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!

First Trip Complete. Needs Assessment. Outcomes.

Chris Bottrill (Dean, Faculty of Tourism, Capilano University) and Chris Carnovale (Capilano Tourism Graduate) completed the first of seven trips to Sapa early July. Along with Tran Nu Ngoc Anh (Vice Head of Tourism Lecturer) and student Bich, from Hanoi Open University, the team conducted a needs assessment and secured partnerships with the Sapa Authority, Sapa Sport Culture and Tourism, and the Taphin Community.

Among the activities on our first trip, meetings, discussions, interviews and workshops were held with:

• Regional and local governments;
• Local women / street-sellers;
• Small local business owners;
• School teachers;
• Women's Union;
• Local youth;
• Sapa tour guides;
• Sapa tour operators.

The key issues that arose in the meetings, discussions, interviews, workshops, and observations included:

Positive Results

• Tourists' homestay experiences have been generally positive for tourists;
• All stakeholder groups are aware of problems associated with aggressive street-sellers;
• Street-sellers and community members see the benefit of setting up a type of stall/market for selling to tourists;
• Community groups have expressed a willingness to learn;
• Local community members have recommended topics for possible training areas;
• Community has shown an increase in self-confidence;
  

Challenges

• Street-sellers are hurting the tourist experience in Taphin village, especially on half-day trips from Sapa;
• Street-sellers do not understand the negative impact they are having and how to change;
• There are communication gaps between the tourism networks (government, community, private sector);
• The community does not yet know how to get together to solve their tourism-related problems;
• Individual people and stakeholder groups work separately from each other;
• A lack of capacity (skills, knowledge, and resources) for business development exists in the community;
• Village is looking increasingly dirty and locals do not know how to manage the environment;
• Villagers are discontent about the current outdoor market (opened the weekend we arrived) for various reasons.
  

Training Plan

• Training for local community members of Taphin in: business development, understanding the tourist, better selling skills, looking after the environment, and developing events;
• Training for local government on community based tourism planning;
• Planning for a Taphin community house that is a central place for community members and tourists, and designed by locals for locals.

Capilano University / PATA partnership

Building off of a successful five year Community Based Tourism Training Project funded by the Canadian International Development agency, Capilano University has partnered with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in an effort to further the tourism capacities in Taphin village.

The initial project - a CIDA funded capacity building project from 2002 - 2007 - delivered training in two villages within the Sapa region. In Tavan and Taphin, training in English, tourism product development, food safety, first aid, sanitation and maintenance, homestay development, and HIV / AIDS awareness were offered to community members. In addition, 50 ethnic tour guides and 20 Vietnamese guides working in the Sapa region were trained in tour guiding skills.

"training will be delivered in business development, entrepreneurship, understanding the tourist, better selling skills, environmental stewardship, community tourism planning"

For the next two years, student and faculty trainers from Capilano University and Hanoi Open University will continue what was started in the previous project, focusing on the village of Taphin. Training will be delivered in business development, understanding the tourist, better selling skills, and environmental stewardship. Attention will be placed on the local women and youth. Training in community tourism planning will also be delivered to local government.