The situations of community-based ecotourism development in Tu Ne commune, Tan Lac district, Hoa Binh province

The Community-based ecotourism project in Tu Ne and Thanh Hoi communes sponsored by FPSC (the Social Promotion of Cultural Foundation organization, Spain) was launched by CECAD in 2008, with the intention to improve livelihoods of the local people as well as to preserve the indigenous knowledge and cultural identity of Muong ethnic group and to protect the environment.

After 3 years of preparation and implementation, Tu Ne tourism has already created interest and has been visited by numerous tourists. So far, Tu Ne has welcomed approximately 49 tourist groups and more than 200 local and foreign visitors. Nevertheless, there are still many existing problems and CECAD is trying to help the people resolve these.  Currently, the new brochure about Tu Ne tourism has been completed and printed. Along with this brochure, posters, card visits and detailed maps about different spots in Tu Ne have also been printed, in order to encourage and promote tourism for the area.During the period from September 2011 to February 2012, two volunteers; Skylar Audesirk (American) and Pham Dieu Linh (Vietnamese) will work with the center staff at the CECAD office, to promote the image of Tu Ne tourism.Many activities have been carried out which have included:1. Completing supplementary material for the brochure so it contains more details about tourism.2. Guiding and training Tu Ne people on how to provide tourism services such as things to remember when welcoming guests, how to guide, preparing the home stays, how to perform and interact with tourists, etc.3. Contacting with tourism companies to come to study in Tu Ne, in order to establish long-term relations and partnerships with them 4. Broadcasting the image of Tu Ne tourism through public media and tourism websites.Thanks to these activities, the tourist situation has been improved significantly and positive results are evident. After being trained, the local people have more positive views on the development of community-based ecotourism in Tu Ne. They believe in the success of the project and believe that certain improvements to the tourism service are still to be made. From a tourist enterprise side, some companies have already shown an interest in Tu Ne which opens a bright future for the development of Tu Ne tourism.