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VIETNAM - Bac Kan Province Delights Local Small Business Owners with Demand Driven Tourism English Programme
Located in Nam Mau commune – Ba Be district, Ba Be Lake and National Park is 70km from the center of Bac Kan province and covers more than 7,600 ha with almost half of this area is strictly protected and off the beaten track. There is a huge amount to explore there, with a vast variety of flora and fauna, as well as interesting geology and landscapes to discover.
The lake itself is actually three small lakes joined together – Pe Lam, Pe Lu and Pe Leng. The area is a national preserved forest and tourist centre and a national park. It is recognised by UNESCO as a Ramsar site in Vietnam - an important wetland of the world. Located 145m above the sea level, the lake has an average depth of 20-25m and its deepest part is 35m. The lake bed is made up of limestone with millions of crags and crevasses that are ideal for a large variety of marine life - there are over a hundred of species of freshwater fish in the lakes.
The Ba Be National Park, home of Tay, Dao and Hmong minorities has been the most visited destination in Bac Kan province by both Vietnamese and international tourists. According to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Bac Kan welcomed more than 300,000 tourists in the first 6 months of 2018, of which 10,500 were foreigners.
To attract more foreign tourists by providing them with the market-driven tourism products and improve the quality of tourism services, the district government and homestay owners in Pac Ngoi & Bo Lu villages who constitute the major tourism labor force in Ba Be National Park decided to improve their tourism English skills but it seemed a big challenge when they had to travel at least 4 hours to the city back and forth on their motorcycle to attend evening classes while being busy with their family lives and family business.
Pac Ngoi class – Working in pairs and groups simulating participation in tourism activities
A demand-driven tourism English course has been tailored and funded to meet the needs of the local government and villagers in Ba Be to enable its learners to communicate in English and strengthen their capacity of providing tourism services of better quality.
The 3-month on-site training which is divided into two modules will allow 56 homestay owners and boat drivers to identify and achieve simpler goals more easily. The people’s committees of Nam Mau and Pac Ngoi villages have contributed the use of community house to facilitate the training classes 3 nights a week.
Bo Lu class – Listening to the instructions and monitoring self-progress
“This is a great opportunity for Ba Be tourism, especially Pac Ngoi and Bo Lu villages. We do hope that, after the course supported by the project VIE/034, our citizens will be able to communicate effectively with foreign tourists as well as be able to provide higher standard services responding to the market-oriented requirements”, said Ms. Hang – Nam Mau commune chairperson, on the launching day of the training, 23rd August 2018.
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