Artists as tour guides: Need to be equipped with soft skills

On the weekend, we went to De Kjieng village (Ayun commune, Mang Yang district) and asked Si, a bamboo weaving artisan, to be our tour guide. De Kjieng is a Bahnar village with many advantages in terms of natural landscape and culture, only about 3-4 km from Kon Ka Kinh National Park.

Following the tour guide, our first destination was the traditional communal house. The communal house was made entirely from natural materials, with a thick thatched roof, floors and walls woven from bamboo and firmly secured with rattan fibers. Two rows of wooden statues below reminded us of the cultural events that had taken place here. Mr. Si proudly introduced more about the traditional festivals of the village and the meaning of the wooden statues.

From the “heart of the village” to the drop of water, the last place Si took his guests to was Vang field located in the valley at the source of the Ayun River. Seen from above, the river shimmered silver, winding around the fields and hills in the distance. In the afternoon, people waded across the river to return home, carrying on their backs baskets with bamboo shoots, wild vegetables, and small bunches of bananas. Living near the forest, the Bahnar people are in harmony with nature.

Pointing to the deep green mountains and forests, the village guide said: For thousands of years, the Bahnar people have lived on that green color, using raw materials to build communal houses, carve statues, weave baskets... As an artisan, Si has a wealth of knowledge to tell visitors about traditional crafts. In addition to daily living items, Si also makes handbags, tea tables, steamers... to sell to tourists .

Stor Resistance Village (To Tung Commune, Kbang District) is the core of the province's community tourism development plan. The village gathers a large number of artisans participating in tourism activities, including Mr. Dinh Greng. Born and raised in a land long associated with slash-and-burn culture, artisan Greng has a rich life experience and understanding of festivals. He regularly participates in reenacting traditional festivals to serve tourists; serving the need to tell village stories to tourists whenever they are interested.

Recently, Bahnar artisan Dinh Greng presided over the worship ritual in the first rice pruning ceremony of the year to serve visitors within the framework of the Kbang District Tourism Festival 2024. With his extensive knowledge of customs, festivals and traditional occupations, he spent hours talking with writers, researchers, and photographers about the national cultural identity. He also guided visitors to experience the activities of Stor Resistance Village, participating in weaving to create products to serve tourists.

Possessing a rich culture and tradition is an advantage for artisans to have many stories to tell tourists. However, they still need support in tourism skills and storytelling to increase the attractiveness of the destination. Mr. Si said: In 2023, nearly 40 people from De Kjieng village were trained in community tourism for 3 months. He is one of two excellent students and was placed in the tour guide group. Last July, he won third prize in the provincial tour guide competition for ethnic minorities.

This is also a common limitation of artisans participating in tourism. Artisan Dinh Greng has a rich knowledge of culture but his storytelling is sometimes not coherent and attractive.

The participation of artisans in community tourism activities, especially in the role of tour guides, is a valuable asset of this new type. Master Huynh Cong Hieu - Champion of the 2010 National Excellent Tour Guide Competition and the first representative of a travel agency in Ho Chi Minh City to conduct a pilot tour of community tourism in Gia Lai to connect and bring visitors.

He highly appreciated the role of the artisans in community tourism: “The artisans with rich cultural knowledge help tourists have deeper experiences. Tour guides are a difficult job even for those who have been trained through school. Therefore, for artisans, it is necessary to patiently guide them and there must be support from local authorities and the tourism industry. When artisans are supported with soft skills to guide and tell stories, the experience of tourists will be much better.”

For many years, Gia Lai College has been a unit participating in training and educating people to do community tourism. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy An - Lecturer of the Faculty of Tourism (Gia Lai College) said: "We often survey to see what potential and strengths there are in the locality, then guide people on how to organize for visitors, connect points into a tour to bring visitors many experiences. Artisans have a great advantage when participating in community tourism. They can talk, do, guide visitors to experience and many other things. They have a foundation of life experience, knowledge and skills about traditional crafts. We only guide them on how to tell the village story in a logical and attractive way so that visitors everywhere can understand."