INFORMATION ON MASTER’S THESIS

1. Full name: NGUYEN THI HUONG 2. Sex: Female 3. Date of birth: 25/9/1985 4. Place of birth: Hung Yen 5. Admission decision number: 2551/2007/QĐ-XHNV-KH&SĐH, Dated 02/11/2007 by the Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 6. Changes in academic process: None 7. Official thesis title: Community Based-Tourism in the Northern Uplands Area, Vietnam (The case study of villages of Sa Seng (Sapa, Lao Cai) and Lac (Mai Chau, Hoa Binh) 8. Major: Ethnology 9. Code: 602270 10. Supervisors: Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Chinh, Department of Anthropology, College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-Hanoi 11. Summary of the major findings: Community-based tourism, a form of tourist service directly provided by the local people could be seen as a new form of tourism that appeared recently in Vietnam. There have been several studies trying to conceptualize the definition and features of this type of tourism, and offering initial assessments and suggestions for sustainable tourism development. There are however some gaps of our understanding on this new type of tourism that need to be filled up, particularly its impacts on economy, environment, and local society. This study is an attempt to look at the community-based tourism from the view of cultural anthropology. The selected research sites for fieldwork are the villages of Sa Seng of the Red Yao in Lao Cai and Ban Lac of the White Thai in Hoa Binh. These two places have been developing the community-based tourism and could be representing two different models of tourism service and management and may have different impacts on the local community. The study starts with the identification of tourism resources in the northern uplands of Vietnam with emphasis on two major forms of resources including natural ecology/environment and ethnic cultural diversity. We consider these the main attractions of community-based tourism in the northern uplands of Vietnam. From a comparative perspective, we have analyzed the tourism activities, management and levels of participation by local people in tourism process and various aspects of impacts on community, economically and culturally. 12. Practical applicability: The case of community-based tourism in the two villages under study suggests that local people are facing a dilemma between protection of their own cultural identity and sustainable development. Community-based tourism can only sustain if the protection of local culture and natural environment are combined as they are the most important resources of tourism.