In Vietnam there are about 3,000 craft villages, of which 400 aretraditional villages. However, craft village tourism is not really welldeveloped. The Vietnam Business Forum reports.
To date, Vietnam’s craft village tourism has attracted a considerablenumber of visitors but that’s only spontaneous effort which is notformed in a professional way.
Vietnam has about3,000 craft villages, of which 400 are traditional villages that counts53 occupational groups making about 200 kinds of different crafts. Manyof the villages have the history of hundreds of years, and that reallyis "tourism resource mine". The potential is huge but the number ofvisitors coming to the villages is still limited despite the fact thatseveral enterprises have opened quite a lot of village programmes andtours.
Luu Duy Dan, Chairman of the Vietnam’sCraft Village Association, said that many localities have guidelines toattach craft villages to the development of tourism. Craft villages alsohave tourism development orientation, even appearing in the products oftravel agents, but there have been no positive changes.
He said that the villages are yet to have suitable conditions toperform their craft skills; services for visitors are still poor;community participation in tourism development is not high; and peopleare not aware of the values tourism brings. Some villages have tourismdevelopment orientation, but transport infrastructure is not favourable,and the environment is not clean and activities are not well-organised.
A village is considered to have developingtourism when its income from tourism accounts for at least 25 percent ofits total income. Pham Trung Luong from the Institute for TourismDevelopment Research commented that the villages achieving that goalhave not yet appeared.
He pointed out a commondrawback of Vietnam's craft villages is that despite they are large innumber and rich in forms of production, they are yet able to maketypical tourism products of Vietnam. If there is one, the product ismonotonous and not suitable for the needs of the market. Most Vietnamesevillage artisans produce according to their own interest or instereotypes without creativity and learning about the tastes oftourists. For example, in Hanoi, craft villages such as Bat Trangpottery, Dong Ky wood, Van Ha wood, Ha Thai lacquer and Quat Dongembroidery can be said to be "flourishing" thanks to exportinghandicrafts, but the service for tourists fails to enjoy due attention.
Therefore, Luong said that to develop craftvillage tourism well, it is essential to have a shift in the perceptionof the villagers. Instead of focusing on the luxury consumer market forexports, the villages need to focus on popular souvenir market segment.This market segment is very exciting and brings great revenues.
Orientations for promoting tourism villages is what branch and localmanagers, particularly the Vietnam’s Craft Village Association has beenworking on and looking for years. However, a recent workshop on thisissue did not achieve any significant progress. There have been nobreakthrough or creative solutions contributing to the craft villagetourism. It must have been a reason for that.
According to Prof. Phan Hong Ly, Director of the Institute of CulturalStudies, to date, conferences discussing the development of villagetourism have been purely based on the subjective judgment of the Stateagencies or professional studies. This sometimes makes loss of accuracyfrom reality. The authorities should instead organise a number ofsurveys on opinions of foreign visitors about tourism activities of thevillages so that they can know the true demands and complaints oftourists.
Ly further said an important factorto attract tourists to the village is environmental issue. Planningshould make clear the responsibility of the authorities, especially ofthe central level, for creating and maintaining social and naturalenvironment suitable to attract tourists. To develop and promote craftvillage tourism is difficult, to preserve identity and elite of thevillages as well as people's living environment is even more difficult,Ly stressed. If the village only focus on making profit from tourism andeconomic activities and forgets those basic principles, they will losetheir largest part of the cultural heritage.
Craft village tourism development, if based solely on travel agents tobring tourists, is unsustainable. Creative tourism trend is currentlyvery attractive in village tourism. Currently, tourists coming tovillages not only see but also show their desires to learn skills andcreate products by themselves. To meet this demand, the villages musthave travel agents build products, keep houses with traditional and oldarchitecture and skilled artisans, collect well-known products, opengallery exhibiting historical stuff on village development, and openexhibition so guests can choose craft products of their own interests.The strength to the above mentioned things lie nowhere else but in thevillages and their people.-VNA
To date, Vietnam’s craft village tourism has attracted a considerablenumber of visitors but that’s only spontaneous effort which is notformed in a professional way.
Vietnam has about3,000 craft villages, of which 400 are traditional villages that counts53 occupational groups making about 200 kinds of different crafts. Manyof the villages have the history of hundreds of years, and that reallyis "tourism resource mine". The potential is huge but the number ofvisitors coming to the villages is still limited despite the fact thatseveral enterprises have opened quite a lot of village programmes andtours.
Luu Duy Dan, Chairman of the Vietnam’sCraft Village Association, said that many localities have guidelines toattach craft villages to the development of tourism. Craft villages alsohave tourism development orientation, even appearing in the products oftravel agents, but there have been no positive changes.
He said that the villages are yet to have suitable conditions toperform their craft skills; services for visitors are still poor;community participation in tourism development is not high; and peopleare not aware of the values tourism brings. Some villages have tourismdevelopment orientation, but transport infrastructure is not favourable,and the environment is not clean and activities are not well-organised.
A village is considered to have developingtourism when its income from tourism accounts for at least 25 percent ofits total income. Pham Trung Luong from the Institute for TourismDevelopment Research commented that the villages achieving that goalhave not yet appeared.
He pointed out a commondrawback of Vietnam's craft villages is that despite they are large innumber and rich in forms of production, they are yet able to maketypical tourism products of Vietnam. If there is one, the product ismonotonous and not suitable for the needs of the market. Most Vietnamesevillage artisans produce according to their own interest or instereotypes without creativity and learning about the tastes oftourists. For example, in Hanoi, craft villages such as Bat Trangpottery, Dong Ky wood, Van Ha wood, Ha Thai lacquer and Quat Dongembroidery can be said to be "flourishing" thanks to exportinghandicrafts, but the service for tourists fails to enjoy due attention.
Therefore, Luong said that to develop craftvillage tourism well, it is essential to have a shift in the perceptionof the villagers. Instead of focusing on the luxury consumer market forexports, the villages need to focus on popular souvenir market segment.This market segment is very exciting and brings great revenues.
Orientations for promoting tourism villages is what branch and localmanagers, particularly the Vietnam’s Craft Village Association has beenworking on and looking for years. However, a recent workshop on thisissue did not achieve any significant progress. There have been nobreakthrough or creative solutions contributing to the craft villagetourism. It must have been a reason for that.
According to Prof. Phan Hong Ly, Director of the Institute of CulturalStudies, to date, conferences discussing the development of villagetourism have been purely based on the subjective judgment of the Stateagencies or professional studies. This sometimes makes loss of accuracyfrom reality. The authorities should instead organise a number ofsurveys on opinions of foreign visitors about tourism activities of thevillages so that they can know the true demands and complaints oftourists.
Ly further said an important factorto attract tourists to the village is environmental issue. Planningshould make clear the responsibility of the authorities, especially ofthe central level, for creating and maintaining social and naturalenvironment suitable to attract tourists. To develop and promote craftvillage tourism is difficult, to preserve identity and elite of thevillages as well as people's living environment is even more difficult,Ly stressed. If the village only focus on making profit from tourism andeconomic activities and forgets those basic principles, they will losetheir largest part of the cultural heritage.
Craft village tourism development, if based solely on travel agents tobring tourists, is unsustainable. Creative tourism trend is currentlyvery attractive in village tourism. Currently, tourists coming tovillages not only see but also show their desires to learn skills andcreate products by themselves. To meet this demand, the villages musthave travel agents build products, keep houses with traditional and oldarchitecture and skilled artisans, collect well-known products, opengallery exhibiting historical stuff on village development, and openexhibition so guests can choose craft products of their own interests.The strength to the above mentioned things lie nowhere else but in thevillages and their people.-VNA
