This is kinda hard to figure. A couple of years ago there were American and French tourists ranging all over these areas, as the SRV government was touting its "Hill Tribes" as obviously lucrative to that industry.
I still sense the real issue is coffee, as these are some of the best growing regions in the country and region, and the ethnic Vietnamese (and commie government) want as much of that trade as they can get.
But all of the world's commie states have also publically declared their support for their "revolutionary" brethren in the so-called palestinian intifada too, and there could be some reflections of that in this.
Damned commies want to have it both ways. Big surprise, eh?
I have an acquaintance involved with tourism to the "hill tribes" in Thailand, Hmong I think, though they import them from other areas, Cambodia I think. Not all that lucrative, not nearly enough to bid on a Senator.