The attraction of simplicity
At Ngu Mai Retreat, a new community tourism facility that has been in operation for about a month, the number of customers booking services has increased faster than expected. However, the biggest problem is not in the market, but in human resources.
Ms. Ha Thuy Hanh - Operations Director of Ngu Mai Retreat - said that all workers here are local people from Ngu and Mai hamlets.
“We prioritize 100% on-site personnel. They are very honest, simple, which is also what tourists love. However, service skills are still unprofessional, so it takes time to train them,” Ms. Hanh said.
Not only stopping at direct labor, many tourism models in Phu Tho also exploit OCOP products and handicrafts of the people as part of the experience. Small gifts, products made by the people themselves are becoming cultural "touch points" for tourists.
At Mit Retreat in the Da Bac area, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tung, representative of the investment unit, said that the business's development orientation is to build a high-class tourism model but not separate from local culture.
We do not develop rapidly. Everything needs to be methodical and accompany local authorities. More importantly, it is to train local human resources for long-term development" - Mr. Tung shared.
According to Mr. Tung, local human resources are the factor that helps tourism maintain its identity and create differentiation from other destinations.
From the perspective of an experienced person, according to Ms. Hoang Thi Hai (Hanoi), the current tourism trend is not only sightseeing but also "living with culture".
When we come to the mountains, we want to eat local dishes, participate in activities with people, buy handicrafts as souvenirs. That simplicity creates the attraction" - Ms. Hai said.
Local human resources - "resources" need to be polished
According to experts, local human resources are becoming an important "soft resource" of Phu Tho tourism. However, to be effective, systematic training is needed.
Mr. Bui Xuan Truong - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Phu Tho province - said that the Hoa Binh lake area and surrounding areas are possessing great potential in terms of landscape and culture, and also play an important inter-regional connecting role.
Phu Tho after the merger has opened up a vast and diverse tourism development space from culture, ecology to resorts. However, we still have limitations in terms of infrastructure, tourism products and especially the quality of human resources" - Mr. Truong said.
According to him, tourism development must be placed in the overall socio-economic development, taking businesses as the driving force, people as the subject and tourists as the center.
People must become tourism ambassadors right where they live" - he emphasized.
Statistics from Phu Tho tourism industry show that in the first 6 months of 2026, the whole province welcomed more than 10.5 million visitors, with revenue reaching over 10,700 billion VND. These figures show that tourism is gradually becoming an important driving force for growth.
However, the human resource problem is still a major challenge. It is expected that Phu Tho needs thousands of workers to develop tourism each year. However, most of the current workers have not been trained. In that context, linking businesses - government - people in training and using local labor is considered an inevitable direction.
Experts believe that if trained in the right direction, local labor force is not only a servant but also a cultural storyteller, contributing to raising the value of destinations.
Phu Tho tourism is therefore not only based on landscape or heritage, but also on people themselves. In the future, when local human resources are "polished" properly, this will be one of the most important driving forces to help Phu Tho tourism develop sustainably and differentially.
