This research is an attempt to analyze the ethnic tourism development in Sapa district,
Lao Cai province, Vietnam, with special focus on the effects of tourism on local community. In
1990’s, the government, developing agencies, and even many local communities already see
tourism as important to development and modernization. Different tourism development
strategies may have different socio- cultural consequences. In order to understand these issues, I
focus on Yao community in Ta Phin village. The development of tourism offers opportunities for
local people to earn cash by selling traditional products, guiding tourists, driving tourists,
performing arts… The drive of tourist consumption and profit-making gradually changed Ta
Phin’s agriculture-based economy. Villagers’ desires to obtain more income lead to shifting to the
new economic mode as they move from tradition to modernity. As a result, traditional social life
changed, being expressed through: local economy, environment, and socio-cultural institution.
Local people are not passively influenced by tourism but also they positively adapt these
problems.