Awakening the Potential of Craft Village Tourism

The entire province currently boasts over 110 craft villages and hundreds traditional craft villages. This represents a significant potential and advantage for tourism development, contributing to improving the income and livelihood of the local people. However, this type of craft village tourism is still facing many difficulties and has not yet fully exploited its inherent potential and strengths.

In recent years, the Vinh Son Snake Craft Village in Tho Tang commune were popular for tourists who favor experiential travel. This long-standing craft village has been preserved through many generations and continues to thrive today. The village has approximately 600 households raising snakes. These households invest in building safe cages and dens for raising snakes; applying scientific and technical advancements to enhance breeding efficiency. In addition to the main products—commercial snakes and breeding snakes—snake-raising households also develop various products from snakes, such as: snake wine and snake balm used to treat bone and joint pain; snake venom used in pharmaceutical production; snakeskin for handicrafts; and snake bile used to treat asthma and digestive issues.

Visitors exploring and experiencing the Ban Mach Blacksmithing Craft Village, Vinh Phu commune.

To accelerate the development of traditional craft villages in conjunction with tourism, snake-raising households have linked up with various travel agencies to welcome domestic and international tourist groups for visits and hands-on experiences. Tourists visiting here can tour the breeding area, learn about the snake farming process, enjoy delicious snake-based dishes, and purchase processed snake products for personal use or as gifts. On average, Vinh Son Snake Craft Village welcomes about 100 visitors per month for tours and experiences.

Similarly, exploiting the existing advantages and potential of the traditional blacksmithing craft village, Ban Mach Hamlet in Vinh Phu commune is strongly promoting the development of craft village tourism, helping traditional products reach a wider market, contributing to economic development, and raising the income of the people. Upon arriving at Ban Mach Blacksmithing Village, visitors can learn about the production process of items like knives, scissors, and hammers; personally perform some simple steps in the production process, such as hammering on the anvil and grinding; learn about the history and development of the blacksmithing village; and purchase village products for use or as gifts.

Mr. Vu Duc Thang, who has hosted foreign delegations for tours and experiences in the village many times, shared: Visitors are very excited to perform some production steps of the village’s products themselves and to learn about the history of the traditional craft village. We actively introduce the craft village and its products to tourists so that more people can learn about them.

The entire province currently has over 110 active craft villages and hundreds of villages with trades, attracting more than 30,000 households, along with dozens of cooperatives and enterprises, creating jobs for about 43,000 workers. By harnessing the values of traditional craft villages for tourism development, many localities in the province have become attractive destinations for tourists, contributing to the development of craft villages and increasing people’s incomes.

To awaken the potential of craft village tourism, the province and functional sectors have actively supported craft villages in investing in technological innovation, expanding production associated with experiential tourism, and boosting communication, promotion, and product brand building...

Tran Tinh