Hoa Bac mountainous commune in Hoa Vang District, Da Nang is becoming increasingly popular with local people, especially those who long to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and enjoy memorable moments with family members or best friends. Many young people born and raised in this mountainous commune are joining hands in their great efforts to promote community-based tourism, hereby spreading the beautiful image of the land to tourists near and far.

Ho Thi Diem Quynh (left), 22, a fourth-year student at the Da Nang University of Economics introduces the most beauty spots of Hoa Bac to tourists through a bike tour around the countryside. Photo: DAN TAM

Ho Thi Diem Quynh, 22, a fourth-year student at the Da Nang University of Economics and Tran Thi Bich Huyen, the same age as Quynh, from the Viet Nam Youth Academy are two typical young persons among them.

1. Born and raised in Pho Nam Village, Hoa Bac Commune, Quynh always thought that after graduating from school, she would return to her hometown to make contributions to its growth.
From the end of 2021, given her participation in online classes due to the complicated developments of COVID-19, Quynh decided to go home. The young woman realised that her hometown recorded the most positive changes, especially the development of well-known tourist areas/spots.

This fact prompted Quynh to participate in locally-held training courses on capacity building for community-based tourism development conducted by the Hoa Bac Community Development and Research Group to better understand how to do community-based tourism.

Every week, taking advantage of days off, Quynh, along with her friends in the commune participates in classes introducing Hoa Bac's tourist attractions to tourist groups.

After each week, Quynh posts her own writings attached with beautiful photos of new beauty spots in her hometown on social networking sites that attracts lots of positive comments with many complements.

“A memory that I always remember the most is that when I attended the class on publicising Hoa Bac tourism for the first time, an almost 8-year-old friend in the group asked me why a river in my homeland is named Cu De. As a person born and raised in this locality, I had not studied about the river well enough to give a thorough answer to this little friend. After that, I was strongly determined to gain a deeper insight into attractions, and time-honoured cultural and historical values of the homeland to be able to answer any questions raised by guests when required”, said Quynh.

That is also the reason why Quynh chose the topic ‘How to apply the circular economy to the development of community-based tourism in Hoa Bac’ for her graduation thesis with the desire to have the opportunity to learn more about her homeland.

2. Also born in Pho Nam Village, Tran Thi Bich Huyen went to Ho Chi Minh City to pursue a tertiary course.
In 2021, taking advantage of online classes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Huyen returned to her hometown to interact with many people as well as learn how to do tourism.

Huyen shared: “I once made a video of the landscapes on the banks of the iconic Cu De River. The video vividly reflex the joyful and comfortable vibes here as  many tourists who were camping on the riverbank immersed themselves in peaceful moments”.

After the video was completed, I received much praise from many teachers and friends who later asked me more about the scenery and people of Hoa Bac and showed their keen interest in taking trips to my hometown so as to explore and experience relaxing time here.

Another time, Huyen met a group of tourists who came to learn about Hoa Bac community-based tourism. Huyen was chosen by a tourist group as a tour guide to introduce the landscape, people, and attractions of this mountainous commune to the visitors.

In particular, the young woman sang for the whole group the song ‘Lovely Hoa Bac", referring to such highly inviting places as Nam Yen, Pho Nam, Khe Duong, Cu De, Vung Bot, Ta Lang and Gian Bi. As soon as she finished singing, the applause made her very emotional.

After graduating from university, Huyen will return to Da Nang to join the Youth Union affairs in accordance with her academic major to promote her capacity of supporting young people to organise highly-practical community-targeted activities and programmes.

She also plans to consolidate knowledge of history and society to make more great efforts towards tourism connection and socio-economic development in her hometown.

Hoa Bac is on right track to become a well-known venue of community-based and eco-tourism. On that momentum, young people like Quynh and Huyen will have the opportunity to contribute their efforts in building and promoting local tourism products to domestic and international tourists.

Reporting by DAN TAM – Translating by A.THU