Many untapped potentials

Chi Day Cave is located in Dan village, Yen Son commune, a famous beautiful cave complex discovered by many locals in 2007. In Thai, Chi Day means "will get" so locals also call it "whatever you pray for, you will get" cave, so many people tell each other to come here to ask for and pray for the things they wish for.

Chi Day Cave Complex consists of 4 caves, located on a limestone mountain range covered by a primeval forest that is cool all year round. Over time, many stalactites in the cave have been shaped in various ways by nature, inspiring visitors' wonderful imaginations about mysterious stories.

Chi Day cave scenic complex, Yen Son commune.

Since 2008, Chi Day Cave has been put into operation for tourism exploitation and has been recognized as a provincial-level scenic relic. The wild beauty of Chi Day Cave has attracted many tourists from within and outside the province. At first, the number of visitors was quite large, especially on weekends, full moon days, and holidays, the cave welcomed thousands of visitors every day. However, from 2014 to now, the number of visitors has gradually decreased, then disappeared completely, occasionally there are a few dozen visitors, mainly students and pilgrims.

As the unit managing and exploiting the Chi Day cave complex, since its inception, Son Lam Cooperative, Yen Son commune has invested in opening roads, building sales points, playgrounds, auxiliary works, bringing electricity to light the cave... to serve tourists. Mr. Kieu Duc Nam, a member of the Cooperative, shared: The State invested in building more than 1 km of concrete road leading to the cave area and detailed planning of the scenic relic complex, but because the road to the cave is small and winding, it has been eroded after many rainy seasons. Revenue from ticket sales is low, not enough to cover operating costs, and there is no money to repair the works.

Hot bath service in Then Luong village, Chieng Dong commune has stopped operating for many years.

Similarly, in Then Luong village, Chieng Dong commune, which used to be a tourist attraction due to its natural hot mineral water source, exploitation has stopped. The hot spring is still quite pristine, located less than 1 km from the commune center, near National Highway 6, the surrounding area has beautiful scenery, surrounded by large green fields, ancient tamarind trees, with a lot of potential to develop resort tourism.

Some households in the village exploited and joined together to establish a cooperative to expand the hot mineral bath service and food business. At peak times, nearly 200 visitors came to bathe and relax every day. However, after a period of operation, due to land disputes between households and difficulties in determining the origin of the land, many households were upset and fenced off the water source, blocking the entrance to the hot mineral bath service area. In addition, the location of the hot water source was at the foot of the rice field, so during the cultivation process, a lot of rice field soil was buried, affecting the business of the cooperative, which gradually lost customers and had to stop operating.

The water source area of ​​Then Luong village, Chieng Dong commune is abandoned.

Mr. Hoang Thanh Binh, Then Luong Service Cooperative, confided: Currently, the entrance to the hot spring is a path, overgrown with weeds; the area is abandoned. I hope that the local government will coordinate with all levels and sectors to soon resolve the problems so that the cooperative can soon resume operations, reinvest, renovate, exploit effectively, expand hot spring services, ethnic cuisine, and increase income.

Exploiting advantages, sustainable development

As a land rich in historical and cultural traditions and blessed by nature, Yen Chau is a locality with many attractive relics and scenic spots. Currently, the whole district has 10 historical - cultural relics and scenic spots that have been ranked, including the Vietnam - Laos Revolutionary Historical Relic Site, ranked as a special national relic; the national scenic spot of Chieng Khoi Lake and 8 relics ranked as provincial relics.

Along with that, many cave systems and large lakes have the potential to exploit and develop various types of tourism, such as: Ta En and Co Mon caves (Phieng Khoai commune), Muong Lum lake, Chieng Dong hot spring... The ethnic communities living in the district have rich customs and practices and are a locality with a rich agricultural area with many typical agricultural products, such as: Mango, plum, pear, longan... suitable for experiential tourism.

Vietnam - Laos revolutionary historical relic site in Lao Kho village, Phieng Khoai commune.

Despite exploitation activities, tourism here is still limited, tourist areas are still wild and unconnected; traffic infrastructure is not synchronized; accommodation areas and food services are limited; funding for investment, renovation and awareness of tourism development among the people... Calling for and attracting investment at tourist destinations and stops still face many difficulties, not attracting many tourists to visit and experience; revenue from tourism is insignificant.

Muong Lum Lake is planned to be exploited for eco-tourism.

Faced with this situation, Yen Chau district has held many meetings to discuss solutions, coordinate with tourism associations and businesses inside and outside the province to survey and evaluate potentials and advantages, and develop plans and projects to promote tourism development.

For the Chi Day cave scenic spot, the district has carried out a detailed plan at a scale of 1/500 of the relic complex, building the "Chi Day spiritual cultural tourism area" project with a total area of ​​nearly 50 hectares with expected items including: Restoring caves, entrances and exits; embellishing worship spaces; upgrading tourism facilities, rest stops, parking lots, reception service areas, management house...

Regarding the hot spring tourist spot in Chieng Dong commune, the district has established a working group to inspect and evaluate the current status of reserves; directed functional departments to speed up the progress of resolving land disputes... to complete the tourism planning; proposed to link the hot spring tourist spot with visiting the Chieng Dong Victory Monument historical site.

In addition, Yen Chau district also planned and called for investment in the Muong Lum Lake Eco-tourism Resort Project with an area of ​​98 hectares; built a project to develop a community tourism model in Kha village, Sap Vat commune; paid attention to restoring traditional festivals to attract tourists, such as: Dong Sua, Han Khuong, rain-praying festivals of the Thai ethnic group; Muong A Ma festival of the Xinh Mun ethnic group; New rice celebration festival of the Kho Mu ethnic group...

Tourists participate in the Dong Sua Festival in Kha village, Sap Vat commune.

Mr. Pham Duc Long, Vice Chairman of Yen Chau District People's Committee, said: In the coming time, the district will coordinate with departments and branches to promote, connect and attract investment to speed up the planning and implementation of projects and plans; prioritize calling for investment resources to develop infrastructure; train tourism human resources; embellish and connect tourist attractions; pay attention to supporting and enhancing the management role of tourism cooperatives. Promote socialization, diversify typical tourism products associated with the experience of visiting agricultural products; strengthen the promotion and introduction of images of scenic spots combined with the introduction of historical relics and cultural beauty of ethnic groups to build the image, promote the value of relics, and attract tourists to Yen Chau.

To exploit tourism in the right direction, effectively and sustainably, it is necessary to have the attention of all levels and sectors in helping Yen Chau district invest in building infrastructure for tourist destinations, develop detailed plans for key tourist destinations combined with training of labor resources for on-site tourism services.

However, the most important thing is that the locality needs to identify tourism development as the core content in the orientation of socio-economic development; research and develop a project to preserve and promote traditional cultural values ​​to maximize the strengths of tourism types; create conditions to help tourists access tourist destinations, promote local socio-economic development.

Thanh Huyen