2025年5月29日
Development of Craft Villages and Household Income in the Mekong Delta, Southern Vietnam: Effectiveness of a Tourism-Driven Development Model - FY2024 Results Report
Research Director: Nguyen Thuy (Associate Professor Platform for Arts and Sciences)
Co-researcher: Rui Takahashi (Professor School of Political Science and Economics, Tokai University)
1. Overview of research results
In 2024, we conducted field surveys in craft villages near Hanoi in northern Vietnam and in rural areas of the Mekong Delta in the south, focusing on craft villages as a potential non-agricultural alternative to rural agriculture. In particular, craft villages that lost their markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic have been attempting to revitalize themselves through the introduction of experiential tourism, and we analyzed how local resources are connected to external demand. We also examined the impact of these changes on income disparities in rural areas and urban-rural disparities, confirming the importance of educational attributes and structural factors stemming from the local environment.
In this study, Nguyen Thuy served as the principal investigator, overseeing the research and directing the on-site survey (including coordinating cooperation with Vietnamese universities and government agencies), while Professor Takahashi Rui of Tokai University participated in the survey as a co-researcher, and both were responsible for data analysis. Furthermore, to present their findings, Nguyen Thuy and Takahashi Rui gave a joint presentation at the Joint Conference of Statistical Societies, and Takahashi Rui gave a solo presentation at the Association for Southeast Asian Studies. These research reports pointed out the importance of non-agricultural opportunities in rural development, and noted that the introduction of tourism as a non-agricultural opportunity is a notable trend in rural areas.
In addition, some of the research findings were published in the Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development (Vol. 8, Issue 6) in collaboration with researchers from Vietnam National University of Agriculture and Nguyen Thuy. One paper is currently under peer review, and a book in both English and Vietnamese ("Rural Innovation through the Integration of Traditional Crafts and Tourism in Vietnam") is currently in preparation for publication by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam Statistics Publishing House.
2. Books, papers, academic presentations, etc.
[Paper (peer-reviewed)]
1) Ngoc Ninh Ho, Phuong Thao Lai, Thi Cam Anh Truong, Van Hung Hoang, Thi Thuy Do, Thuy Nguyen (2024) “The Contribution of Livelihood Diversification Activities to Poverty Reduction of Ethnic Minority Households: A Case Study in Son La Province, Vietnam.” Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development. 8(6), 6465. doi: 10.24294/jipd.v8i6.6465
2) Tran Kim Loan, Nguyen Thuy, Nguyen Van Cong (2025) “Green Tourism and Heritage Conservation in Duong Lam and Lo Lo Chai” Proceedings of the Vietnam National Scientific Conference 2025 Under review
[Books and papers (non-peer reviewed)]
Rui Takahashi and Nguyen Thuy, "Lives Diversification and Labor Mobility in Rural Vietnam," 2024 Joint Conference of Statistical Societies (Tokyo University of Science), September 3, 2024.
Rui Takahashi, "De-farming and Return to Farming in Rural Vietnam: The Significance of 'Migration' in Rural Change," 106th Annual Conference of the Association for Southeast Asian Studies (Osaka University), December 8, 2024.