Chủ đề thảo luận 1 – phát triển điểm đến

Những “chủ đề thảo luận” này được viết ra để khởi đầu cho những cuộc thảo luận mang tính chất xây dựng về nhiều chủ đề. Những chủ đề đó được thiết kế để khuyến khích khách du lịch, tư nhân, chính phủ, sinh viên và bất cứ ai cống hiến cho blog này.

Việc đào tạo đang được làm trong bản Tả Phìn dựa theo những dữ liệu đã được thu thập về xác định nhu cầu nhu cầu cũng như nhiều cuộc thảo luận với người dân địa phương, khách du lịch, tư nhân và nhà nước. Việc đào tạo được thiết kế để giải quyết cả về nhu cầu của người dân địa phương, về vấn đề của những người bán hàng rong ( Đây đã là lý do khiến một số công ty du lịch dừng việc đưa khách du lịch tới Tả Phìn)

Phần lớn việc đào tạo đã tập trung vào khả năng kinh doanh với mục tiêu giúp cho một số người dân địa phương có thể tiến hành kinh doanh nhỏ ở trung tâm thị trấn. Kết quả có thể thấy được là sự phát triển của một số cửa hàng nhỏ , nhà hàng, quán cà phê, v.v.. dọc theo đường đi của du khách do người Dao đỏ sở hữu và điều hành. Nhiều cửa hàng của người Việt đã được thuê từ người Dao đỏ có thể bị thay thế và những cửa hàng mới có thể được xây dựng.

Câu hỏi: Khách du lịch hiểu như thế nào về phát triển của điểm đến? Khi nền kinh tế của bản thay đổi ở trung tâm, nó sẽ ảnh hưởng tới cuộc sống người dân địa phương như thế nào? Nếu như những người bán hàng rong được thay thế bằng những cửa hàng nhỏ phục vụ khách du lịch, tư nhân, bạn sẽ hỗ trợ như thế nào cho những dân tộc trong nỗ lực của Tả Phìn

A word of condolence

In Taphin, there was a young boy named Ly Lao Su who filled our classes with a joy and an enthusiasm that inspired everyone. He attended almost every class smiling and giggling as he drew pictures, practiced English and participated in the village clean-ups. Tragically, he died on the third day of our trip. His joyful spirit will live on in our memories as we move forward. 

Ly Lao Su (just right of centre) after participating in a workshop learning about
environmental stewardship in which many children in the community
spent time picking up litter around the village.

Training Trip 1 - Complete!

A week and a half have passed since we (Chris, Kim, and Jen) have made our return to Canada. Overall, the first training trip was incredibly successful. A huge thanks goes to our training team leader Ngoc Anh, and her Hanoi Open University Student Assistant, Trang; cam on rat nhieu!

From learning how to hold a pen so that they could draw pictures, to coming up with personal goals to build new skills in tourism, to drafting a community plan for a new community house and market, the village learners impressed us with their keenness, enthusiasm, and growth.

Here are some of the details of what was accomplished:

• A total of 15 training sessions were completed in Ta Phin and Lao Chai;
• Cohorts ranged from Children (4 - 16), Young Entrepreneurs (16 - 35), Small Business Owners, Street Sellers, and Local Government;
• Modules included: Environmental Stewardship; Tourists' Needs and Wants; Tourists and You; Introduction to Community Based Tourism; Marketing; Community Tourism Planning, and Homestay Development.
  

Hanoi Open University student Trang working with local business owners.

• Learners have indicated a need to develop individual skills (tourism related) and have created plans to learn them in the next 4 months
• Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners have developed rudimentary business plans to either start, improve or grow their businesses through marketing, networking, or small infrastructure developments. They have also agreed to complete their plans in the next 4 months.
• Lao Chai community members have expressed an interest in developing new opportunities in tourism in their community through homestays.
• Ta Phin local authority is enthusiastic about gaining knowledge in Community Tourism Planning and have agreed to create, support, and help build the capacity of a Community Tourism Planning Committee made up of tourism stakeholders in the village.
• The first of a series of community planning sessions was held (attendees included: Ta Phin community members, local youth, local government, Sapa Trade and Tourism). A draft plan for a Ta Phin Community House / Tourism Market spearheaded by the Ta Phin community was a key outcome of that session.

Some of the children sitting in on a lesson in Entrepreneurship.

We are currently compiling and synthesizing all the information and data collected. Stay tuned for profiles of some Ta Phin residents and fun stories of our time in Vietnam and in Sapa. Once again, a very successful trip! We have all gained so much from the experience!

DISCUSSION TOPIC 1 - Destination Development

These "Discussion Topics" have been written to begin healthy, productive discussion and debate on a variety of topics. There are designed to encourage tourists, private sector, government, students, anyone to contribute to this blog.

The training that is being done in the village of Taphin is in response to the data gathered in the needs assessment as well as numerous discussions with locals, tourists, private and public sector. It has been designed to address both the verbalized needs of the locals the problem of street-sellers (which has been the reason for some tour companies to stop bringing tourists to Taphin).

Much of the training has focused on entrepreneurship with the goal of seeing some locals starting their own small businesses in the Taphin's town centre. This could eventually see the development of a number of small shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. owned and run by the Red Dao along the tourists 'strip'. Many of the Vietnamese shops that have been rented from the Red Dao may be replaced and new shops may also be built.

The question: How will the tourist interpret the destination's development? As the economy of the village changes within the town centre, how will it impact local life? Will it? If the street-sellers are replaced with small tourist shops, private sector, how will you support the peoples of Taphin's efforts?

Day 3 - Training in Taphin and Lao Chai

We are about to start the third day of training. Already we have trained the small business owners, young entrepreneurs, street-sellers, and local authority their first, and some their second, lessons. The classes have been filled with energy and enthusiasm.

With the small business owners we have had to adjust the training content to a higher level. The young entrepreneurs have expressed that they would like to start a variety of small tourism businesses ranging from coffee shops, souvenir shops, and even horse / buffalo-and buggy transportation services.

In the first class we had with the street-sellers, some participants dressed up like tourists while others acted as street-sellers in an attempt to give the women an idea how tourists feel when they are bombarded by the street-sellers. 

Finally the local government participated in a training session where some community issues were fleshed out. They will be participating in another workshop on community based tourism later in the week.

Yesterday in Lao Chai, the Hmong community expressed that they want to start homestays for tourists. However, they voiced a variety of concerns during the meeting. Their concerns included the availability of resources, sustainability, financial risk, and capacity. Today, Chris and Ngoc Anh will be returning to Lao Chai to complete the first homestay lesson, while Kim, Jen and Trang continue working with the residents of Ta Phin.