting cultural and heritage potential associated with long-term and sustainable tourism development; continue to implement Resolution 07 of the Provincial People's Council, and at the same time, research to issue new mechanisms and policies that are strong enough to promote tourism development.

Policy making needs to focus on perfecting tourism planning.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh - Director of the National Tourism Administration highly appreciated the initiative of Nghe An province in implementing the policies, resolutions and directives of the Central Government on tourism development through issuing strategies, programs and plans associated with issuing policies to encourage tourism development.

In order for tourism in Nghe An in general and Western Nghe An in particular to develop, the Director of the National Tourism Administration said: Nghe An needs to take advantage of resources, focus on investing in infrastructure, especially paying attention to connecting traffic infrastructure to villages; associated with synchronous infrastructure investment, such as healthcare, telecommunications, domestic water, ecological landscape, cultural preservation...

Nghe An tourism needs to exploit the following types: eco-resort tourism, health care; environmental education; sports, adventure; green tourism, ecological tourism; focus on tourism linkages between regions in the province. Pay attention to supporting businesses and people to exploit cultural characteristics and heritage to build unique and distinctive tourism products, creating their own appeal.

Focus on training human resources to develop community tourism; invest in promotion on digital platforms; focus on destination management.

Regarding the construction of a new resolution of the Provincial People's Council, the Director of the National Tourism Administration directed that it is necessary to focus on completing the planning and orientation for the development of community tourism types in Nghe An in particular and the Western region in general to focus on key investments and avoid spreading.

Speaking at the conference, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Nhu Khoi acknowledged many enthusiastic and responsible opinions of the delegates; at the same time, clarified the responsibilities of all levels, sectors and localities so that tourism in the province can develop comprehensively, quickly and sustainably in the spirit of Directive No. 08, dated February 23, 2024 of the Prime Minister.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council said that the Provincial People's Council will propose the Provincial People's Committee to direct the tourism sector based on the practical implementation of Resolution 07 of the Provincial People's Council, and advise on a new resolution in the spirit of Directive 08 of the Prime Minister. In particular, it is necessary to focus on planning to meet the requirements of "one route, many destinations", exploiting and promoting the potentials, advantages, and characteristics of natural landscapes and cultural identities of regions. Along with that, focus on improving the quality of professional training for the community tourism workforce; promoting the application of digital transformation in communication and promotion,...

In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to improving the effectiveness of coordination between sectors, localities, businesses and community tourism business households. Propose appropriate policies with focus and key points for the development of tourism in the West in particular and Nghe An tourism in general.