In the past, when talking about Lao Cai tourism, many people would only mention Sa Pa as an irreplaceable destination. However, in recent years, tourists have shifted and paid attention to the land of Y Ty - where there are primeval forests, majestic The Pa terraced fields, and almost intact customs and identities of the ethnic groups here.
Y Ty is a poor border highland commune, nearly 70km from Sa Pa and nearly 100km from Lao Cai city, located at an altitude of 2,000m above sea level. Y Ty is most beautiful at two times of the year: the "golden season" from late August to mid-September and the "cloud hunting season" from winter to spring. At the end of August and early September, when the rice begins to ripen, Y Ty is charming with the bright yellow color of the rice, spreading endlessly, fragrant with the scent of new rice.
In recent years, Y Ty has become a tourist destination known to visitors from near and far as the second Sa Pa in Lao Cai. Coming to Y Ty, visitors will experience the rustic, wild beauty and friendly, hospitable people. Chairman of the People's Committee of Y Ty commune - Mr. Pham Van Tam said that the commune is orienting people to do business in various types of services to serve tourists when they come to the locality.
Choan Then village, Y Ty commune has been chosen to develop into a community tourism destination. With nearly 97% of Ha Nhi people living here, this place still preserves many traditional cultural features such as festivals, folk games, handicraft weaving and unique rammed earth houses with special natural landscapes...
To support the people, agencies, organizations, and local authorities have helped people with basic knowledge about community tourism, training skills on how to welcome and serve tourists, cultural communication and behavior, and developing sustainable community tourism, responsible for the natural environment. Developing community tourism in Y Ty has not only helped increase people's income, but also contributed to the preservation and development of traditional cultural values of local ethnic communities.
In 2019 alone, Y Ty welcomed over 16,000 tourists, including more than 100 foreign visitors, bringing tourism revenue to over 6 billion VND, contributing to reducing the poverty rate in the locality and increasing income for many households in this remote border area.
Recently, the Bat Xat District Party Committee has issued a resolution to select tourism development as one of three breakthrough areas, focusing on developing and building Y Ty into a tourist center of Lao Cai province. According to the Secretary of the Bat Xat District Party Committee - Nguyen Trung Trieu, the general planning for the construction of Y Ty tourist urban area will be the basis for investing and developing the Y Ty area to achieve the status of a type V urban area, moving towards establishing Y Ty town in the near future.
The general planning of Y Ty will be the foundation for detailed planning of functional areas, investment in infrastructure construction, investment attraction, population arrangement, land management, construction order, etc., aiming to form a Y Ty tourist urban area with the characteristics of the Northwest mountains associated with conservation and sustainable development.
In the future, this area will form a new urban tourism and administrative area called Y Ty, developing into two distinct zones and seven sub-zones. These are the conservation and community tourism development area; thematic park and resort tourism area; sports and resort area; administrative center area; experimental tourism and nature discovery area; urban development area; agricultural and forestry development and production area.
Spring Festival in Bat Xat district, Lao Cai
To develop Y Ty tourism sustainably without losing its natural beauty; at the same time, helping local people reduce poverty sustainably, Bat Xat district is implementing a policy of strongly developing community tourism associated with preserving and promoting the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in the area.
