Online tourism in the midst of the pandemic
NDO - In the context of the Covid-19 outbreak, with all tourism activities paralyzed, most tourism personnel
With only a phone with an Internet connection and an anti-vibration handle, Huong wears Giay costumes and leads online tours of famous tourist attractions in Sa Pa to visitors via online software.
When the Covid-19 epidemic broke out and complicated developments, many localities had to implement distance, Vu Thi Ngoc Huong (1999) was born and raised in Ta Van commune, Sa Pa town (Lao Cai). The Hanoi University of Science and Technology came up with the idea of making an online tour, introducing domestic tourists to famous tourist destinations in Sa Pa and Lao Cai on social networking platforms and online software such as Zoom, Google. Meet.
University exam in Tourism but not enough points, Huong did not give up but switched to study International Studies. Besides studying at school, the girl developed a personal Youtube channel in parallel to spread Giay culture, as well as design experience tours with local people for visitors to Sapa.
Promote the image of the homeland through Youtube
Growing up under the house and culture of the Giay, Huong always loved and wished to spread her culture to more people, not wanting them to be lost.
Those things made the girl ponder, in August 2020, Huong built a Youtube channel called “Huong Giay Sa Pa” to share videos about the culinary experience, culture, and daily life of Huong’s family and people. Giay in Lao Cai such as: Making moon cakes, black rice cakes, catching fish, Giay folk tales… have videos attracting more than 20,000 views.
After each video was posted, Huong received many positive responses and words of encouragement from friends in many places.
The young girl started researching and leading tours for tourists coming to Sapa during the summer or Tet. But instead of going to familiar places like Cat Cat village and Stone church, the Giay girl leads visitors to places that only indigenous people know such as Seo My Ty, who experiences Giay culture, and takes care of them. local health, eating black Chung cake, eating plum in the Giay style…
Oriented to join the backpacking and travel community to learn knowledge and get acquainted with many people with similar travel interests, from which she has more motivation to continue pursuing her passion of introducing local tourism to everyone. people.
“I have a dream of traveling around the world, but in order to realize this dream, what I need to do now is to make a small contribution to promoting local tourism to everyone.” Sharing direction.
Passion for travel is also the driving force behind Huong’s determination to pass the university entrance exam to hone her knowledge. Every time she introduces tourists to the beauty of culture, people and nature of Sapa, the young girl is always full of energy, excitement and fun.
Creating online tours during the epidemic season
When the Covid-19 epidemic broke out and complicated developments, many localities had to implement the distance, The direction of completing her studies at school should have more free time, this girl came up with the idea of making an online tour, about the world. introduce to domestic tourists about famous tourist attractions in Sa Pa and Lao Cai on the social networking platform and online software Zoom, Google Meet.
On Facebook, Youtube and Tiktok, Tuong makes review videos for everyone or live streams directly.
At the beginning of July, when she got the idea, the 22-year-old girl spent all her savings from working part-time to buy tools to make tours online. Direction to buy an old iPhone, a gimbal (anti-vibration handle), tripod and headset.
Although she has had experience in making travel vlog videos for nearly a year, this young woman shared that she is still very nervous and worried. Destinations or experiences are selected by the Direction according to the requirements of the majority of visitors and are suitable for the online form.
Before the tour is broadcast, Huong will spend a day on field trips, learn information to create a lead script, giving tourists interesting and authentic knowledge and experiences.
With the tour to learn about Sa Pa ancient rock, Huong is divided into 2 parts, part 1 will introduce general information about the history, location, shape of the rock, the value of drawings on the ancient rock. In the second part, she talks more deeply about the stories behind the rock drawings, taking visitors to the exhibition area of the ancient stone carving station..
As for the tour to learn about the unique hot springs in Sa Pa, the Giay girl leads visitors to experience a very different corner of Sapa in terms of climate, scenery and human culture in the Ho village of the ethnic people. Tay. Learn interesting stories about the springs, especially the only hot spring in Sapa.
“Leading a live online tour has many difficulties, especially the weather, so I always have a backup plan. In addition, there are difficulties in connecting to the Internet, going to high mountain areas with weak network, so the image is blurry or the sound is not. I’ll gradually find a way to fix it, “said Huong.
To increase interaction, intertwine the lead process, she will ask guests how they feel and encourage people to ask questions for her to answer. Many visitors expressed their interest in Huong’s new way of doing things, especially during the epidemic season when everyone is restricting travel, being able to play through the phone screen is also a way to entertain and relieve pressure.
Besides the online tour according to the available schedule, Huong also accepts online guides for individuals or groups at the request of guests.
The 22-year-old girl plans to establish a local sustainable community tourism development business in the near future. As a child of Sa Pa, since he was a child, Huong has watched the whole picture of tourism here, from the time they were wild to when they were gradually concreting.
“With my love for my homeland, I will make efforts to develop local tourism, so that every visitor coming to Sapa and Lao Cai wants to come back to explore,” Huong shared her intention. Follow Dan trí
