Bac Ha – tourist destination for winter
As a mountainous district in Lao Cai province, Bac Ha has long been an attractive destination for tourists. Over the past years, tourism festival activities, especially winter season in Bac Ha such as horse race in Na Hoi commune, the H’mong khen (pan-pipe) dance competition, Bac Ha rice tray…. is widely known to tourists. |
| Traditional stilts are still preserved. |
The first Winter Festival was held by Bac Ha district in November 2020, to promote and advertise tourism of an attractive destination in Lao Cai province. Coming to this festival, visitors can enjoy the unique dishes of ethnic minorities in Bac Ha, enjoy unique pan-pipe dancing, traditional horse racing …
The festival is also a place where artists and ethnic Bac Ha people feel excited and proud to participate in performances and show their cultural characteristics so that people and visitors from all over the world can know about it. At the same time, the Winter Festival contributes to preserving ethnic cultures, becoming typical and unique tourism products associated with local tourism development.
Mr. Ly Seo Phung, Ban Pho commune, Bac Ha district, the third prize winner in the contest "H’mong pan-pipe dance", shared: "I am a craftsman, went to pan-pipe contest for the first time and won the third prize. I find it very good, with a strong local identity. I also hope that in 2021 winter festival will still be organized so that I will have chance to join to connect the peoples".
Na Hoi commune, Bac Ha district is famous for its long tradition of horse racing. At present, the whole commune has 20 jockeys who regularly participate in horse racing in the area. At the end of last year, Na Hoi commune held an open horse race with more than 40 participating jockeys, with more than 1,000 tourists coming to watch the race.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hai - Chairman of Na Hoi Commune People's Committee said: "The commune has successfully directed the race, including female jockeys, tourists also love it. Next year will continue to open the second prize, the commune also cooperate with the district, learning from experience will focus on the tournament on Saturday and Sunday".
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Local people of Bac Ha are more aware in tourism. |
Currently, in Bac Ha district, there are nearly 250 standard accommodation hotels under 3 stars and hundreds of homestays. During the last Winter Festival, about 70% of the rooms were used by guests. At Bac Ha cultural market, the amount of farmers' agricultural products are consumed three times higher than usual, which is a positive sign when Bac Ha district organizes the Winter Festival for the first time.
Mr. Bui Van Vinh, Head of Culture and Information Department of Bac Ha district, said: This festival, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of tourists was not high, especially, could not attract international tourists. The activities have left a good impression on visitors to Bac Ha, such as street festivals, food ... Due to the first organization time, the promotion was not good, the preparation time was also short, therefore tourists knew little about it.
Along with tourism promotion and advertisement activities, preservation of unique cultural values of ethnic minorities in Bac Ha, winter tourism in Bac Ha will become an attractive choice for tourists whenever they come to Lao Cai.
