Tran Song Ha, Deputy Chairman of Ha Giang city People’s Committee and head of the Vietnamese delegation, (second from right) receives the award. (Photo: Vinh Phong/VOV5)

The ASEAN Homestay Awards honors and develops community tourism. Winning the award will promote Ha Giang’s community tourism brand to the world and improve the effectiveness of the promotion of Ha Giang as a leading cultural destination in Asia.

Nguyen Thi Hoai, Acting Director of Ha Giang’s provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said Ha Giang has 561 homestays and 16 villages recognized as typical culture and community tourism villages.

“Ha Giang has created a roadmap for investment in upgrading and repairing infrastructure, preserving traditional cultural values, teaching traditional crafts, building experiential models, and training human resources,” said Hoai, adding, “Priority is given to combining resources from local budgets and other sources and mobilizing people to realise the project to preserve traditional culture and improve the services of community tourism villages by 2025. ”

As Homestay services in Ha Giang are developing strongly, Hoai said she believes this award will help Ha Giang improve its accommodation services and achieve its goal of welcoming 3.5 million visitors this year.

In 2023, Nam Dam hamlet in Quan Ba commune won an ASEAN Community Tourism Award. 

On the same day, 16 other units of Vietnam were named in the ASEAN Spa Service Awards, the ASEAN CBT (Community-based Tourism) Award, the ASEAN Homestay Award, and the ASEAN Public Toilet Award.