Phin Ho village is located about 10km from the center of Y Ty commune. On weekends, each groups of cars and motorbikes from Lao Cai city and other provinces bring tourists here to prepare for an attractive journey, which is to explore the mountainous peak of Lao Than which is 2,860m above sea level.

Mr. Sung A Ho, owner of a shack for tourists climbing in Lao Than mountain, said: “My shack currently can accommodate about 80 guests per night and also serves the food and drink needs of visitors. On the top of Lao Than mountain, there are 3 shacks serving tourists to climb the mountain. In the climbing season from November last year to April next year, the shacks have guests every week, some weeks there are too crowded, the owners do not dare to accept more because they are afraid of being overloaded and not serving guests properly”. 

In addition to Lao Than, there are 3 other mountainous peaks in Bat Xat district that are also attractive destinations for tourists who are passionate about conquering mountains. These peaks are all over 3,000m high, with wild and majestic scenery, with primeval forests, crystal stream rivers, ancient rhododendron trees that blossom brightfully every March and April.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Huyen, a tourist from Da Lat shared on the Facebook group "Mountain climbing enthusiasts": After conquering the mountain peak of Ky Quan San (3 days 2 nights), I decide to continue conquering the mountain peak of Lao Than - "Roof of Y Ty". The trip was difficult, but in compensation, the two mountain peaks have many poetic stops to take photos. From the top of the mountain, you can watch the sea of ​​clouds floating, watch the sunrise or sunset on the beautiful mountain. I am very happy because after the trip there are many interesting experiences and beautiful photos to show to my friends”.

According to statistics from the Department of Information and Culture of Bat Xat District, in the first three months of 2022, this locality has welcomed 24,000 tourists, in which about 1,500 visitors have climbed the mountain.

The type of tourism that conquers the high mountain peaks is developed not only to give visitors the opportunity to discover and experience the beauty of majestic nature, but also for the local people to benefit. On the climbing routes, shacks are gradually established to serve the needs of overnight stays and the needs of tourists to eat and drink.

Mr. Sung A Tru, owner of a shack on Ky Quan San mountain, said: "Thanks to serving tourists climbing the mountain, my family has more income. Each visitor staying at the shack will pay 100,000 VND/night for sleep and food and drink according to their needs. Depending on the number of guests, after deducting expenses, the monthly income of the shack owner can be 5-7 million VND, sometimes ten million VND.

More and more tourists have come to Bat Xat nowadays, also contributing to helping the local people consume agricultural products. Many people who cannot go to work in far distance due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic also have extra income to cover their lives from working as a porter and tourist guide to climb mountains.

Tourism activities, including mountain climbing tourism, are contributing to changing the highland picture of Bat Xat district, especially in the communes with many potentials such as Y Ty and Sang Ma Sao. Currently, in 2 communes, there are nearly 20 homestays to welcome tourists, dozens of people specializing in organizing mountain climbing groups and about 150 people working as porters. Developing tourism also contributes to helping indigenous people raise awareness, gradually transfering from farming to developing tourism and services, consciously protecting natural resources, ecological environment, preserving cultural identity to attract tourists.

Typically, the incident happened on March 6, 2021, when on a Facebook group called "Mountain climbing enthusiasts" whose member shared an upsetting story because A Ho shack on Lao Than mountain has welcomed too many guests so its service of food and accommodation was not good. At night, some tourists had to sleep on the floor of the shack, leading to disputes and fightings. Also due to the large number of guests and lack of sleeping places, some porters had to sleep in caves, which was not safe. 

Not a long time after that, on Nhiu Co San mountain (Sang Ma Sao commune) there was also an angry tourist who spent the night in a shack on the mountain and lost his mobile phone. Such stories have much affected to the image of local tourism.

According to Mr. Sung A Tru, a shack owner and also a person who specializes in guiding tourists to climb the Ky Quan San and Nhiu Co San mountainous routes, there is another problem, which is the consciousness of some porters, locals and tourists still litter at resting and dining stops along the way up the mountain. Although Mr. Tru and his porter team have made some trash cans and put up some signposts on the way up the mountain, they have been damaged only after a while. In the azalea season, many tourists also cut branches and break flowers to take photos.

Regarding to the forest protection, most of the mountain peaks that have many tourists visited belong to Bat Xat Nature Reserve. Over the last time, many tourists who have climbed to Lao Than mountain expressed their frustration and regret when a tree with a beautiful shape and it had been an attractive photo spot on Lao Than mountain was cut down by the people to make firewood to dry through the frame; or the overgrown forest on the climbing road of Lao Than was destroyed, many trees were peeled to death to serve personal interests.

The ancient forests on Lao Than mountain are being invaded

In addition to the above issues, the development of guest shacks in Bat Xat Nature Reserve also needs attention to ensure harmony between the interests of the people, the development of tourism with the protection of natural resources and environment. The issue of connection and coordination between mountain climbing tourism guides is also very concerning. It is known that a few years ago on Lao Than mountain, a person burned down the other's shack due to a personal dispute.

Discussing the difficulties and inadequacies of the development of mountain climbing tourism in the area, Mr. Ha Ngoc Linh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Y Ty commune said: Over the last time, to overcome the situation of tourists littering on the Lao Than mountain climbing route, Y Ty commune has established the Self-managing team on mountain climbing tourism with the members being porters and local guides. However, the operation of the Team has not yet achieved the expected effectiveness because there is no fund to pay the members to maintain its operation. Although the local government has propagated and warned, on the way to conquer Lao Than mountain peak, many tourists still despite the danger, climb out of precarious cliffs to take photos, if unfortunately they fall down, it will be extremely dangerous.

According to Mr. Sung A Chu, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Sang Ma Sao commune, the largest difficulty for the development of mountain climbing tourism in the commune is that this type of tourism has not yet been adequately invested. The mountain peaks are also not recognized as tourist attractions and the exploitation almost brings no revenue for the locality. Currently, the 7km route from the center of the commune to Nhiu Co San village is still a very difficult road, causing many obstacles for tourists coming here to visit and conquer the high mountain peaks.

Due to the issues for mountain climbing tourism in Bat Xat district, the question is how to solve difficulties, manage and exploit this type of tourism effectively?

Mr. Sung A Tru, a shack owner on Ky Quan San mountain, suggested that in the coming time, the Party Committee and local government should actively propagate to raise people's awareness, and coordinate with the culture and tourism industry to open training classes, fostering knowledge and skills for the team of porters and mountain climbing guides. For the mountain shack owners, Mr. Tru also wishes that the local authorities and Bat Xat Nature Reserve will create favorable conditions for repairing the shack, helping tourists have a better place to eat and stay.

Ky Quan San with majestic and poetic beauty

Mr. Ha Ngoc Linh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Y Ty Commune, said that in order to well manage mountain climbing tourists, in addition to reporting the number of staying guests, the shack owners also need to establish the rules and price lists to ensure publicity and transparency. It is also necessary to put up road signs and danger warnings at some checkin points.

Tourists on the way to conquer Ky Quan San peak

Regarding to the cultural industry of Bat Xat district, Mr. Pham Van Tam, Manager of the Department of Culture and Information of the district, said: Determining tourism development as one of the breakthrough fields, Bat Xat district has developed the Tourism Development Project associated with preservation and promotion of cultural identities of ethnic groups in the period of 2020 - 2025. In 2022, the locality sets the target to welcome 85,000 visitors; The average number of days staying is 1.7 days/person; Average spending 700,000 VND/person/day; Total revenue from tourism activities has reached over 100 billion VND. Currently, the district is speeding up the completion progress of the necessary conditions to request the province to recognize the tourist destinations for the Lao Than and Ky Quan San mountain peaks.

According to Mr. Tam, another concern is that the tourism industry of the province needs to control and check travel and tourism companies in buying insurance for their guests when participating in mountain climbing activities. Travel companies must also disseminate to tourists about the necessary regulations, knowledge and skills so that they can understand and actively implement to ensure safety when participating in mountain climbing tourism.

Talking to the reporter about the orientation of developing tourism products of conquering the high mountain peaks, Ms. Sung Hong Mai, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Bat Xat District said: In order to effectively exploit the potential and strengths of mountain climbing tourism, the locality is trying to build the brand "Bat Xat - The paradise of attractive adventure tourism and adventure sports", especially the tourism product "Conquer the high peak". The district also maintains to organize the climbing tournament to conquer the Lao Than mountain peak; doing research and proposing to organize the climbing competition to conquer Ky Quan San mountain peak; investment in new construction of mountain climbing route to conquer Pu Ta Leng mountain peak (starting from Trung Leng Ho commune) to explore forest ecosystems, waterfalls, azaleas flower…”  

On March 31, 2018 the People's Committee of the province issued the Decision No. 23/2018/QD-UBND, promulgating a number of regulations on the management of tourism activities, including adventure tourism and mountain climbing tourism. According to this Decision, Bat Xat district is directing to handle some arising cases related to mountain climbing tourism on time.

Regarding to the issue of tourism development in nature reserves, on March 10, 2022, the People's Committee of the province also issued the Document No. 893, assigning the Forest Protection Department of the province to host and coordinate with other agencies, relevant units to develop outlines and cost estimates for establishing the Eco-tourism, resort and entertainment project by the Management Boards of protection and special-use forests in Sa Pa town and Lao Cai city; Ecotourism, resort and entertainment project of Management Board of Hoang Lien Van Ban Nature Reserve and Management Board of Bat Xat Nature Reserve. These projects will help the development of tourism in nature reserves in the province become more sustainable.

Mr. Ngo Kien Trung, Head of Management Board of Bat Xat Nature Reserve said: “Every year, the unit organizes to work with groups of households doing mountain climbing tourism and requests related households and shack owners to sign commitment to forest protection and forest fire prevention, when leading tourists not to litter in the forest. Recently, we have actively propagated a number of villages in Sang Ma Sao commune that are entitled to receive forest environmental protection service fees to switch from wood stoves to gas stoves to reduce pressure on the forest.

Along with the above solutions, in order to well exploit the strength of mountain climbing tourism in Bat Xat district in particular and Lao Cai province in general, it is necessary to attract more businesses, investors, and travel companies to participate in the development of this tourism product, creating tightly close connection between the government - businesses - tourism guides and local people so that all parties have the same benefits and responsibilities. It is also one of the important solutions, contributing to the development of the local tourism economy, including mountain climbing tourism, towards sustainable development.