Orienting sustainable and equitable tourism development in Khuoi Ky stone village

Khuoi Ky stone village in Ban Gun hamlet is a unique cultural heritage site on the east route of Non nuoc Cao Bang geopark "Experience traditional cultures in a wonderland". There exist stone stilt houses about hundreds of years and a cultural space associated with stone, stone in agricultural production and daily life of the locals, stone used for familiar applications such as stone mills, water troughs, rock fencing, etc or associated with spiritual beliefs such demonstrated through the stone dogs in front of the gate and the symbolic stone “po me thin” (Father and Mother Stone) of the village, etc. Besides, the villagers still keep the traditional customs and habits which are typical of the Tay people in the remote frontier.

Starting tourism development in 2016, Khuoi Ky community-based tourism village now has 11 households involved in community tourism activities. However, there are still some problems such as inequitable income sharing from touristic activities, the traditional architecture preservation neglected by a small number of the villagers and the limitation of tourism services.
Therefore, with the objective of sustainable tourism development, at the meeting, the Management Board of Non nuoc Cao Bang Geopark provided the local people with guides on the preservation and making use of cultural, historical and traditional values, traditional architecture space, landscaping and most important, sharing benefits among the community, localization of food and waste treatment at source.

After Ban Gun villagers understood and agreed to implement the sustainable development, the Management Board of the Non nuoc Cao Bang Geopark, the Party Committee and the People’s Committee of Dam Thuy commune discussed and agreed on the following tasks: working on the village’s regulations on the implementation of touristic activities and related services; raising a community fund of the village to reinvest and share benefits from tourism; carrying out environmental protection activities such as waste treatment at source, landscaping; supporting environmentally friendly agriculture associated with tourism for the tourism development of the hamlet –and region– promote local cuisine.

After the meeting, the Management Board of the Non nuoc Cao Bang Geopark, the Party Committee and the People’s Committee of Dam Thuy commune agreed to coordinate with the local people to develop a plan to implement the agreed tasks ensuring the participation of the people and their voices heard. The close collaboration among the Management Board of the Non nuoc Cao Bang Geopark, the People’s Committee Dam Thuy commune and Trung Khanh district, together with the consensus and determination of the households in Khuoi Ky village will contribute to the improvement of touristic activities, increasing income for the local people while preserving the traditional cultural identity and architecture, which are the attraction of Khuoi Ky ancient stone village.