For the past many years, craft villages with their traditional products have attracted visitors to Hoi An. The conservation and development of craft villages such as Kim Bong which specializes in making wood products, Thanh Ha with its ceramic products and Tra Que which specializes in growing vegetables, along with other craft villages with products such as clothing and lantern have significantly contributed to Hoi An's efforts to promote tourism.
Residents in Hoi An since the 17th century gradually developed a variety of crafts such as carpentry, vegetable growing, ceramics, herbal remedies and lantern making to serve their needs and contribute to the prosperity of the port town of Hoi An. Today, Hoi An conserves and develops craft villages in order to attract tourists. Visitors can see how traditional products are made.
The Hoi An Culture and Sports Center has built the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop at 9 Nguyen Thai Hoc Road which displays the products of 12 Hoi An's traditional craft villages. Tourists can also visit the Hoi An Museum of Folk Culture or the Hoi An Silk Village at 28 Nguyen Tat Thanh Road to learn about sericulture and the traditional craft of silk weaving.
Tourists can get a deeper understanding of the value of craft villages' products when learning how villagers make their traditional products. Tran Ha, the owner of the Ha Linh Lantern Enterprise, said, "Foreign visitors to my enterprise very much wanted to join in one or several stages of Pho Hoi lantern making. They looked very interested in learning how our products were made and bought some lanterns, some details of which were made by themselves under our instruction." Apart from making lanterns and clothing, many other crafts such as footwear, embroidery, batik work, bamboo and rattan products and wood carving can be developed to attract tourists.
Apart from craft villages, tourists to Hoi An can also visit eco-villages to learn about specific crafts such as fishing net weaving, boat building and fishing. In the opinion of some cultural researchers and tourism experts, if it continues to periodically organize market-days aiming to popularize the products of traditional crafts, Hoi An will have more opportunities to attract tourists to its craft villages and develop their traditional crafts.
As Hoi An was a commercial port in the past, the traditional crafts of villagers in the town have special cultural values. Investment in restoring and developing traditional craft villages will help Hoi An attract more visitors and create an impulse for tourism development in this old town.