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Current Status of Land and Tourism Resources in Ba Vi National Park, Tam Dao, Ben En


For many years, Ben En National Park was under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; in 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development transferred the management function of Ben En National Park to the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province and the province assigned the task to the Thanh Hoa Provincial Forest Protection Department to directly manage an area of ​​14,734.8 hectares.

3.2.2. Current status of land and tourism resources in Ba Vi, Tam Dao and Ben En National Parks

In addition to the function of conserving resources and biodiversity, national parks can exploit their own potentials for ecotourism business. The potentials that can be exploited are land, forest flora and fauna, natural landscapes, air, human tourism resources, etc. These are the potentials and also the advantages of national parks when implementing the policy of leasing forest environment for ecotourism business.

* Current land status of national parks: In order to develop ecotourism, in addition to the potential of resources and landscapes, land scale is an important factor. A sufficiently large area of ​​a national park not only affects the scale of conservation, but also affects the scale of tourism infrastructure such as road systems, rest stops, and facilities serving tourists such as places to eat, stay, and entertainment areas. Through research results, it can be seen that Ba Vi, Tam Dao, and Ben En national parks are all national parks with large land areas (Table 3.1).

Table 3.1. Land area of ​​the studied national parks


T

Soil type

Tam Dao National Park

Ba Vi National Park

Ben En National Park

Acreage

(ha)

Proportion

%

Acreage

(ha)

Proportion

%

Acreage

(ha)

Proportion

%

I

Total area

34,995

100

11,079.5

100

14,734.80

100

1

Forest land

33,125.07

94.66

11,079.5

100

12,275.20

83.31

a

Forested land

24,752.17

70.73

7,095.9

64.05

10,758.37

73.01

-

Natural forest land

21,107.56

60.32

3,181.1

28.71

10,700.75

72.62

-

Forest land

3,664.61

10.41

3,914.8

35.33

57.62

0.39

b

Land without forest

8,372.90

23.93

3,983.6

35.95

1,516.83

10.29

2

Other land

1,869.93

5.34

0


2,459.60

16.69

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Source: Ba Vi National Park Report, Tam Dao, Ben En, 2012

National parks all have a high proportion of forested land and are mainly natural forest land. Ba Vi National Park has an area of ​​natural forest land accounting for 28.71% of the forested land area.


Notably, Ba Vi National Park has about 1,000 hectares of primary forest, little affected by humans.

Unit: ha

Figure 3.1. Land area of ​​the studied national parks

Source: Ba Vi National Park Report, Tam Dao, Ben En, 2012

* Potential of forest ecosystems: The forest ecosystems of the studied national parks are very rich and diverse with many types of forests and many different species of flora and fauna. The biodiversity of the national parks is shown in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2. Number of animal and plant species in the studied national parks

Unit: species


TT

National Park Name

Animal

Bird

Amphibian

Reptile

Plants

1

Ben En

91

261

31

54

1,357

2

Ba Vi

63

191

27

61

1.201

3

Tam Dao

93

332

62

136

1,247

Source: Ba Vi National Park, Tam Dao, Ben En, 2012

Research results show that Ba Vi, Tam Dao, and Ben En National Parks all have high biodiversity with rich and diverse flora and fauna. In addition, each National Park has endemic species and rare wood species that are characteristic of each National Park.

* Landscape potential: In addition to the advantages of flora and fauna, national parks also have many landscape advantages for tourism development such as lake, dam, stream, waterfall systems and many other beautiful landscapes inside.

Ba Vi National Park has a small area but is quite diverse in flora and fauna, with many beautiful and attractive landscapes such as Bac waterfall, Nga stream, Yen stream, primeval forest, Suoi Hai lake, Dong Mo lake .... With many beautiful landscapes, the environment


With its fresh air, Ba Vi National Park holds great potential for research activities, forest conservation, environmental education, especially ecotourism activities.

Tam Dao National Park also has a lot of potential in terms of landscape for tourism development such as Lang Ha Lake, Xa Huong Lake, Nui Coc, Dai Lai, ... In which lakes such as Nui Coc, Dai Lai have become large and important tourist centers not only in the region but also nationwide. Besides, Tam Dao also has a system of streams and waterfalls that are well known to many people such as: Tham Thinh waterfall, Bac waterfall, Vang stream, Giai Oan stream ... creating attractive spots for tourists. Among the resources with potential for tourism development in Tam Dao, Bac waterfall has been exploited to serve tourism activities due to its quite convenient conditions, close to the tourist center.

Ben En National Park has less potential for landscape than Ba ​​Vi and Tam Dao National Parks but has its own unique features for tourism development. Ben En National Park's landscape includes lake landscape, islands on the lake, mountain and forest landscape and cave landscape in limestone mountain ranges - the above elements create a picture that attracts tourists to Ben En. Upper Lake (May Dam) and Lower Lake (Muc Dam) have 21 islands and peninsulas surrounded by three arcs of rocky mountains, hills and forests, creating many spectacular landscapes and attracting tourists.

* Potential for human tourism resources: In addition to natural resources, Ba Vi, Tam Dao, Ben En National Parks also have human tourism resources, including both tangible and intangible resources. Human tourism resources that can be exploited are temples, pagodas, historical relics, traditional cultural features such as festivals, customs of ethnic groups,...

Ba Vi National Park has many temples, so every year it attracts a large number of spiritual tourists to the Park such as: Thuong Temple worshiping Saint Tan Vien, Trung Temple, Da Den Temple with folk legends that have gone down in history. Besides, there are many ethnic groups living here with unique customs and traditions, festivals with the characteristics of each ethnic group, and many historical relics such as French villas in the core area of ​​the National Park. However, due to lack of investment and protection, these relics have also been lost over time.


In the Tam Dao mountain area and buffer zone, there are also many diverse and rich human tourism resources including: Ba Chua Thuong Ngan Temple, Thach Kiem Temple, Mau Temple, Duc Thanh Tran Temple, television station, .... Tam Dao National Park has relatively rich intangible resources such as customs, festivals, and poetic arts of ethnic minorities living around the National Park. Typically in Tam Dao National Park are the customs and festivals of the San Riu, Dao, Tay, San Chi ethnic groups... still preserved in villages and hamlets such as Tay Thien festival in Dai Dinh commune, Ha Village Wrestling Festival . In particular, Tam Dao still preserves a traditional folk song of the San Diu ethnic group, which is Soong Co singing.

Compared to Ba Vi and Tam Dao National Parks, Ben En National Park's human tourism resources are very few, mainly concentrated in the surrounding areas of the National Park such as Phu Na Temple in Xuan Du Commune where Ba Trieu Thi Trinh is worshiped, Khe Rong Temple in Hai Long Commune where a general of Le Loi is worshiped, also known as Duc Ong, Phu Sung Temple where Lieu Hanh Holy Mother is worshiped, etc. These are places for tourists to visit and combine spirituality. Intangible resources focus on the following categories: customs, festivals of the Thai, Muong, Tho ethnic groups still remaining in villages and hamlets such as Lung Village, Quang Village, Coc Village, Mai Village, Roc Ram Village, etc. However, to exploit and serve tourism development, it is necessary to invest in rebuilding and restoring these resources and create a connection between the tourism activities of the National Park and neighboring tourist destinations.

3.2.3. Evaluation of the results of exploiting the inherent potential for ecotourism development in Tam Dao, Ba Vi and Ben En National Parks

National Parks have great potential for ecotourism development through the exploitation of natural factors, biodiversity, natural landscapes and human tourism resources. With advantages in geographical location, natural resources and human tourism resources, the situation of attracting tourists has a relatively large difference between national parks (Figure 3.2).

Ba Vi National Park has more tourists coming to visit and relax than Tam Dao and Ben En National Parks and tends to increase over the years. The number of visitors to the National Parks is not yet commensurate with the existing potential due to many reasons.


different individuals. In the coming time, national parks need to have appropriate measures to increase the attraction of tourists to the national parks to both increase revenue and contribute to exploiting the advantages of the park to develop ecotourism. Revenue from ecotourism in national parks mainly comes from selling entrance tickets, due to the increase in the number of visitors, so revenue from ticket sales tends to increase sharply over the years (Figure 3.3).

Unit: Number of visitors

Unit: Million VND



Schedule to study at the National Park

Figure 3.2. Tourist attraction situation

Figure 3.3. Revenue from ticket sales at the National Park

study

Source: Report of Ba Vi National Park, Tam Dao, Ben En

The reasons for the difference in the number of visitors at the studied national parks can be considered from the following aspects:

+ Geographical location : This is considered an important factor to attract tourists to national parks. National parks with favorable locations, near large urban areas, where there is a developed transportation system such as Ba Vi or Tam Dao National Park will have more advantages in developing ecotourism than Ben En National Park. Location advantages are important factors for tourism companies to decide to invest and lease forest environments for ecotourism business.

+ Attractiveness of tourism resources : Attractiveness is the most important factor in evaluating tourism resources because it determines the attraction of tourists. Attractiveness is highly comprehensive and is often determined by the diversity of flora and fauna, the beauty of the landscape, the suitability of the climate, the uniqueness and distinctiveness of natural and human tourism resources. Attractiveness is expressed in the quantity and quality of resources, in the ability to meet many types of tourism. In the studied national parks, there is a diversity of flora and fauna and there are also endemic species associated with each national park.


+ Diversity of tourism products: Diversity of tourism products is a factor that attracts tourists and the more tourism products, the more tourists the National Park will attract. Currently, when coming to Ba Vi National Park, tourists can enjoy many types of tourism such as picnic tourism, sightseeing tourism to study ecosystems, spiritual tourism, tourism to visit historical sites, ethnic minority villages, etc. In particular, after the forest environment leasing policy was implemented in Ba Vi National Park, the number of visitors has tended to increase even more strongly because tourism companies are interested in investing in technical facilities for tourism, and tourism management is more professional. The number of visitors to Ba Vi National Park is mostly through tourism companies (mostly companies that are allowed to lease forest environments in Ba Vi National Park).

+ Local policies: Although Tam Dao National Park has a lot of potential, the number of visitors to the National Park is low due to local regulations. Tam Dao National Park is not assigned the function of tourism exploitation and management, mainly performing the function of forest protection and development, while tourist areas are managed by the District People's Committee. Therefore, tourists coming to Tam Dao mainly go to tourist areas managed by the locality such as Tay Thien, Dai Lai Lake, etc. In addition, because the province stipulates that there is no fee to enter the Park, it does not create motivation for Tam Dao National Park to exploit its advantages to develop tourism. This factor also hinders the implementation of the policy of leasing forest environment in the Park.

+ Seasonality : The seasonality of tourism activities is determined by the suitability of weather conditions for human health and the characteristics of the type of tourism. The seasonality of tourism activities directly affects the direction of tourism business investment of tourism companies in the National Park. The National Parks research tourism activities mainly in spring and summer, the remaining seasons have very few tourists coming to the park. It can be said that tourism activities in the new National Parks are concentrated at certain times of the year, with high seasonal characteristics. Ba Vi National Park mainly focuses on spring because this is the season when visitors from all over come to Ba Vi National Park to visit pagodas (Ba Vi National Park is very developed in spiritual tourism activities). As for Tam Dao and Ben En National Parks, visitors mainly come in the summer to enjoy the cool air that nature has bestowed on the National Park (mainly resort tourism). In addition, because Ben En National Park has not yet completed its development project,


developing ecotourism, there are not many tourism products so it has not attracted many visitors. Visitors to Ben En National Park often combine tourism with other places such as Sam Son beach tourism, visiting historical sites, temples and pagodas around Ben En National Park. For Ben En National Park, the largest number of visitors comes in the summer from April to September. Regarding the composition of visitors, the main groups are agencies going on vacation or traveling to other tourist destinations combined with visiting the National Park, visitors to the National Park are mainly domestic visitors more than other provinces.

Unit: Million VND Unit: Number of visitors



Figure 3.4. Ticket sales revenue by month at Ba Vi National Park

Figure 3.5. Number of visitors by month at Tam Dao National Park

Source: Ba Vi National Park Report, Tam Dao

+ Connectivity : The connectivity in tourism in national parks is not high, it is scattered, Ben En National Park has built tourism routes but has not exploited these routes, especially even Ba Vi National Park has not created a connection between businesses operating in the area. To develop eco-tourism, each business must find specific types of tourism, diversify tourism products but also have to have connections with each other to attract many types of tourists with different needs and demands.

3.2.4. Basic activities at the research national park

The basic activities of the National Park are preliminarily divided and grouped into four large areas: Forest protection management, Development, Exploitation and Management activities (Appendix 04) . The results show that these activities are directly or indirectly related to the implementation of the functions of the Park. In reality, the new National Parks focus on


Mainly on forest protection, forest development and management activities of a public service unit, other activities have not received attention for development.

- Forest protection and development activities: This is the main activity of the National Park and these activities are carried out relatively well, through funding from the State budget. The National Park has both a specialized force of Park Rangers and a contract for protection to local households. However, the budget is limited, so investment in forest protection and development has not achieved the desired results. In addition, the large contracted area and low funding lead to the inability to protect the forest, and the contracted households do not receive any benefits other than the contracted wages, so it does not create motivation to improve responsibility in forest protection and development. In fact, Tam Dao and Ba Vi National Parks have had to revoke the contracted contracts of many households.

- Raising awareness and attracting people to participate in forest protection: There are many activities of the National Park with the participation of people and these activities are directly or indirectly related to conservation work in the National Park such as contracting for forest protection, participating in providing traditional products for tourists, ... Currently, the National Parks have just attracted local people to participate in forest protection through the forest protection contract policy. Due to the low level of protection contracts, the number of people participating in forest protection is small, and there are not many job opportunities, so it has not attracted the enthusiastic participation of the people. Currently, in the National Parks, forest exploitation activities by communities living in the forest and on the forest edge still take place. All forest exploitation activities in the National Park are considered illegal, destroying the natural values ​​of the forest, reducing tourism resources for eco-tourism development. In addition, in Ba Vi National Park, thanks to the implementation of the policy of leasing forest environment for ecotourism business, it has contributed to attracting a large number of people to participate directly or indirectly in tourism activities such as working at travel companies, tour guides, selling forest products or local traditional products to tourists. Allowing people to participate in exploiting the benefits of tourism has contributed to increasing people's income, reducing pressure on forests and raising people's awareness in the work of conservation and protection of environmental resources. However, some activities indirectly reduce natural resources.

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