Born and raised amidst the cultural space of the White Thái ethnic group in Mường Lay ward, Lù Thị Toản early on recognized the potential of her people’s traditional cultural values. In 2021, after attending community-based tourism training classes organized by the Provincial Women’s Union, she boldly built a homestay model at her family home. Due to a lack of experience and management skills, she faced numerous difficulties during the early days of her startup. However, with proactive learning, seeking partners, and step-by-step improving services, the model gradually stabilized. The turning point came when she participated in Project 939 “Supporting women in startups during the 2017 - 2025 period,” through which she was equipped with further management knowledge, business skills, and market connection opportunities.

From her family’s initial model, Lù Thị Toản mobilized multiple households in the village to join in providing accommodation, cuisine, cultural performances, and lake-surface beauty experience services. On that basis, Quan Chiêng Community-Based Tourism Cooperative was established, contributing to linking households and improving service quality. Up to now, the cooperative has 33 participating households, forming a relatively complete tourism service supply chain and creating jobs for many local workers. Each year, the cooperative welcomes thousands of tourist arrivals, and the average income of participating households reaches VND 50 million or higher.

From the story of Quan Chiêng Community-Based Tourism Cooperative, it is evident that when supported in the right direction, local residents can completely become the main subjects in tourism development. This is also the path being deployed by many localities across the province. Currently, the entire province has 14 villages capable of serving tourists, with over 40 operating homestay models. These villages have all established art troupes, culinary service teams, and experience guidance groups; many villages have even set up a Community-Based Tourism Development Board. Activities at community-based tourism sites are increasingly organized methodically and professionally, well meeting the demands of tourists.

To create a foundation for community-based tourism development, the province has recently intensified surveys and assessments of the current status at tourism sites. The reviewed aspects include transport infrastructure, environmental landscapes, the quality of accommodation, cuisine, and cultural experience services, as well as the ability to connect tourism routes. On that basis, functional agencies continue to perfect mechanisms and policies to support tourism product development.

One of the vital orientations is selecting several representative villages of ethnic groups such as the Thái, Mông, and Hà Nhì to build into unique destinations, linking cultural preservation with tourism development. This approach helps concentrate resources, create highlights, and enhance the competitiveness of community-based tourism products. In addition, functional agencies also closely review cultural preservation attached to tourism, tour and route connectivity, and the practical needs of each locality to finalize the draft Resolution regulating supporting policies for tourism product development in Điện Biên province.

Along with supporting policies, the province also pays attention to infrastructure investment. A prime example is the construction support project for facilities at the Tù Lu - Tìa Ló community-based tourism village (comprising Tìa Ló A and Tìa Ló B villages, Pu Nhi commune) with a total budget of over VND 7 billion. The project includes multiple items such as an exhibition house, a tourism information center, walking paths, a lighting system, public restrooms, and waste collection and treatment facilities. Putting this synchronized infrastructure into use helps supplement vital physical facilities, driving community-based tourism linked with the national target program on new-style rural area building.

Besides support from the State budget, enhancing community capacity also receives special attention. At the end of last May, representatives from several community-based tourism villages in the province were invited to participate in the 2026 Community-Based Tourism Network Connection Workshop with the theme “Creating a Sustainable Community-Based Tourism Ecosystem” in Ngọc Chiến commune (Sơn La province). Here, delegates exchanged experiences, accessed numerous effective models, and sought solutions to develop community-based tourism in a sustainable, people-centered direction.

Vì Thứ Trưởng, Chief of U Va village, Thanh Yên commune, stated: “The workshop brought many practical experiences in organizing tourism activities, destination management, and product development linkages. This is useful knowledge for the U Va village community to apply to local practical conditions.”

Initial successful models demonstrate that community-based tourism can only develop sustainably when local people are truly the core subjects, while receiving companionship from the government, experts, and supporting organizations. The combination of cultural preservation, livelihood development, and infrastructure investment will also generate new momentum for community-based tourism in Điện Biên province. This serves as the foundation for the province to realize the goal of having at least 7 recognized community-based tourism sites by 2030, with one site meeting ASEAN community-based tourism standards, alongside promoting tourism products linked with OCOP on digital platforms.

Consequently, this will contribute to turning community-based tourism into a sustainable spearhead economic sector of the land of the Ban flower.