SAPA TOURISM DURING THE FRENCH COLONIAL PERIOD: HERITAGE AND STRATEGIES FOR PRESERVATION AND VALUE ENHANCEMENT

Abstract

This article examines the surveying, planning and construction of the Sa Pa resort during the early twentieth-century French colonial period, assesses its current condition and proposes strategies for leveraging its colonial-era tourism heritage to support Sa Pa’s sustainable development. Drawing primarily on historical and logical analysis, and enriched by systematic collection and examination of archival documents, period publications and modern monographs, the study adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates history, tourism geography and heritage economics. The research reveals the sequence of activities that established Sa Pa as the premier resort of French Indochina, elucidates the core values that shaped its brand identity, documents the tourism offerings and surviving heritage from the colonial era, and advances recommendations for revitalizing these assets in contemporary tourism planning to promote long-term sustainability.