Hamlets in Dak Lak are forming groups of products to attract tourists.

Kuop hamlet is on the road linking Dray Nur waterfall (Wife waterfall) and Dray Sap waterfall, also known as Gia Long waterfall.

It has 50 traditional long houses and local households still preserve ancient cultural features – gongs, folk songs, Xoang, traditional community dances, ethnic musical instruments, brocade weaving, and wine brewing.

The local culture includes popular dishes like bamboo-tube rice, grilled chicken, and Serepok river fish and traditional festivals like the water wharf worshiping ceremony, the new rice celebration, and the grave-leaving ceremony – a last farewell from the living to see off a dead relative to the next world.

Last year the Dak Lak administration invested in infrastructure and improved the environmental landscape for community tourism. Several households in Kuop hamlet have been trained to serve tourists and develop tourism products, and have learned from the experience of other localities.

Hamlet chief H No H Dok said, “Villagers have finally recognized the profitability of tourism. At first, they didn’t believe in it, but as they see the profits made by the first adopters, they’ll follow suit.”

Villager H Lat Nie said she is learning to do community tourism. “I didn’t know how to start doing community tourism. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism arranged for us to visit Ako Dhong hamlet and three northern provinces. When I returned, my nephews and I started following the example of more experienced people,” H Lat Nie recalled.

The model of tourism OCOP hamlets in line with traditional cultural features and crafts is piloted in Kuop hamlet, Krong Ana district.

After a year of support, last month Kuop hamlet was recognized as a community tourism hamlet by Dac Lak province.

H No H Dok says a community tourism management board was set up and has encouraged local households to develop tourism products associated with their cultural identity.

He said since it was declared a community tourism hamlet, Kuop has expanded the model. 30 to 40% of the long houses are now used for tourism.

Kuop hamlet has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to pilot a "One Commune One Product" (OCOP) product development model until 2025 that will promote traditional cultural features and crafts.

This will enable local community tourism to quickly catch up with the two previously announced community tourism hamlets of Ako Dhong in Buon Ma Thuot city and Tri hamlet in Buon Don district.

According to Nguyen Thuy Phuong Hieu, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, developing community tourism has boosted the local economy, created jobs, and increased incomes.

The model, Hieu said, has made people aware of the economic value of preserving and promoting their culture.

“Villagers have furnished their houses at their own expense. In the future, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will ask the province to subsidize the cost of the furnishings and work with the locals to preserve and promote their culture through tourism activities,” said Hieu.