Research on sustainable development of Thua Thien Hue trade Village Tourism

Cultural and festival tourism, traditional handicraft village tourism have been considered the strength and inherent characteristics of tourism in Thua Thien Hue. This poses the need to have a strategic tourism development plan closely tight with the local communities to sustainably exploit and promote handicraft villages, contributing to the preservation national cultural identity.

Trade village tourism development in Vietnam is considered the way forward to preserve, promote and honor the special cultural values of each region as well as the whole country. The development of the handicraft village tourism model also effectively supports the shift of economic development structure in rural areas towards sustainable growth in consumption.

It would be an unique and special experience for tourists to participate in a traditional festival at a handicraft village to honor their predecessors. Moreover, tourists can not only see artisans making traditional products, buy unique souvenirs, witness the authentic culture, country lifestyle but also appreciate the non-material values of these traditional villages, some of which have existed for thousands of years. This is also a great way to preserve and introduce Vietnamese cultural heritage to international friends. Therefore, to utilise the potential of trade village tourism and develop it in a sustainable way, more work could be done such as organizing, restoring the traditional village festivals, introducing the origin and history of the villages and their predecessors…

In most craft villages, there are still lacks of investment in infrastructure, techniques, with weak market knowledge,  organizational skills, financial management, and marketing skills. The traditional handicraft villages themselves are not yet able to conduct independent surveys and investigate tourists’ needs, while crafts associations have not yet fulfilled their roles in preserving traditional values and promoting trade village tourism. Therefore, in order to the preserve handicraft villages and maintain their production with authentic cultural identity, support artisans and honor their cultural values, a clear strategic development plan is much needed to address the funding and capacity building needs for stakeholders as well as improving the coordination among government authorities, municipalities and travel companies.

Currently, there are two models of tourism villages are being developed. The first model aims to promote the traditional handicraft villages on the basis of preserving their authentic values. This would require a large government investment in the restoration, conservation and promotion. The second model allows businesses, including foreign investors to build tourism complexes that includes craft villages, utilizing external fundings to restore and preserve the villages.

To preserve, promote and exploit the traditional trade villages in Thua Thien Hue, while promoting Vietnam tourism in general, following solutions could be considered:

1. Raising awareness of handicraft village tourism in Vietnam municipalities
   This is to address the lack of awareness of traditional village tourism in local community, the government authorities as well as in travel companies. It also hopes to attract new businesses investing in this tourism model while encourage current businesses to improve their understandings of traditional craft village concepts and special characteristics.
2. From tourism authorities’ point of view: First of all, tourism authorities such as the municipalities, the local Tourism Department and the General Department of Tourism should improve their coordination in the restoration of handicraft villages. Secondly, accurate and adequate data of geographic, economic and social aspects of the local areas should be provided, thus visitors could have an overview of the travel destinations, enriching theand extending their stays. Thirdly, more campaigns should be run to promote the cultural values and benefits of the craft village tourism across the country to raise awareness to all Vietnamese people and international visitors. Fourthly, financial access of domestic and foreign tourism companies should be improved to meet the funding needs, especially in providing support, consultancy services and capacity building for artisans. Fifthly, local authorities should introduce more flexible legal framework to encourage local citizens to make their value contribution to the economic development of the area.
3. From the perspective of the market participants (tourism companies, NGOs …)
   

• Regarding the potential partnerships, to address the lack of financial resources, tourism companies can work in collaboration or with non-governmental organizations in community activities and events. The tourism businesses in Hue city should promote and marketing local products such as Phuoc Tich pottery, Phu Cam conical hat, bamboo paintings .. to visitors, thus stimulating local handicraft market.
• Regarding the targeted customers, businesses and organisations should diversify their targeted customer base, especially high potential domestic visitors.
• Regarding marketing policies, based on different targeted clients, travel companies can integrate community activities into travel tours such as visiting handicraft villages, allowing visitors to make souvenirs themselves. This requires better understanding of the targeted customers and the local capacity. It can also be combined with other tourism programs such as adventure tourism, trekking tours, ecotourism, homestay, rural tourism, community tourism … to create new and more attractive tourism products.
• Regarding the price policy, the price policy of handicraft products should be  calculated and designed carefully and flexibly to fit different targeted customers while maintaining their market competitiveness.
• Regarding distribution policy, providers of handicraft village tourism programs should develop their connections and partnerships with other businesses, suppliers in the industry, as well as local authorities to expand the market all over the country.

Regarding promotion policies, providers should develop an effective promotion strategy to utilize the major strengths of the handicraft village tourism programs, along with promoting the destination information channel, especially the online platform to reach out for more potential customers.
Research on preservation and honoring the values of Hue handicraft villages will also contribute to the enrichment of ethnic cultural identity, contributing to the sustainable development of the national economy and reaffirming that Hue is an integral cultural heritage of Vietnam as well as the whole wide world.