Son La is home to 12 ethnic groups that form a rich cultural picture with long-standing cultural heritages of great value. The locality boasts two special national relic sites, 15 national relic sites and 46 others winning the provincial recognition in the fields of history-culture, architecture, archaeology, and landscape. It also counts 15 national intangible cultural heritages. Notably, the Xoe dance of the Thai group has been added to the list of Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity by the UNESCO.

The Standing Board of the provincial Party Committee on July 26, 2021 issued Conclusion No. 335-KL/TU approving the project on cultural and human development in Son La, meeting sustainable development requirements for 2021-2025, with a vision towards 2030.

The province has invested in building cultural facilities in tandem with the rollout of movements and campaigns on building the cultural life at the grassroots level, which encourage local residents to preserve their traditional culture. As a result, it now has 10 district-level cultural houses, 185 of the communal level, and 2,898 of the hamlet level. At the same time, more than 3,300 community art clubs and over 510 sport clubs at the grassroots level have maintained their operations, contributing to preserving and promoting traditional culture and building civilised lifestyles.

The movements on building “family of culture,” “hamlet of culture,” and “residential area of culture,” along with others on building “learning family” have been launched at the grassroots level and spread among the public. Last year, up to 74% of local families have been granted with the title of “family of culture”, up 8.4% against 2018. Meanwhile, 57.5% of hamlets and residential areas, and 98% of agencies, units, businesses and schools won similar titles.

Son La’s culture has been promoted by integrating cultural programmes into diplomatic events, trade promotion activities, and exchanges with other localities across the country as well as Lao provinces. This is an important factor for the local tourism sector to develop sustainably with unique products.

Cultural and human development has been both momentum and target in economic development in general, and tourism development in particular in Son La. Thanks to decisions and policies for long-term development and key solutions, the traditional culture of ethnic groups in Son La has been preserved effectively, contributing to preserving traditional values as a foundation for sustainable development./.