Khanh Son: Building a community tourism village model in Hon Dung village

Hon Dung village (Son Hiep commune, Khanh Son district) has many favorable conditions for developing community tourism. To promote the development of community tourism here, Khanh Son district continues to implement the project "Building model of Hon Dung village community tourism village as a tourist destination for ethnic minorities and mountainous areas of Khanh Son district".

Performing cultural performances imbued with Raglai ethnic identity for tourists at Hon Dung village's long house

Hon Dung village is one of the four villages with a large number of ethnic minorities in Son Hiep commune, 87% of which are Raglai ethnic minorities. Currently, the traditional Long House site in Hon Dung village is often used by the district and commune to organize traditional cultural activities of the Raglai people in Khanh Son; this place also preserves a set of stone instruments - a unique musical instrument dating back thousands of years. Hon Dung village is also a place to preserve the traditional culture imbued with the identity of the Raglai people with rituals and customs such as grave abandonment ceremony, new rice eating ceremony, life cycle ceremony, thanksgiving ceremony...; many types of folk art are preserved with epic melodies, folk songs and folk dances; there are famous ethnic musical instruments that appear in poetry with the chapi; there is a space for cultural activities of gongs and ma la. There are also traditional crafts such as making chapi, making crossbows, weaving baskets... Along with that, Hon Dung village has convenient traffic conditions, very close to famous scenic spots and historical sites of Khanh Son; cool climate all year round; with many specialty fruit trees such as durian, rambutan, mangosteen... These are favorable conditions for Son Hiep commune to develop community tourism in Hon Dung village.

According to the leader of Son Hiep Commune People's Committee, the development of community tourism in Hon Dung village is only at the following steps: The Commune People's Committee has established the Hon Dung Village Community Tourism Village Management Board and issued the operating regulations of the management board. The Hon Dung Village Community Tourism Village Management Board has designed diverse and attractive tour programs to meet the needs of tourists such as tour to visit traditional long houses, experience going to the fields to pick bamboo shoots and corn, making handicraft products, learning about Raglai culture; tour to visit the village - bathing in Ta Gu waterfall, experience cooking traditional dishes (grilled meat, chicken stuffed in bamboo tubes...). In addition, the locality has established an art troupe in this village, supporting musical instruments, costumes... to perform shows imbued with Raglai ethnic culture to serve tourists. Some local units and individuals have also invested in homestays and dining establishments to serve customers in need.

According to Cao Minh Vy - Vice Chairman of Khanh Son District People's Committee, in order to develop community tourism in Hon Dung village, the District People's Committee identified one of the important tasks of the Khanh Son Tourism Development Project to 2030 as focusing on implementing the Project "Building a model of Hon Dung village community tourism as a tourist destination in the ethnic minority and mountainous areas of Khanh Son district". The implementation of this project will preserve and effectively promote the traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities in the area associated with the development of community tourism to transform livelihoods and create jobs and income for the local community. The orientation of the district is to build Hon Dung village into an attractive community tourism destination in the province. The district hopes that the provincial authorities will support the implementation of this model.

Recently, a working group of the Department of Tourism and a number of related sectors of the province inspected and assessed the model of the Hon Dung community tourism village. Through the inspection of a number of locations such as: Souvenir shops; traditional long houses of the Raglai people; households maintaining handicraft weaving, traditional cuisine and the A Pa Buoi bridge stop; and at the same time reviewing the work that the locality has implemented, the working group assessed that, up to now, this community tourism village has achieved 17/20 criteria of the community tourism model, with 3 criteria at the "potential" level. This assessment result will be an important basis for the Department of Tourism to consult the Provincial People's Committee to consider and recognize Hon Dung village as having enough potential to develop a community tourism model. After being recognized, the locality will be eligible to receive additional resource support according to the provisions of Resolution No. 06/2022 of the Provincial People's Council on regulations on a number of contents and expenditure levels to support community tourism development in the province to invest in and build the Hon Dung village community tourism village.

Hai Lang
Translated by T.T