Craft, Culture and Tourism: Preserving and Developing Dìa Trên Paper Village in Vietnam

Vietnam’s craft villages face mounting challenges amid rapid industrialization and social transformation, placing many traditional occupations at risk. This study explores the preservation and development of the Dìa Trên paper craft village in Quảng Uyên Commune, Cao Bằng Province, through an integrated analytical framework combining the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), Community-Based Tourism (CBT), and the Experience Economy (EE). This approach provides a multidimensional understanding of how livelihood assets, governance structures, and tourism experiences interact to shape the future of traditional crafts. Using a qualitative design with field surveys, observation, and 29 semi-structured interviews involving households and local authorities, the study finds that Dìa Trên has maintained its century-old paper-making techniques and supports off-season employment, while holding significant potential for cultural tourism. Despite these strengths, the village faces shortages of raw materials, weak intergenerational skill transfer, limited market access, and poor integration into regional tourism networks. The study contributes to debates on rural development, heritage preservation, and sustainable tourism, underscoring the need for targeted policies that address structural barriers and empower communities in managing their development pathways.