The Cultural Heritage Tourism Week for Ethnic Minority Groups in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang are taking place in the four districts of Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac and Dong Van from November 22-26.

The event aims to honour national intangible cultural heritage in Ha Giang and promote the province’s unique cultural identities, tourism products and potential to local and foreign visitors.

The cultural week will provide special art performances and the province’s traditional cuisine, as well as offering folk games, a fire dancing festival of the Pa Then ethnic minority group and the drum dancing of the Tay ethnic minority group.

Tourists will also learn how to weave local brocade products, as well as visit the province’s well-known and beautiful sites in the Dong Van Stone Plateau – a member of the Global Network of National Geoparks.

Ha Giang is located in the far north of Vietnam with a borderline of over 274 kilometres, an advantage to develop the local economy and lure tourists, both domestic and foreign.

The province has for long known as a tourist destination with rich natural resources, splendid scenery, and cultural and historic relics such the Khau Vai “love market”, Quan Ba “heaven’s gate” and Ma Pi Leng pass.

It is home to 22 ethnic minority groups including H’Mong, Lo Lo, Pu Peo and Dao, each of them has their own cultural characters which are mysterious for tourists to experience.

Authorities in Ha Giang province have made a range of policies to create an open mechanism attracting business and tourism. Preferential treatments and low interest loans are also provided to develop community-based tourism.

In 2012, the province received almost 418,000 tourists and raked in 327 billion VND (15.3 million USD). During the first nine months of this year, more than 318,000 visitors came to Ha Giang, around 30 percent of them foreigners.

Ha Giang province aims by 2015 to greet nearly 1.9 million visitors including 340,000 foreigners, earning 2 trillion VND (94 million USD).

The figures in 2020 are expected to reach 3 million visitors, 650,000 foreigners and revenue of over 3 trillion VND (141 million USD).