The northern province of Lào Cai has seen strong growth in the tourism revenue so far this year. VNA/VNS Photo

LÀO CAI – The northern province of Lào Cai has seen strong growth in the tourism revenue so far this year thanks to its effective measures to optimise its advantages and update new travel trends to provide unique and attractive tourism products to domestic and foreign visitors.

One of the new products that have drawn a large number of visitors recently is farmstay which allows tourists to join locals in agricultural activities such as growing crops or raising fish and livestock, and enjoy their products.

Tả Van Commune in Sa Pa township has emerged as a hub for farmstay tourism. Hoàng Hiền, the owner of Hua homestay, said that she found that visitors are particularly interested in experiencing the local life and enjoy paddy transplanting with local residents.

In the community house of the Red Dao in Phìn Ngan, Bát Xát District, many visitors were excitedly preparing traditional meals with local residents. They can also follow locals to the wood to collect herbal medicinal plants in preparation for bathing water which has been well-known as a specialty of the Dao people.

Thanks to the massive forest area, farmstay tourism model is booming in Lào Cai, generating double benefits, helping increase income for locals and promote sustainable environment. In order to expand agro-tourism, Lào Cai has worked to connect tourists and destinations by organising events and farm trips for travel firms and media agencies.

Meanwhile, the locality is developing many other tourism products in association with the promotion of the cultural identities of local ethnic minority groups.

At the same time, Lào Cai has strengthened coordination with domestic and foreign localities such as Hà Nội, Hải Phong, Quảng Ninh, Yunnan (China), and Nouvelle Aquitaine region (France) to promote its tourism sector.

In the time to come, the Lào Cai Department of Tourism will organise a number of large-scale events to lure visitors, including Bắc Hà White Plateau Festival, Rose and Love Festival, Triathlon tournament in Bắc Hà, Sa Pa Snow Festival, and international tourism fair 2024.

According to the provincial Department of Tourism, in the first haft of 2024, the province earned VNĐ13.5 trillion (US$531.18 million ) from tourism services, a surge of 24 per cent year on year.

The locality welcomed more than 4.1 million visitors, fulfilling 48.67 per cent its plan for the whole year. Sa Pa township, honoured by Tripadvisor as one of top five Trending Destinations in the world in 2024, has still been the major tourist hub of Lào Cai, which served nearly 2 million visitors in the first half of this year.

This year, Lào Cai aims to attract 8.5 million visitors to earn over VNĐ27 trillion. VNA/VNS