Vietnam’s Thai Hai eco-ethnic stilt village conservation area is included in 32 best tourist villages in 2022 announced by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has just announced a list of 32 destinations worldwide as “Best Tourist Villages in 2022”. Contributing to this list is the Thai Hai eco-ethnic stilt village conservation area in Vietnam.
Thai Hai stilt house village (Thinh Duc, Thai Nguyen city) has an area of about 25 hectares, surrounded by mountains, trees, flowers, large lakes. There are 30 houses on stilts hundreds of years old, bought from Dinh Hoa area (Thai Nguyen), transported and restored to become the living place of 30 families with 4 generations as today.
Together, these families maintain and preserve traditional cultural features such as language, customs, rituals, and costumes. They promote the local cultural potential to form unique tourism products such as organizing traditional spiritual festivals or selecting people with relatively stable cultural knowledge and language skills to be tour guides.
Tourists visiting Thai Hai village will be staying in stilt houses with local people so that visitors can learn about their cuisine, culture or agricultural activities, animal husbandry and handicrafts of the Tay people.
In 2022, a total of 136 villages were considered for nomination by 57 UNWTO member countries. Of these, 32 villages from 18 countries around the world have been recognized and awarded. Tourism villages are evaluated by an independent Advisory Board based on a set of criteria: cultural and natural resources; resources for cultural preservation and promotion; economic, social and environmental sustainability; tourism development and value chain linkage; tourism management and priorities; infrastructure and connectivity; health, safety and security.
Photo: Thai Hai stilt house village
Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO Secretary-General, commented: “For rural communities everywhere, tourism can be the key to transforming people’s lives in a holistic way, creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and preserving traditional values”.
In addition to the 32 villages that have been recognized and awarded, 20 other villages have also been included in the UNWTO upgrade program to help support villages that still do not meet the criteria for recognition. All 52 villages will form part of UNWTO’s Global Network of Best Tourist Villages (established in 2021, which has brought together 115 villages from five continents to date). The network offers a number of benefits including on-site and online training, experience sharing, and increased international brand awareness and recognition.
@ Vietnamnet
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Source: Vietnam Insider