Experience the traditional craft villages of the capital
With the theme "A hundred quintessential crafts, thousands of people spread", the 2025 Hanoi Craft Village Food and Tourism Festival has more than 100 booths, gathering the traditional craft values of the capital. Here, visitors can listen to stories about traditional craft villages, see with their own eyes and experience the production process of craft village products.
Notable among them is the Phung Xa silk weaving introduction area (My Duc). This is a craft village with a long history and is also supported by innovations in application and design. Here, visitors can watch the artist's family directly perform the silk weaving and sewing process and tell the story of maintaining the profession over many years.
What makes the vitality and reputation of Phung Xa silk village for hundreds of years lies in the production process that is completely manual, not following industrialization. From silkworm raising, selecting the stems, pulling silk, spinning the threads to weaving silk, each stage requires meticulousness, patience and experienced hands of the craftsman.
At the booth, many 100% handmade silk products such as scarves, ao dai, pillows and accessories made from silk scrap are displayed. The sophistication of the manual combined with the modern design makes many visitors stop to observe and experience.
In addition to the development of traditional silk and silk, Phung Xa has also marked in recent years with lotus silk products - a new direction bearing the local mark. Exploiting fiber from lotus seeds requires much more meticulousness than regular silk plowing, each meter of fabric requires thousands of lotus seeds and many hours of continuous manual labor. Thanks to the sophisticated techniques of artisans and the typical raw materials of the My Duc lotus field, lotus silk has gradually become a new "specialty" of Phung Xa, expanding the identity of the craft village.
"Phung Xa silk silk is only durable when the craftsman endures it. Each silk fiber is not only a product, but the passion of the whole village to preserve it for many generations. Bringing the profession to the festival is also a way for us to prove that Vietnamese silk still has its own position and cannot be replaced" - the artist shared.
The artist said that currently, only a few households in Phung Xa follow the traditional silk weaving profession. Every month, it still welcomes many groups of tourists to visit, experience and buy traditional silk products of the craft village.
In addition to the booth of Phung Xa silk village, the 2025 Hanoi Craft Village Food and Tourism Festival and craft town also has a space to introduce other traditional craft villages such as Bat Trang pottery, Uoc Le ham, Chang Son fan, bell hat... Each booth is bustling with visitors and experiences, showing the diversity and richness of the capital's craft villages, as well as the great attraction of cultural tourism for Vietnamese tourists.
Promoting the tourism value of the capital's craft villages
According to statistics from the Hanoi Department of Tourism, the capital currently has 1,350 craft villages and craft villages. Of which, 327 craft villages and traditional craft villages have been recognized, Hanoi converges 47 out of a total of 52 traditional occupations of Vietnam.
Mr. Nguyen Tran Quang - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism - commented: "Hanoi is not only famous for its historical and cultural depth but is also known to the world as an 'experience paradise' with a unique craft village system, long-standing craft streets and sophisticated cuisine. Each craft village, each craft town, each product, each dish of Hanoi carries a story imbued with the values of a land, a place, as well as the skills and brains of Hanoi people".
In particular, many craft villages have achieved prestigious international titles. "This is an important resource for tourism in the capital to continue to be assessed by international organizations as one of the top attractive destinations in Asia and the world," affirmed the leader of the Hanoi Department of Tourism.
To facilitate the development of craft village tourism, in recent years, the City People's Committee has issued many important documents such as the Rural Tourism Economic Development Plan associated with new rural construction for the period 2022-2025, documents supplementing the task of developing rural tourism and especially the Overall Project for developing Hanoi craft villages for the period 2025-2030, with a vision to 2050.
These are strategic orientations, creating a legal corridor for Hanoi to implement tourism development tasks associated with preserving, preserving and promoting traditional craft values, while contributing to building and promoting the capital's craft village tourism brand in the overall sustainable tourism development strategy.
The craft village system of Hanoi Capital is spread across all communes, including many typical craft groups such as agricultural product processing, handicraft production, ceramics, textiles, silk... This diversity creates a unique humanistic tourism resource, imbued with the cultural identity of Thang Long - Hanoi, and at the same time opens up a lot of space for the development of various types of cultural tourism, community tourism and experiential tourism associated with craft villages.
Activities for tourists in craft villages are increasingly diverse, with many tourism products such as sightseeing, craft experiences, shopping and cuisine. Many OCOP products have become highlights in craft village tours. The combination of production, experience and consumption of products contributes to enhancing economic value and spreading the culture of Hanoi craft villages.
In addition, many experiential tourism and community tourism models have been formed, bringing economic efficiency, creating jobs and contributing to preserving and passing on traditional craft values.
However, according to the Hanoi Department of Tourism, besides the advantages, Hanoi craft village tourism is still facing many shortcomings and limitations that need to be overcome soon.
Despite having a rich system of craft villages, cultural heritage and handicraft products, exploitation to form typical and competitive tourism products is still limited, not commensurate with the potential and position of the capital. The planning and management of craft village tourism space faces many difficulties due to limited infrastructure, lack of space for display, experience and clear planning for tourism - service activities.
In addition, the human resources for craft village tourism are still lacking and weak, mainly taken up by local people and artisans, and have not been properly trained, causing the quality of services to be uneven. Tourism activities are still developing widely, lacking innovation, not fully exploiting professional values and cultural identity, while communication and promotion work is still limited, reducing the effectiveness of building the Hanoi craft village tourism brand.
In that context, the development of Hanoi craft village tourism requires a synchronous, methodical and long-term approach, closely linking space planning, improving the quality of human resources, innovating products and promoting communication and promotion.
Only when the core values of traditional crafts and the cultural identity of craft villages are deeply exploited, harmoniously combined with the experience needs of modern tourists, will craft village tourism truly become a driving force for sustainable economic and cultural development, contributing to affirming Hanoi's position as a creative and unique destination on the regional and international tourism map.
