You may not know, but women primarily run the Chôm Chôm community! Our tour guides, partners, and volunteers are part of our core team. Today is International Women's Day, so let's say hello to our wonderful female tour guides from north to south.
From the outstanding Mu Cang Chai
"I'm Ly, I'm living in Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai. I'm a farmer and own a homestay called Hello Mu Cang Chai."
Ly is happy to be one of our local tour guides because Chôm Chôm is the first agency that believes in her as a person from a minor ethnic community and lets her guide the tourists. She can plan for travellers trekking and experiencing her village activities, which support the village's growth by giving jobs to her community.
Ly is proud of her community's strong and proud cultural identity and believes it's a safe travel destination.
An authentic Hanoian
"I'm Ms Diu. I've lived in Hanoi for 25 years. I am one of those who are passionate about tourism, operating in the travel industry, and giving visitors a lot of local experiences."
Diu is one of the very first Chôm Chôm tour guides in Ha Noi. She's lived in Ha Noi for 25 years and is considered an authentic Hanoian! During the pandemic, she met our founder, Dorothée, and was impressed by the enthusiasm and passion for sustainable tourism of Chôm Chôm Travel.
She believes that the values of culture, history, and local customs are the hook of sustainable and local-friendly tourism. Diu also wants to offer travellers a happy and safe trip by connecting them to locals and communicating with her people to keep developing the quality of products and services they are offering.
The charming Hoi An ancient town
“Hi there. My name is Be, which means Little, and I am always little to my mum, no matter how big I become.”
She was born and grew up in Binh Minh - a small seaside fishing village. It’s about 14km from the charming Hoi An ancient city further south. She stated that tourism changed her village significantly in the last couple of years. The change can be observed easily with the new look of the infrastructure and living standards. And luckily, the locals are happy with these positive changes. As one of our local tour guides, Be always loves to help travellers have the best tourist experiences and connect them with the locals as much as possible.
The beauty of Kon Tum
“I’m Jami, living in Kon Tum with my lovely family. Kon Tum is beautiful with its mild-tempered, outstanding landscapes and extraordinary culture.”
To succeed with sustainable tourism, Jami believes local tour guides must truly understand their culture. Becoming knowledgeable, learning foreign languages, and keeping updated with the latest news would also help tour guides develop local tourism. Jami desires to offer meaningful and joyful experiences to travellers. She also wants to get more help to spread Kon Tum's spectacular culture and attract more foreign travellers to her hometown because the social media of minor ethnic people is not focused on enough.
To the heartwarming Mekong Delta
"I am Que Phuong, a French-speaking tour guide in the Mekong Delta. I am from Can Tho, well known for the floating market - Cai Rang."
While living standards and society are growing, she thinks respecting and keeping traditions and customs is crucial. Developing local tourism also means protecting and preserving the traditional crafting villages alive. Regarding sustainable tourism, Phuong believes that environmental protection is a global issue, so everyone should be involved in reducing single-use plastic and other activities to keep the world green. To her, Vietnam's landscape, weather, and people are beautiful, but all will be more outstanding if we know how to be friendly to our habitat.
To our women - teammates, tour guides, partners, and all women out there, we wish you all a great day today! And remember that difference is supposed to be valued and celebrated, and together we can forge women's equality.