Fire dancing festival of the Red Dao ethnic people was held with the participation of fire artists from communes to create joyful atmosphere for locals and visitors on occasion of the New Year. Ban Van Ton, a fireman jumping in Nam Det village (Nam Det commune), said: The Fire dancing Festival is one of the important rituals of the Red Dao people and has an educational significance for the community to dare to cope with difficulties, challenges, and spiritual factors, blessing, luck for the new year.

A district-level fire dancing festival attracts people and visitors.

Bac Ha district is the gathering place of 14 ethnic groups, of which the Mong people account for nearly 50%, in addition to Dao, Tay, Nung, Phu La ethnic groups... The festival is one of the characteristics imbued with the cultural identity of each nation. Each festival is considered as a “living museum”, recreating the lives of ethnic minorities in the area. This has attracted tourists, especially foreign visitors, to Bac Ha with the desire to learn and explore the customs and habits of the people here. Understanding this, every year, Bac Ha district plans to organize cultural, arts, physical training and sport activities ... in association with tourism activities to attract tourists and at the same time restore and preserve the cultural identity of ethnic groups, eliminate backward customs. A number of unique traditional festivals can be mentioned, showing the rich living and cultural spirit of the ethnic minorities such as fire dancing festival, acute ceremony of the Red Dao ethnic group; Hmong festival of ethnic people; Tay festivals of the Tay people ... In particular, the traditional horse racing competition held in June every year has become a trademark of Bac Ha white plateau.

Tourist Nguyen Thi Dinh (Quang Ninh province) promises: I have heard everyone talk about the traditional Horse Racing Tournament in Bac Ha but have not had the opportunity to witness it, definitely this summer, my family and I will Return to Bac Ha to see horse racing.

Traditional horse racing competition in Bac Ha district.

Besides organizing traditional festivals associated with tourism activities, Bac Ha district also promotes tourism products to attract visitors. The district has developed 9 typical tourist products, including traditional horse racing; Bac Ha night market; traditional festival; model of community based tourism (homestay) associated with traditional craft villages; Cultural and art activities attract tourists to visit and resort in the communes: Ban Pho, Ta Chai, Na Hoi, Thai Giang Pho, Bao Nhai ... There are 4 relics and landscapes in the district, national landscapes, including: Bac Ha Temple, Trung Do Temple, Hoang A Tuong Palace, Thien Long Cave (Ta Van Chu Commune) and a national intangible cultural heritage that is the dance of the people Tay ethnic group in Ta Chai commune.

In addition to the restoration and repair of relics, protection of famous places and landscapes, the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage of dancing and dancing is of particular interest to the district. Up to now, the district has established 128 folk performance teams in villages. However, the entertainment teams mainly operate in the community that are developing community based tourism such as Na Hoi, Ta Chai and Ban Pho. In order to maintain the performance of folk art teams, from 2015, Bac Ha district spent VND 200 million per year to support actors and artisans participating in cultural and art performances at Bac Ha night market every Saturday night.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luyen, Head of Bac Ha District Department of Culture and Information, said: Through the construction of tourist sites, routes and products, the number of tourists coming to Bac Ha has increased year by year. In 2019, tourists to Bac Ha are estimated to reach about 480 thousand, an increase of 80 thousand compared to 2018. Revenue from tourism also increases from VND 320 billion (in 2018) to VND 430 billion (in 2019). This is the result of the participation of the entire political system together with the efforts of the people in the district, especially the implementation of Project 6 of the District People's Committee on “Tourism Development associated with the cultural identity in the period 2016 - 2020”.

With unique cultural advantages of ethnic groups in the area, Bac Ha can develop many types of tourism such as cultural tourism, spiritual tourism, community tourism ... cultural identity of ethnic groups developed in association with sustainable tourism, in addition to the efforts of the party committee and district authorities, it is necessary for people to raise their awareness and responsibility in preserving the cultural beauty of the people, thereby attracting more and more tourists.