Hoang Thi Xoi (32 years old) grew up in a Tay family in Tong Pang village, Lam Thuong commune, Luc Yen district, Yen Bai province. This is a remote land located in Lam Thuong valley that tourists only knew a few years ago with the first homestay built by Xoi's family.
Xoi told her that she was lucky to have a grandfather who learned to be a master, the son of the officialdom of this region, and had followed his father on horse trips to the French. After returning from the Dien Bien Phu campaign, he opened a shop in the village, often inviting the Dao Do Dong Dan foot soldiers to the market (there is a 20km walk) to stop and have dinner. He is adored to know the West, and Xoi has loved to learn foreign languages since he was a child.
The 9X girl strives from primary and secondary schools to high school, a district school 8km from her home, with a bumpy road. The family is a farmer and lives in remote areas, without access to computers and many reference books, and most of them are self-taught in textbooks.
In college, financial difficulties are the biggest concern, the cost of going to school in the capital is many times higher while the family's only source of income is from rice. The urgent urban environment and independent life also took Tay a lot of time to adapt.
Unlike many of his peers, Xoi has had a career goal since high school when he knew about being a tour guide and dreamed of traveling all over the world. Having decided to become a tour guide, after graduating from high school, he was determined to only take the entrance exam to the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
After attending university, the girl Tay in the small village felt like she was able to step out into the ocean with the opportunity to access a huge source of knowledge. Xoi learned not only the theory of the tourism industry but also learned soft skills, IT skills, and foreign languages to serve the tour guide profession.
4 years in the classroom have given girl Tay an increasingly clear idea of her future major and career.
Graduated in 2014, Xoi became a tour guide for an inbound company (taking foreign visitors to Vietnam). Not only guiding tourists to regions of the Fatherland, Xoi also learned additional skills to do other jobs such as hotel room sales, tours, tour operations. Having studied and held different positions, Xoi learned to be more flexible and dynamic, handling many problems at the same time.
Expressing his career path, Xoi said, After graduating, I worked for a company and learned to make a homestay at home because I thought that the trend of independent travel would later emerge instead of touring with a tour guide. From a small capital of 50 million VND, I gradually invested to renovate the family's traditional Tay house into a homestay".
At first, without much money, Xoi did not quit his job as a tour guide but worked in both jobs, returning to Hanoi and Yen Bai every month. In 2018, the girl started welcoming the first Western guests to her home, from individual guests to guests on tours organized by herself.
However, homestays have not brought in profits, the cost of investing in building local tours and the homestay itself is still expensive. By 2021, Xoi Farmstay received more guests, Xoi also toured less.
The work of making homestays and building farmstay at Xoi's house is a long process. As soon as she started working, the girl realized that she not only needed theory and experience in tourism but also knowledge of marketing, communications, architecture, construction, financial management, etc.
"To be a homestay in particular and to be a tourist in general, you must always read, study and update every day. There are many things to learn, so I study them every day, considering them an essential need of myself. Study anytime, anywhere and learn little by little, from the same people you meet such as colleagues and customers.
I have to be like a filter, because I have so much knowledge and information, I have to choose what is necessary, serve my work as well as help myself better. In addition, I try to be a person who is always eager to develop, find ways to learn such as reading, watching videos, meeting experts in the profession".
When he first returned to his hometown to focus on homestay, Xoi was given the opportunity to attend local training classes. little girl Tay also participated in clubs about building farmstay, interacting with the farmstay community in Vietnam, spending time and money to travel to other regions of Vietnam as well as going out to the world to " study abroad" from similar tourism models.
