Linking cultural preservation with tourism exploitation has been contributing to retaining ethnic identity; simultaneously opening up a sustainable socio-economic development direction for the province.

In the final days of the year, the atmosphere of cultural festivals spread throughout localities in the province, creating a vivid picture of the rich spiritual life of ethnic minority communities. In each locality, the festival is not only an occasion for meeting and exchange but also a space where traditional cultural values are honored, restored, and spread. The sounds of khèn, dances, and colors of traditional costumes blending with the joy of residents and tourists have contributed to reviving the cultural “soul,” while opening new directions for sustainable tourism development linked to local identity.

Joining that atmosphere, the 1st Cultural Festival of Ethnic Groups in Sam Mứn commune, 2025, taking place from Dec 27 to 28, 2025, attracted the interest and active participation of many localities. Sam Mứn commune participated in the festival with many meaningful activities, contributing to enriching the common cultural space. In particular, the traditional Mông ethnic costume performance left a deep impression. Costumes with exquisite patterns and harmonious colors honored cultural beauty, customs, and habits; contributing to promoting the image of the people and Mông ethnic identity to a large number of people and tourists.

Phạm Thiết Chùy, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Sam Mứn commune, said: “Participating in the festival is an opportunity for the locality to promote its image, preserve and promote the traditional cultural values of ethnic groups, while step-by-step exploiting cultural tourism potential in a sustainable direction, contributing to improving lives for the people and consolidating the great national unity bloc.”

The 1st Thái Ethnic Cultural Festival of Điện Biên province, 2025 has closed, but the echoes still spread, kindling new vitality for community cultural life. The festival space was bustling with the sounds of drums and gongs blending with graceful xòe dances, attracting a large number of people and tourists to participate. Along with a rich chain of activities, harmoniously combining the ceremonial and festival parts such as the Hạn Khuống art performance, 6 ancient xòe dances; practicing ancient Thái writing; folk song, dance, and music festivals; traditional costume performances..., the festival introduced, promoted, and honored the unique traditional cultural values of the Thái ethnic community.

Lò Thị Kim, Chairwoman of the provincial Thái Ethnic Culture Association, emphasized: “The Association has ceaselessly made efforts to preserve the language, writing, folk songs, folk dances, folk music, and traditional costumes; restoring rituals, customs, and community cultural activities. We always accompany the party committees, authorities, and people of ethnic groups in the province to preserve the ethnic cultural ‘soul,’ while effectively exploiting cultural values to develop tourism in the new period.”

In recent years, Điện Biên province has ceaselessly made efforts to implement many synchronous solutions to preserve and promote the cultural values of ethnic groups, considering this an important foundation for sustainable tourism development. With the advantage of being a land rich in historical and cultural traditions and having a diversity of ethnic identities, Điện Biên determined that cultural preservation is not only a task of keeping heritage but also a driving force promoting socio-economic development, especially in the tourism sector.

Recently, the province has paid attention to organizing many festivals, cultural days, and sports activities rich in ethnic identity at localities; encouraging the restoration and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage forms such as traditional festivals, folk songs, folk dances, handicrafts, and ethnic cuisine. Cultural values are “awakened” and put into exploitation to serve tourism appropriately, contributing to creating characteristic tourism products, attractive to domestic and foreign tourists when coming to Điện Biên.

Parallel to that, the movement “All people unite to build a cultural life” is deployed widely, linked with the movement “Building new rural areas, civilized urban areas,” thereby firmly consolidating the grassroots level cultural foundation, building a healthy, civilized cultural environment in the community. To date, 100% of communes in the province have cultural houses (45/45 communes); 62.24% of villages, hamlets, and residential groups have community houses. The rate of cultural families reached 75.8%; the rate of cultural villages, hamlets, and residential groups reached 65.3%. The work of preserving and promoting the values of ethnic cultural heritage continues to be focused on, linked with improving the spiritual life for the people.

Those efforts have created an important foundation for Điện Biên tourism to flourish. Cultural - historical - community tourism products are increasingly rich, contributing to extending the length of stay and increasing tourist spending. It is estimated that in 2025, Điện Biên province welcomes 1.45 million visitor arrivals, reaching 100% of the annual plan; of which international visitors reach about 14,000 arrivals, an increase of 13.39% compared to the previous year. Total tourism revenue is estimated to reach VND 2,400 billion. It can be seen that cultural and sports activities linked with ethnic cultural preservation and sustainable tourism development have been playing an important role in attracting tourists to Điện Biên, while creating motivation for the locality to develop in a harmonious direction between conservation and exploitation of traditional cultural values.