Overview of Tourism Activities in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh

From this point of view, when studying the cultural heritage of the TMC people, the author not only considered it from a traditional perspective but also studied those elements in the process of transformation, in the relationship of exchange and acculturation with the culture of the tourist area; The sustainable tourism development point of view is applied when studying the interactive relationship between local tourism development and the issue of preserving traditional cultural elements of the Thai people in MC, HB.

To analyze and evaluate the current status of TMC's traditional culture in the process of tourism development, chapter 1 also conducted a general study of the most prominent characteristics of TMC's traditional culture, as a basis for examining and clearly seeing the traditional culture of TMC.

Regarding material culture, the TMC people have created a material culture imbued with the identity of the mountains and forests, clearly expressed through the way of eating, dressing and housing of the Thai people here. The densely packed living style, the structure of the village space, stilt houses, dishes, the way of organizing meals... have clearly shown the characteristics of the culture of taking advantage of and adapting to natural conditions, of the high community spirit of the TMC people with typical cultural features such as "sticky rice, stilt houses, water carried on the shoulder, roasted pigs".

In addition, the livelihood activities of the TMC people have a prominent feature which is taking advantage of natural conditions for agricultural production with wet rice cultivation combined with slash-and-burn farming. In production, the Thai people have relied on nature, exploiting nature reasonably. The natural, self-sufficient, and self-sufficient nature of the exploitation economy is clearly demonstrated.

Regarding intangible culture with a rich and diverse cultural and social life, rich in identity: The writing system was created early, capable of expressing phenomena in natural and social life. Thanks to writing, the TMC people have left behind a rich treasure of fairy tales, customary laws, proverbs, folk songs... The festival treasure of the TMC people is extremely rich with extremely unique and distinctive features. It is also a typical folk art with famous dances: xoe, fan dance, bamboo dance...

All of these have recreated a picture of the rich and diverse cultural life of the Thai people here. That culture is not only the nourishment that nourishes and ensures the survival and development of the Thai people, but it is also an important resource in the development of Mai Chau and the Thai people today.

Chapter 2

MANIFESTATIONS OF TRADITIONAL CULTURAL CHANGES OF THE THAI PEOPLE IN MAI CHAU, HOA BINH IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

2.1. Overview of tourism activities in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh

2.1.1. Conditions and some basic factors creating tourism development in Mai Chau

- Tourism resources

Mai Chau is a land with a historical tradition and rich in diverse and unique human values in the lifestyle, beliefs, festivals, activities and cultural and artistic activities of the ethnic groups: Thai, Muong, Kinh. This area is also blessed by nature with majestic natural landscapes and many beautiful landscapes. There are also many famous cultural tourist destinations not only in the country but also for foreign tourists such as Lac village (Chieng Chau), Pom Coong village (Mai Chau town), Da river lake... These are great potentials for Mai Chau tourism development.

In this locality, it is possible to develop diverse and interwoven types of tourism such as: resort and health tourism (the most prominent is the eco-resort located on Pom Pu hill - Mai Chau); cultural - sports and festival tourism (this type of tourism in Mai Chau is based on tourism activities to learn about the customs and practices of the Thai people. Festival tourism usually takes place mainly in spring, the largest number of visitors is in January with festivals such as the Cha Chieng festival, the Xen Ban festival, the Xen Muong festival) ...; tourism to visit and enjoy scenic spots, relics, and craft villages (commonly visited relics are: Khoai Cave, Chieu Cave, Nhat Cave, Lang Cave, Mo Luong Cave, the "Rain Praying" festival, the "Cha Chieng" festival of the Thai people and the "Gau Tao" festival of the Mong people ...); Community tourism (Lac village, Pom Coong village, Van village and other places such as Na Phon, Na Moo, Hang Kia, Pa Co...); conference tourism, seminars, creative camps...

- Technical tourism facilities

In Mai Chau, there are relatively complete tourism services such as accommodation services, food services, souvenir services, local specialties to meet the needs of the tourist area and suitable for many customers with different interests and financial resources.

The tourism accommodation system in Mai Chau includes hotels, guesthouses, motels, homestays, nursing homes... developing relatively quickly, in accordance with the law of supply and demand and the law of tourism development. "By the beginning of 2016, the whole district currently has 122 tourism accommodation establishments, including 5 hotels, 20 motels, 92 households operating community homestays..."[2].

Infrastructure serving tourism in Mai Chau is also increasingly improved in all aspects: transportation system, electricity network, water supply and drainage, post and telecommunications.

From 2000 to 2015, Mai Chau district renovated, upgraded and expanded many old roads, and opened some new roads. The Hanoi - MC, HB - Mai Chau routes were organized by many bus companies. According to statistics from the Statistics Office of Mai Chau District People's Committee, "as of early 2016, Mai Chau had 71.8% of district roads, 95.12% of commune roads, 45.78% of hamlet roads and inter-hamlet roads asphalted and hardened " [31]. Therefore, traffic conditions in Mai Chau and its surrounding areas

near more and more spacious

The power grid in Mai Chau is increasingly improved. As of 2016, Mai Chau has “nearly 232 km of medium voltage lines, 312.7 km of low voltage lines and 119 transformers”[63]. That power source is delivered to every household and every production and business establishment, ensuring the production and consumption needs in the area, especially the power sector.

The water supply and drainage system in Mai Chau has been upgraded. The Hoa Binh Clean Water Company has invested in a water pipeline system to the tourist areas. The water reserves are abundant, and the water quality ensures adequate supply (even during peak months).

Along with services, labor serving tourism in recent years in Mai Chau has continuously increased in both quantity and quality, to meet the increasing needs of the tourist area.

2.1.2. Overview of the formation and development of tourism in Mai Chau

Tourism in Mai Chau was formed in the 60s of the 20th century. At that time, to meet the needs of foreign embassies, Hoa Binh province tourism company took them to visit some Thai villages in Mai Chau. At that time, the district had no houses.

guests, so the travel company often lets guests stay at Mr. Ha Cong Nham's house in Lac village and cooks, organizes meals and accommodation for guests here.

During the years 1992-1995, because the Mai Chau district guesthouse did not have enough accommodation for guests, Mr. Ha Van Tich (the official in charge of the guesthouse) often brought guests to his house or relatives' house in Pom Coong village to eat and rest.

Through those passive and spontaneous times, the image of Mai Chau, rustic, simple, poetic, left a deep impression on tourists and spread more and more. Tourists began to come to Mai Chau.

In 1995, the People's Committee of MC and HB districts first issued Regulation 400 on a number of policies, regulations, and finances for local accommodation. This was the first administrative milestone to assess the formation of tourism in MC and HB. After that, administrative procedures and business registration for households doing tourism were gradually issued.

By 1997, income tax was applied to licensed business households. By 2015, “in the district, there were 97 tourist accommodation establishments, including 3 hotels, 17 motels, 77 community motels, 04 community tourism spots including Lac village, Chieng Chau commune; Buoc village, Xam Khoe commune; Van village, Pom Coong village, Mai Chau town and 03 newly opened tourist spots including Ecolodge eco-tourism resort (Na Phon commune), Mat Troi eco-tourism spot (Chieng Chau commune), TMC eco-tourism spot (Cha Lang hamlet, Mai Hich commune)”[111]. “Lac village has 110 households, currently 20 households are registered to do tourism business (in addition, there are many other households doing tourism business but not registered with the government). Pom Coong village has 60 households, 10 of which are registered for tourism business (in addition, there are many other households doing tourism business but not registered with the government) (Data provided by Mai Chau Economic Department in November 2015). In addition to Lac village and Pom Coong village, the area near the town also has Nhot village (Na Phon commune), Van village (town) also participating in tourism business. Van village has 4 families doing accommodation business, but the number of guests is small and not as regular as Lac village and Pom Coong village. Nhot village does not do accommodation business but mainly guides, performs, provides fabrics, brocades, food for tourists in Lac village and Pom Coong village. In addition to Thai villages around Mai town

Chau-Hoa Binh, some other remote villages also participate in tourism business (accommodation, food service, singing...) but the number of visitors is very small, such as Buoc village (Xam Khoe commune), Vat village (Pieng Ve commune).

Tourism business in MC and HB mainly includes accommodation business, food service business; additional service business forms such as performing arts, guiding, selling souvenirs, transporting guests. Tourism businesses in the villages are all in contact with a number of tourism companies, welcoming guests from those companies. Most tourists coming here directly cover the expenses with the business owners, some tourists follow package tours, the company brings the guests to pay the expenses to the homeowner.

Tourists come to Mai Chau mainly in two seasons: summer and autumn. This shows that natural conditions greatly affect the landscape and space here, thereby affecting the attraction of the tourist area in each season.

The tourist destinations known and in need of visiting in Mai Chau area are also different: In which, international tourist destinations often have the need to visit Ban Lac, Ban Poom Coong and other villages.

- Number of customers, revenue

Mai Chau with its unique cultural identity of ethnic minorities, natural beauty or diversity of flora and fauna in the Hang Kia-Pa Co nature reserve has attracted many tourist areas from all over the country and many countries around the world. Mai Chau tourism has developed strongly in recent years, the number of tourists has continuously increased. The above statistics show that the number of visitors to Mai Chau has continuously increased. The growth rate is stronger year after year. If in the 10 years from 2001 to 2011 it increased 3.8 times, then in just 5 years from 2011 to 2015 it increased 5.1 times. The number of foreign tourists has increased faster than domestic tourists. This proves that MC and HB are increasingly attractive to foreign tourists.

During the period 2001-2015, Mai Chau tourism revenue continuously increased. The strongest increase was in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. In 2015 compared to 2001, after 15 years, Mai Chau's revenue increased 10.12 times. In 2013 compared to 2012, it increased 5.42 times (Source: Mai Chau District Economic Department). This is a remarkable growth rate that few places can achieve.

Table 2.1. Number of tourists to Mai Chau (2001-2015)

Unit: person

STT

Time	Tourist area to Mai Chau
Time	Domestic	International	Total
1	2001	14,509	3,045	17,554
2	2005	20,431	5,050	25,481
3	2011	33,689	34,449	68,138
4	2012	35,500	14,000	49,500
5	2013	141,691	66,212	207,903
6	2014	223,825	77,178	301,000
7	2015	249,035	99,967	349,002

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Source: Mai Chau Economic Department

The tourism revenue structure in Mai Chau is quite simple, mainly focusing on two main services: room rental and food and beverage. This proves that Mai Chau's tourism types and products are not rich and diverse. Other services such as travel, passenger transport, souvenir sales, health care... are not yet developed.

Tourism in Mai Chau has generated income for local tourism businesses, thereby contributing to the national budget. In addition, tourism also contributes to the construction of new rural areas by helping local people benefit from infrastructure development, creating more job opportunities through diversifying tourism activities to increase income. At the same time, it contributes to solving employment for local people, thereby contributing to gradually increasing accumulation and shifting the economic structure of Mai Chau. In addition, tourism activities also contribute to preserving the culture of local ethnic groups, playing an important role in preserving the natural landscape of the region.

Thus, it can be seen that tourism has brought many benefits to Mai Chau. In particular, with the participation of the community in tourism activities, the economic benefits that tourism brings have brought a fresh color to Mai Chau.

2.2. Transformation of material culture of Thai people in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh

2.2.1. Residential architecture

Nowadays, along with the development of local tourism, the TMC villages have changed a lot. The changes in the architecture of TMC houses are clearly shown through the following points:

- Space, village landscape

The TMC people live in a densely populated area, but their traditional stilt houses are still built at a certain distance from each other to avoid fire and are built according to the criteria of "son chau thuy tu" (back to hill, mountain; facing river, stream or field). However, nowadays, to facilitate tourism business, the TMC villages have expanded a lot, families doing tourism business have built 2-3 stilt houses next to each other, with quite large areas, the stilt houses built by the Thai people are located along the road, facing the road in the style of the city. This can be clearly seen through the comparison between Lac village and Pom Coong village and some villages that do not develop tourism.

In Lac village - a village with a long history of tourism business, the development of tourism services has almost disappeared, replaced by a bustling and bustling scene. The rice fields on the outskirts of the village have been abandoned by the people, replaced by colorful flower fields to attract tourists to take pictures, have more beautiful memories and experiences here.

In Pom Coong village, tourism is less developed so the landscape is more open, many houses still have gardens and fish ponds. Overall, Pom Coong is still a village located close to the mountainside of the valley, attached to the mountain landscape, the houses here also retain many traditional features. Or like Van village, the whole village has only 4 houses for tourism so " this place is still quite wild, the scenery is quiet, people live slowly and seem resigned. Still confined, still poor". In Mai Chau, only Van village still more or less retains the Thai cultural space " [59].

Infrastructure, electricity system, roads… have been invested significantly. Roads in the village, roads connecting two villages are all concreted, always clean and beautiful, making travel for local people and tourist areas much more convenient than before.

“The development of tourism has changed the villages a lot, the roads have been upgraded a lot. Previously, cars could not enter the village because the roads were bad, the bridge was weak, the tourist area had to walk quite a distance from the main road to the village. On hot and sunny days or rainy days, the whole group had a hard time walking in. Now the locality has built a bridge.

The road is good now, tourist cars or passenger cars can go straight to Lac village, Poom Coong village, visitors no longer have to walk in .

(Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thanh, Tour guide, Hanoi)

However, in undeveloped or less developed villages such as Poom Coong and Van villages, the roads are less upgraded, the sanitation is worse, and there is a lot of buffalo and cow dung on the roads in the village, causing unsanitary conditions and poor aesthetics.

“A few years ago, Pom Coong village still had livestock manure scattered on the road. Now it is much better. Because tourism activities in this village are less developed than in Lac village, the village still retains many old features, foreign tourists like to stay there more. However, the hygiene in the village is not really as good as in Lac village. In villages like Van village and Nhot village, the roads are very bad, dirty and much more difficult to travel, so visitors often feel uncomfortable when visiting the village .”

(Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thanh, Tour guide, Hanoi)

- House type and materials

In the context of local tourism development, traditional stilt houses of the TMC people are increasingly rare.

The traditional architecture of the TMC people is round columns, thatched roofs, walls and floors made of bamboo, built without the need for carpentry, with two staircases and two houses on both sides. The ground floor is usually built low (about 1.7m) because the main purpose is to avoid the humid air of the mountains, which is harmful to health, the space is only for firewood, raising cattle and storing agricultural products.

For the convenience of tourism business, the popular house style today is square wooden columns, house walls, purlins, longitudinal and transverse rafters made of sawn wood, bamboo floors, roofs made of tiles (or asbestos, cement, colored corrugated iron). Most stilt houses have two staircases but most no longer have two side houses, TMC people have raised the floor height to use the space under the house with more diverse functions, especially the newly built houses in the last 10-15 years, with a height of 2.5-2.7m, some houses are even higher than 3m. To ensure the stability of the house when meeting the accommodation needs of a large number of tourist areas, people have replaced the base of the columns with concrete and iron. To avoid dust, many houses have used nylon tarps under the bamboo and rattan floors. Even to ensure

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