I started running a hotel around six years ago and loved the work right away. Last year I had a new one built on a better spot, with a much nicer view; my brother just built one next door. More and more people are opening hotels — I'd guess five or six new ones every year — and while more tourists keep arriving too, the competition is genuinely tough. You only succeed here with clean rooms, good and affordable food, and real service. Most hotels double as travel agents, booking treks and train tickets for guests.
You can only be successful if you can give tourists good, clean rooms, good and cheap food and great service of course.
The people living in Sa Pa town itself are ethnic Kinh Vietnamese; the surrounding villages are home to a number of ethnic minority groups, who also come into town to earn something from tourism, though they don't own hotels or shops — they work the streets and the market instead. Most of the money ends up with Kinh people; the minority groups earn some too, just less, having picked up their business sense by watching how Kinh sellers operate. Since competition is fierce, they can be quite persistent.
Most hotel owners, myself included, don't allow minority sellers inside — they can approach tourists on the street, but not inside where I don't want them bothering my guests. I do like them, and try to help where I can — I'll give food, drink, or spare things like cups to the women and girls when I have some to spare — I just don't want it affecting my business.
Tourism has grown fast here and keeps growing, and we're constantly having to offer new things for visitors to do. Most tourists go trekking in the hills — some for a short walk, others for several days — and Fansipan, Vietnam's highest peak, sits right next to town, so climbing it is a popular option. Domestic tourists tend to come for the weekend just to relax in the cool climate; they walk around town and visit the park rather than trek.
I don't think trekking really harms the environment — I've never noticed damage myself. It comes down to the guide, mostly; a good one keeps an eye on the group and explains what not to do, like leaving rubbish or taking plants. There aren't official guidelines yet, so people mostly rely on common sense. And there's not much control over how the town develops either — no rules for how buildings should look, so the styles here don't always match, though I still think most of them are beautiful.
Land is the one thing that is controlled — it belongs to the government and local committees, even though families call it their own. You can't sell it or change its use without permission; you pay a land tax as rent and an agriculture tax on what the land could produce. Those taxes only apply in town — people in the villages live for free. Anyone can open a hotel or shop if they have the money, and the government has helped by improving the roads into town, though getting to the villages is still harder; some can only be reached on foot.
In my view, tourism has only brought good things — more jobs, real friendships with people from all over the world, and clear economic benefits. What would I want to see change? More tourists, honestly. I'd also welcome a bit more control over how things develop — I haven't seen any harm yet, but I can imagine that in time, something will go wrong, the way it sometimes does with the environment. I expect Sa Pa will just keep getting bigger, as long as the hotels and houses keep multiplying the way they have been.
A town booming by the year, building without a blueprint, on land that isn't quite anyone's to sell.