Overview: If someone intends to travel to Hoa Binh, they will immediately think of Mai Chau and the first stop is usually Lac village, Chieng Chau commune. But that is the story of the years 2014 – 2016, the time when community tourism (CBT) in Lac village developed the most. And now, when a series of resorts, attractions, and resorts in all districts and cities have sprouted up and right in Mai Chau district, there have been 3 new CBT copies formed, and Lac village has been destroyed. unique.” International visitors staying overnight and spending in Lac village from 2018 until now have tended to decrease; domestic visitors have increased but increased slightly.

History: In the period from 1993 to about the 2000s, visitors to Lac village were mainly foreigners, but after 2000, domestic tourists began to know about Lac village. Mr. Ha Cong Hong, Head of Lac village said: The number of international and domestic visitors to Lac village has increased gradually over the years. Particularly, domestic tourists increased sharply from about 2007. If there is supply, there will be demand, visitors to the village increase, and families in the village begin to learn from each other to do tourism. The villagers told each other to repair their houses to welcome guests, prepare delicious dishes, and set up a musical team to serve visitors. From just weaving scarves and brocade shirts to wear, the women in the village have made many souvenirs to sell to guests such as weaving scarves, decorative wall fabrics, hand straps, and beautiful purses. … Men in the village make bows, crossbows, buffalo muzzles, gongs, buffalo horns and horns, bamboo beats… as souvenirs for visitors. Just like that, the mindset of doing business through CBT services in Lac village has clearly formed, and the type of homestay tourism – living in the people’s own house is also gradually becoming popular with tourists, especially international visitors.

The number of households doing CBT has gradually increased over the years, with the fastest increase in the period from 2014 to 2016. In addition to the factors of attracting and attracting tourists in terms of space and cultural identity, Lac village’s CBT is also chosen by many tourists. Selected because of the reasonable cost factor, there is no situation of enticing guests, absolutely no thieves, visitors who drop items found in the village will bring it to the village head’s house to announce on the loudspeaker to find someone to beat.

New life in Lac village: “CBT has brought a new life to the people of Lac village" – the head of Lac village affirmed. The area of ​​cultivated land is small, there are no side occupations, and there are very few factories and enterprises in the district to be able to solve the problem. Therefore, when CBT in the village has made an important contribution to promoting the economy of the village, people’s living standards have been significantly improved.

In order to contribute to “wing wings" for tourism in Lac village in particular, and tourism in Mai Chau district in general, the locality has restored and maintained the festival of “Xen Muong" of the Thai people; building a display area for Thai ethnic artifacts and antiquities… The district is always interested in training and improving the quality of human resources to meet the needs of tourism development. Every year, the people of Lac village participate in training courses, fostering skills in tourism.

The district is interested in building tourism infrastructure in Lac village, the road leading to the village has been widened, concreted, and the Lac bridge built. Creating momentum for Mai Chau tourism, in which Lac village is a core development area, the district focuses on investing in funding for repair, upgrading, and renovation of traffic infrastructure works. Currently, the system of roads going into Lac village, connecting Lac village with neighboring villages and communes has been concreted and solidified. The parking lot is planned and built to be spacious, ensuring the capacity for crowded days.

Sharing about the changes of Lac village thanks to CBT, Mr. Ha Cong Hong excitedly added: Previously, the roads in the village were only dirt roads, now 100% of the internal roads are concreted and solidified. Wastewater drainage system is invested and built. Garbage is collected daily to ensure a green – clean – beautiful landscape. CBT has contributed to creating jobs for about 300 people with stable incomes. In addition to renting accommodation and cooking for guests, people also have extra income from selling souvenirs, and handicraft products such as household appliances, renting costumes, participating in art teams.. Recently, to meet the needs of tourists, the village has 60 electric cars to serve visitors with fees from 250 to 350 thousand VND/time. In 2018, the village’s per capita income reached 32.5 million VND, in 2019 it increased to 43 million VND. Many households remodeled their homes, built standard toilets, and bought cars. In addition, thanks to CBT, people in the village can welcome tourists from all parts of the country, from all different cultures, and people have the opportunity to exchange and chat to expand their understanding and exchange among themselves. cultures. The spiritual life of the people is thus richer and happier.