COMMODIFICATION OF HOSPITALITY: THE
LOCALIZED PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING ETHNIC
TOURIST MARKET AND IDENTITY IN MAI CHAU,
NORTHWEST UPLAND OF VIETNAM
Assist. Prof. Achariya Choowonglert, Ph.D.

Introduction
The Tai in Mai Chau district, Hda Binh Province in the Northwest Upland
Region of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), are one of fifty-three ethnic
minority groups in Vietnam, as listed in the official ethnic classification system
used by the country's government. Before integrafion of the region into the SRV's
admintrative structure, the Tai in Mai Chau (Mudng Mun in the past) were
dominant within the multi-ethnic, semi-independent polity that existed at that time a tributai7 to the empires of Vietnam for hundreds of years. Historically, While Tai
has been connected to the Vietnamese court/state for a long lime. It would be
meaningless to talk about While Tai ethnic identity without placing it in this context
- their long relationship with Vietnamese state. Because it is this relationship - their
commercial, political, and social negotiation with state ~ which have produced their
modernity. Presently, Mai Chau is considered a place of ethnic and cultural
diversity and as the gateway to the Northwest Upland Region. It is located inbetween Hanoi and the northwest region (where the ethnic majority population is
Tai), and is connected by national road no.6. It is also a strategically important place
in terms of the tourism market, for in the early 1990s, after entering into the market
economy, Mai Chau was promoted, by the government as a cultural tourism area,
and this put the area on the tourist map. Presently, Mai Chau is considered a,s an
"ethnic homestay village", with each ethnic (White Tai) homestay providing the
tourists with accommodation (an overnight stay), meals and cultural shows.
As an anthropologist with a fair grasp of the Vietnamese and While Tai
languages (speaking, reading and writing), I have been collecting data for over five
Assistant Professor at Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social
Sciences, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, THAILAND. Email:

472

of development, which includes promoting villages as handicraft centers. The
beautiful landscape, idyllic paddy field valleys, and as well as its traditional stilt
houses combined to make it a successful tourist destination. The villagers open their
house to welcome tourists to have meals and stay over night. Thus then Mai Chau is
known as ethnic tourist attraction and a homestay village. Besides, to foreign
tourists, is Mai Chau known as a place for trekking to minority villages.
The household economy during the market transition period is significantly
different from the period of eollective farming. The significance of Ddi Mdl, by
promoting handicraft villages in particular, on the community is profound. It
brought about important stmctural changes in the economic and social life of the
people. There are various and differentiated economic activities that the villagers of

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Ban Lac and Ban Pom Cogng have made for their engagement in tourism business
since 1994. Now most of their incomes (81.53%) come from tourism activifies. At
present, tourist business plays an important role in the villages' economy, in fiie
sense that it has been regarded as the main source of income for nearly all
households. Tourist business activifies in the villages encompass different services
for homestay, cultural shows, local tour guides, eampfire, motorbike taxi, and
bicycle for rent; the sale of local food and local wine; diverse productions of local
souvenirs (such as traditional fabric weaving, embroidering, and wood crafting) and
souvenir shops; and hired labors. The tourism related businesses, the wet rice
cultivation and livestock are supportive of one another. First, the homesla>-, as a
main tourism business, supports many economic activities such as souvenir shop,
cultural show, and waged laborers who work for homestay services, sale of
firewood and other businesses pertaining to eampfire, bicycle rental and motorbike

consumption, for eaming income, and to support the homestay business since they
provide meals for the tourists. Most of the villagers, whose harvest is more than their
household requirements, sell their rice. Both agriculture and tourist business are
looked after by family. However, if both jobs need intensive labor at the same lime, a
family will hire labor for tourism business and as well as for agriculture. Agriculture
does not depend much on the machines since it is just a small plot of land.
Now let us look at the ways how market and tourism industry affected the
village economy. The villagers tend to see marketization and privatization of land'
as secjrily {dam bdo) of their life. They do believe that transition into market
oriented economy have opened up opportunities for local people. In most cases, in
Iransilon period, villagers' quality of living is seems to be quite good. They possess
moden faeilifies such as washing machine, satellite TV, computer and internet.
Almost all households have motorbikes and many of them possess two to three
motorbikes. One homestay household has a seven-seated ear for pick up and drop of
tourists. Between 2007 and early 2011, I have visited the villages every year, and
econonie development in the villages seems to improve year by year. There are
some new and bigger houses, souvenir shops, and grocery stores; additionally the
Mai Chau market has been enlarged as a response to the growth of tourist market in
the district. Tourist market is significantly different from their previous market.
Previously, they had produced and traded opium with various Tai groups and
highlanders in Yunnan and upper Red River valley which was dominated by French
troop Michaud 2000: 344-5) and monopolized by some elite families which was
advanageous for a small number of villagers. But the tourist market spreads wide
opporunilies to each household.
In fact, Tai people in Ban Lac have been familiar with tourism for nearly half
a century (47 years). The year 1963 was a milestone for Ban Lac when it had its
first h:)meslay - the first homestay village of Northwest Vietnam. In 1963 Chieng
Chau >ub-dislrict of Mai Chau district was chosen to be the ease study for revising
the elmination of superstition as well as for increasing the yield of rice plantafion.
At thiX time, the historical informant was a commune official, a vice chairman of

of economic. The Foreign guests, by words of mouth, came to visit his homestay for
vacation. In addition, the government officials usually came to his homestay to eat
steamed-fish. Ban Lae and his homestay, therefore, were becoming a famous
tourist place. At that time, the bathroom and toilet were in local style; bath was
taken next to a stream while latrine was made on the ground. Electricity have not
anive Ban Lac then. However, such atmosphere was a fond of Western tourists. The
time during 1993-1994 was a peak of tourists' visit. The homestay of the informant
in quesfion received 30-40 tourists staying overnight a day. In view of that, he
pressured the local authority to pennil him to charge the tourists. Gradually, his
political capital was transfonned into economic capital.
A second homestay business was eonstmcted in 1982. The owner of the
second homestay was quite a visionary. He knew, besides being suggested by the
first homestay owner, that tourism in Ban Lac will grow. So he decided to invest in
this business. When his daughter went to the university, he oriented her in studying
tourism. These two homestay owners were right. Following her university
graduation, she worked for a govemment hotel in Hda Binh province, where she
was able to build contacts with many tour agencies from the whole country. She
suggested the tour agencies to open lours in Mai Chau and stay ovemighl at her
father's homestay. Nowadays this household is considered by villagers as the
richest Homestay in Mai Chau.
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COMMODIFICATION OF HOSPITALITY...

In fact when this homestay opened for business, after refumishing his home
with modern amenities, it was flooded with guests or tourists. He began to
accommodate the guests to his two sons' homes. Therefore, his two sons were also
converted into homestays gradually. These three homestays monopolised the market
and had eontraets with travel companies (public or private).These three homestays

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By early 2000 homestay business peaked. More than 36,000 tourists visited
these villages annually by 2007*. And by 2010, more than 45,000 tourists visited
Mai Chau for sightseeing, recreation and relaxafion, of which around 9,000 were
foreigners (interview a tourist police of Mai Chau District, April 2011). Only five
homestays in Ban Lae have been eonstmcted up to now; Ban Pom Cogng has eight
registered homestays. Nevertheless four homestays in Ban Lac have gone out of
business.
In doing homestay business, the villagers have generally started their business
from building their tourist soeio-business networks. An old man, who was die
pioneer of homestay business of Ban Lae and former head of the cooperatives,
observed that families that have no connections or friends outside the village are
hardly making their lives prosperous. Thus the best way to prosper is to have
associated business. Homestays that has no access to tourist company's networks
have attempted to establish networks by utilizing their own social acquaintances.
Currently, homestay networks in the villages can be differentiated into ibur types.
According to the questionnaire survey (with sample made up from 37 homestays or
77 percent of populafion of both villages) 25 percent of homestays have close
connection with tourist companies. The number of networked companies is 5 in
average, 1 in minimum and 10 in maximum. Thirty one percent of homestay depend
on connection with tourist companies and social networks. The average is 2.44
companies, while 1 company is in minimum and 7 companies is in maximum. The
Thirty nine percent of homestay mainly depend on social relation / lied networks;
those that has less than 1 tourist company in their contacts. The last one is the other
homestays which occupy 5 percent (field survey in 2011).
Homestays have close connections with tourist agencies in Hanoi and Hda
Binh province. Usually the first homestay owners in Ban Lac are more

house, more precisely in the living room on the second floor. They did not know
that their tradifional fabrics could be sold. When their visitors asked for buying they
didn't know how to set the cost of such fabrics. After many years of selling, they
have just known that the prices they sold were pittance. Customarily, White Tai has
to stock some pillows, blankets, fabrics, and seat mattress for their (non-market)
guests slaying ovemighl at the houses, or for preparing for marriage of their
daughters, or even for giving gift. Once engaging in the tourist market, they are
active sellers. When they found the tourists stroll pass their house, according to their
customs, they liked to talk with them and to invite them into their house, drank tea
and talked if they were compatible. The fabrics could then be sold, but it depended
on the interaction and emotion of the guests rather than commercial intention of the
hosts. This means that they had never convinced tourists to buy. In terms of
business, some households hanged their fabrics on the windows so that they are
easily visible to tourists. Then they are saleable. Then many shops weave traditional
fabric, do carpentry, embroidery, and wickerwork by themselves since they have
not much money to buy any goods from the suppliers, or try to save cost. For
weaving, the raw material silk thread is produced by villagers in Ban Lae, but
cotton thread is bought from "Kinh" merchant in the Hda Binh or Hanoi province.
For carpentry and wickerwork, the raw materials are from the village. Thus they
rely much on their natural resource management.
The success in emerging tourism businesses is not from the outsiders. It comes
from the way the villagers articulate the old living and new one: agriculture and
tourism. Tourism in Mai Chau begins with ufilizing the local capitals such as
household labors, mral atmostphere, and agricultmal products. Also culture of
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VIET NAM HOC - KY YEU HOI THAO QUOC TE LAN THlT TlT

hospitality in particular and ethnic heritage, such as, the backdrop of Tai stilt

customers are Vietnamese. However, unlike the pioneer homestays, the liming and
number of guests coming to these homestays cannot be predicted. For that reason,
their business is rather unstable. This ease indicates that in a lime of uncertainty and
rapid transformation, economic anxiety and instability, culture and intimate
relationships have been used to operate the economy (Buyandelgeriyn 2008).
480


COMMODIFICATION OF HOSPITALITY.

So as to intensively engage with the tourist market during the transition
period, this group started expanding their network with the help of their Vietnamese
friends and their children's friends or even friends of Vietnamese visitors/guests
who came mostly from Hanoi. Their modus operandi is same as the pioneer
homestays. But they try to get hold of foreigners by making business connections
with motorbike and taxis drivers in Mai Chau town. These drivers bring
backpackers to their homestays. A few of them have connections with bus drivers
on the Hanoi - Mai Chau or Hanoi - Son La road. The drivers would inform the
homestay owners about on-board tourists. The homestay owners would then wail to
pick the unsuspecting tourists at the drop point or bus terminal. The number of
guest/backpackers a motorbike taxi driver would take to a household depends on
connection and compensation the homestay pay to them.
One example of successful "social-fie homestay" that impressed me is the one
owned by a middle age woman living at the periphery of a village. She put in much
effort to acquire tourist guests through faee-lo-faee communication. She taught
herself English and practiced the language by talking to foreign tourists. She did
this by acting as a local guide, taking tourists for trekking around the nearby
villages. Sometimes, when tourists strolled pass her house she cordially invited the
tourists (and tourist guides) to sit inside her house. She would then strike up
conversation with them, offer them tea. At the end she would offer them her namecard and also present them with small souvenirs. This way she hoped to expand her

There are multiple ways in which these homestays built their network through
social lies and social relations. First, a few of them are local authority at village or
district level. By virtue of their position they can easily connect with other officials
and people who can be guests of their homestays - a clear ease of how political
power leads to social and business networks. Second, they may strike up friendship
with guests of nearby homestays when they walk through their house or take a look
at their souvenir shop. Third, visitors are sometimes welcomed into their house for
tea and to explore White Tai lifestyle. Some of these guests may recommend their
friends to slay at these homestays if they find the ambiance and hospitality there to
be better than the homestays they stayed. Fourth, the children who study at the
universities or work in Hanoi and other provinces recommend their friends and
lecturers to their homestay. Fifth, the former guests may introduce/recommend their
friends the homestay they stayed in.
It may be pointed out that though one's political posifion affords him/her easy
access and connection to the tourists, some of their descendants may fail to maintain
that social relations. Then they gradually lose guests. This means that the business
skill of building connection is something new even though its root is in their
hospitality. Some homestays, which take in only few guests, may have connection
with small tour agencies. But they have to provide free accommodation to the tour
guide and driver. Since the tour guide and the driver are taken in free, the amount of
money charged from tourists is expected to cover these costs. This may result in
homestay losing money or whatever profit they make may be too little. It all
depends on how much beer the tour guides and drivers drink and how many guests
they bring and the how many the homestays can take in. Anyway, according to the
culture of hospitality, as mentioned, the hosts do not think much in terms of loss.
The loss suffered initially can be compensated when they get big/medium groups of

482



with the guests of villages is because of their status as "guests" rather than as
potential customers (though 1 am suspicious that this distinction might have become
a little blurred within the tourist market). In view of that, the social network that
may be linked to homestay business is the by-product of the social relations.
Consequently, most of White Tai people feel embarrassed to make a business-like
acquaintance.

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VIET NAM HOC - KY YEU HOI THAO QUOC TE LAN THU TU
Table 1: Type of Homestay Networks
Type of Homestay Network

Frequency

Percent

1. Pioneer homestay (Tour company network)

9

25.0

2. Social-tie homestay

14

38.9


relationship that exists between host and guest. The homestays that get tourists from
tourist agencies engage in a vertical relationship with their guests, and with the
tourist agencies. However, the relationship between other homestay owners and
their guests is more or less based on expectations found in traditional relationships;
they treat tourists as their guests who not only bring money to them but also bring
friendship and a long-tenn relationship (both in business and social aspects).
Homestays mostly have been constructed through horizontal relationships
where friendship plays an important role. The following table provides an overview
of type of homestays (with sample made up from 36 homestays or about 74 percent
of population of both villages). The social fies and mixed network Homestay types
are about 2/3 of Homestay networks while the pioneer Homestay type getting guests
from tour agencies is 25 percent.
484


COMMODIFICATION OF HOSPITALITY.

1 want to point out that economic capital differenfiafion exists among villagers.
During the eolleefivizalion period and early period of Ddi Mdl, the economic capital
did not matter. The commune authorities' houses were acceptable to be a homestay
for govemmenl's guests. Once Mai Chau is linked to the free market economy,
houses which were big and looked comfortable were able cash in on the emerging
tourism business without much investment. The pioneer homestays gradually
accumulate their profit. Within five years, after the boom (the mid - end of 1990s)
in tourism market, the first group of homestays have enough economic capital to
rebuild their homestay without or with a small loan from banks. Other homestays
have to invest in rebuilding their houses so as to compete with established
homestays. They, therefore, raised huge loan from the agricultural bank. To raise
this kind of loan, they must meet four eondifions - mortgage, income information,
occupation information, and project plan. Almost all the later homestays were set up

Moreover, the villagers do not completely invest for business in one lime.
They would gradually rebuilt their homestay and built the toilet and bathroom. For
example, first, they have to collect the matress, pillow, and blanket. Then they have
to build the modem toilet and bath room which were important for gelling tourists.
After refumishing toilet and bath room, they may rebuild the house by enlarging it
or fixing it with a good quality of woods, or make private bed rooms.
Even though most homestay owners have little economic capitals, lhe>- and
especially the new investors try to accumulate "social capital" in eonslmeting
businesses by expanding their networks. Many of them consider money not as the
critical factor for engaging in tourist business; because money can be borrowed
from the agricultural bank or the social policy bank run by the govemment. Instead
the most important things for their business are "networks", "friendship" and/or a
"partnership". Having money without network is meaningless, many said to me.
Thus they need a partnership to circulate and accumulate their social capital. This
way of thinking for "sustainable" business is similar to what they did for water
management previously described. The most powerful networks, according to Ihcni,
are their former guests who are potential endorsers of their homestay to their friends
or acquaintances. They help to publicize and expand the network. The general
opinion is that, "if we give good service to them, the guests will come back to our
homestays again or introduce our homestays to others". In practice, every homestay
owner ranks good service and distribution of their name card among the most
important things they will pursue to build such a network. Strong social lies make
their business plans feasible. In fact proof of these fies help when submitting
projects and request of loans from banks.
Labor is another crucial capital. The critical hairier to ethnic tourist market is
not social or economic capitals, but labor. In my interview with two poor families,
they asserted that they can gradually accumulate blankets, mattresses, and pillows
by their own production. Likewise, they can borrow from the agricultural bank to
have their homes renovated and fix modern toilets. Building networks, just as
finding capital, is also not hard. Networks are established slowly by giving good

language as a resource: a resource untapped by the established homestays. If we
take a broader view, capitals required in homestay business include every resource
the villagers occupy, especially labor (both quality and quantity), knowledge,
intangible cultures and habits which will be revealed in the way they manipulate
and liviing with tourism in following secfion.
Entrepreneurship and the Commodification of Hospitality
In the transition period, the households began to change their mode of
economic operation. Market opportunity and White Tai culture worked like
alchemy - to transform them into enterpreners, no longer living off subsistent
agriculture. This transfomation was triggered by dynamic households' capital
accumulation. To give one example, as seen in the previous section, traditional
hospitality is transformed from socio-cultural relation into economic relation of
commodity. And those who possessed the needed initial capital - locafion and
position - were able to gain access to soeio-business network, and accumulate
economic capital fast. This success (which is going to be elaborated the way they
do in this section) cannot be measured in terms of their location and position alone.
But we must also consider their "entrepreneurial attributes" - an attribute that made
them see what others could not foresee in the ethnic tourist market.
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Entrepreneurship is an important factor in process of peasant transformatiori
from living with agricultural economy to living with market economy (Bull and
Comer 1993). Of course, entrepreneurship underlies in the expansion of new small
tourism businesses in Mai Chau. Theoretically, the term entrepreneur is firstly
relevant closely to the notion of "innovation"; once he or she lakes an opporluniity
to create new business enterprises by individuals or small group (Kent, Sexton, and
Vesper 1982), or creating something new, or provide innovation under environment

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COMMODIFICATION OF HOSPITALITY..

according to Giddens (1990). The hospitable relationship is based on kinship, or
neighborhood, or reciprocity, or even humanity. Or in the other word, this is the
horizontal relationship. Furthermore, customarily, they accept every one passing by
their house, even the strangers. They are glad to provide drink; meals and
aeeommodalion. Habitually, the horizontal relationship of hospitality of the White
Tai can be considered as an institutionalized social practice binding people with
reciprocity. So hospitality is considered as a gift. In addition, this institution is to
secure trades and connections among people of the same/different societies and
cultures. Far away from the traditional one, the modem hospitality at the first
glimpse is in contrast. The commodification of hospitable relationship is made by
the "medium". The tourists are not the direct guests of the host. They are the guests
of the govemment officials and/or tour agencies (the medium) who take them to the
village. So, hospitality as a cultural task becomes political (i.e. diplomacy) and/or
economic tasks. The horizontal relations became the vertical relationship which is
considered as a power relation of the interplays of host-guest/minority-majority
groups. Among them and officials is vertical. But between villagers and kin and
among them is still horizontal.
Secondly, what differentiate hospitality as gift and commodity is the purpose
of Iravelling and staying at the homestay. In the past, they accepted guests for
humanity reason. They helped the travelers, who travel for trading, or visiting their
relatives. The tourists' aims are mostly for recreation, or gazing/consuming the
exofic people/culture. In addition many domestic tourists who have purchasing
power come to Mai Chau to be served by the minority people. So the definitions of
"hospitality" and "guesf' have changed. After engaging with tourism, the terms to
refer to guests (which in the past they did not distinguish, but called them, Khdeh

realm; praefieally negotiating their authenticity as modem people - linking
themselves to the global market and with other people in the world. In short, the
authentic While Tai people at the moment are more like entrepreneurs and "modem
people", than "primitive peasants"
What I would like to point out is, when a host in Mai Chau claimed to offer
"authentic While Tai", such as, local foods, traditional stilt houses with local
mattress, blanket and pillow, tradifional fabrics as well as ethnic cultural
atmosphere, what they sell is not these things per se. It is not the meaning added to
these things (Appadurai 1986) either. Rather, the meaning comes from the
relationship between the two people (Goddard 2000) - i.e. hosts and the guests
through their practices. That is to say, the relafionship of the two, which goes
beyond the meaning of things per se, constmcts the "meaningful relation" of the
host and the guest. It can be called "authentic relation". That is similar to what
Goddard (2000) found in the distinction between gifts and commodities in relation
to praxis and intention rather than exchange. Even though the commodity has its
own meaning, in the other way, the meaning comes from the relationship between
two people. So, it can be a conflict or a coincidence of meaning or anything else. In
this ease, to transform the hospitality from the gift to be commodity, the meaning
eonstmcted through host-guest relationships is a vital factor. The authentic relation
of warm hospitality and impression as something abstracted can be sold. However,
if the abstraction of hospitality is sold, therefore, the commodity White Tai sell (i.e.
food/drink, slaying overnight) is entangled with a gift (warm welcome and
friendliness and so on). This means that in the process of commodificafion of
hosphality, the boundary between gift and commodity is blurred.
However, as discussed before, many other members of villages began to
participate in the tourist market. But the problem is most business connections were
already monopolized by the pioneer homestays. So a daunting task for these
newcomers into the business is how to create new forms of network. Political and
economic networks are already exhausted avenue: they need to tap on other avenues
in order to be successful entrepreneurs. In the villagers' perspective, they are doanh

The villagers perceive this phenomenon as "the tourists' choice". The;- have
rights to stay with any homestay they prefer. So, what they do is to reconstriel fiie
meaning of hospitality so as to stmggle for taking tourists of another network
(market segment). It is interesting that according to interview with lour guides,
generally the villagers do not invite them, like they do to the tourists. Taat is
because, if they invite tour guide to drink tea, it is obvious that they are hijicking
the network. Thus, in general, the cuUural of establishing market nelw)rk is
acceptable among villagers, and is not percieved as a hard competition once aiyone
can interpret and practice their cultures for their own purposes. In so doirg, the
struggle to create market segment is a "creative competifion", which cm be
percieved as mutual cconstmclion of market (network) between culture of hosiitality
and economy; meanwhile it also leads to developing a creative produefion (giving
choices to tourists).
The question then is: what type of practices adopted by homestay OA^ners
gives hospitality an ambivalent identity - as a sold commodity or as a gift? It is a
commodity, in the sense that the villagers provide extra deal (tea and talk) to the
customer buying the souvenir. And it is a gift in the conscious praxis tfat the
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COMMODIFICATION OF HOSPITALITY...

tourists appreciate what the souvenir seller offer. The point is, in such a business
transaction, which at the first glimpse is considered as a transient transaction,
however the social integration/obligation, as argued by Marcel Mauss, emerges
(Graeber 2001). Habitually, the homestay hosts also try to make a moral
impression upon their guests to keep them in the business network by giving
some gifts, such as, discount on goods, free motorbike taxi ride, and so on.
Therefore, in the homestay business, we cannot separate the commodity from the
gift and vice versa.

VIET NAM HQC - KY YEU HQI THAO QUOC TE LAN THlT TU
Table 2: Distribution of Tourists by Type of Homestay's Networks (%)
Types of Tourist
Type of Homestay's

Foreign &

Networks

Dependent

Independent
Tourists

Total

Tourists

Foreign
&Independent/
Backpackers

(29)

(11)

(7)

(47)


(41)

(108)

[25 [100%]]

100%

100%

100%

100%

Tour Company
Network
[9 [36.0%]]
Social-Tie Network
[16 [64.0%]]

Domestic

Source: Field survey in 2011
Notes: Figures in ( ) are percentage of tourists
Figures in [ ] are percentage of homestay networks
Secondly and importantly, as mentioned previously, these type of
homestays interpret and practice their culture of hospitality (as a gift) to gain
access to the market to bypass the networks in which they are excluded by the
pioneer homestays. So, by interpretation and pracfice of culture, cutlure become
mechanisms for free entry into market. They can get around the already closed

neighbor and so on.
Engaging with the tourist market has had tremendous impact on the villagers'
livelihood and ethnic identity. Tourism development fits and links with existing
economic system (agriculture in particular) and culture (i.e. craft making, and
hospitality). The global market forces are manipulated into people's life project,
increasing livelihood options even for the poor people. Tourist market provides the
diversifieafion of both farming and non-faming economic activifies which are not
contradictory but of mutual support. On the other side, tourism helps to reinforce
agricultural economy and culture while the agricultural products are used in
homestay businesses. Besides, the three types of households' strategies points to the
difference of capitals accumulation which leads to uneven of livings and economic
differenfiafion. Anyway, global market tourism per se is not the cause of uneven
income dislribufion in the tourist villages since the villagers, by the quality and
quantity of labor forces, and ability to transfer the social and cultural capitals to
economic capitals can take any opportunity in improving their lives. •
Engaging with tourism makes villagers realize that, more than diligent,
creative thinking in markefing and managing business as well as making a
diversified living, is important. This means that in contemporary times, villagers
have to know how to deal with trade and business; the elderly who used to be a head
of the commune cooperafives, I talked to, insisted on this point. He said, those who
work for homestay can get more money by investing less time and energy than
thosze mn farming. In not so distant future, those who worked hard would get more;
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VIET NAM HQC - KY YEU HOI THAO QUOC TE LAN THU TU

but at this moment the lazy ones (who have business connections) are able to
become richer than the diligent ones (working on agriculture). For that reason, he
claims for changing perception of work as seen through dealing with tourism. Thus,

social stmeture (Miller 1995) that exists between the villagers and outsiders. Firstly,
among the villagers, this change has led to their social exclusion from business
conneefions and have gained access to the market. Secondly, in relation to the state
496