Developing Community Tourism in Vietnam

Vietnam has a long history of development; a multi-ethnic country with diverse community culture, biodiversity... are advantages and potentials for localities to develop community tourism. On the basis of exploiting and promoting the advantages of natural conditions and indigenous culture, many localities in Vietnam have developed community tourism quite successfully, creating revenue and making important contributions to socio-economic development. This study analyzes the practice of community tourism development in Vietnam, studying the case of Hoa Binh province - a locality with unique, diverse and distinctive landscapes, cultural heritage, ethnic diversity, and typical traditional products. The author builds a theoretical framework with a 3-scale model towards evaluating the practice of community tourism development and analyzing factors affecting the development of community tourism in Hoa Binh province. The survey was conducted with a sample size of N = 240 local government leaders at the commune level and leaders of cultural and tourism organizations in the province. From the research and survey results, the author discusses policy issues for reference and application to Hoa Binh province and many localities in Vietnam.