Visitors take a boat tour at Gao Giong eco-tourism site in Cao Lanh district, Dong Thap province. (Photo: dulich.dongthap.gov.vn)

Hanoi – In recent years, many provinces and cities
throughout the country have bolstered the development of rural tourism in a bid
to promote their natural landscapes, people, traditional crafts and products to
visitors. Rural tourism is considered as the key to facilitating economic
development and fostering the building of new-style rural areas.

Locals
and authorities join hands to develop tourism

In 2016,
agricultural tourism in Dong Thap began to thrive, making the Mekong Delta
province an ideal destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

Currently, Sa
Dec city, and Thap Muoi and Cao Lanh districts in Dong Thap province have taken
advantage of their natural conditions, such as rivers, rice fields, lotus
fields, and mango gardens, to build new tourism products.

Tu Mach’s mango
garden in Cao Lanh district welcomes hundreds of visitors every day, generating
significant income for his family.

Director of the
Dong Thap provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Thi Hoai
Thu said that agritourism helps farmers earn an income 1.5 times higher than
farming alone. This is also the optimal solution to utilise local labourers,
improve income, increase the value of agricultural products, and raise locals’
awareness of environmental protection and preservation of traditional culture.

To date, a total
of 63 agricultural and community-based tourism sites have been established in
Dong Thap, including 8 homestays, 2 farmstays, and 53 tourist attractions. The
locality plans to launch an additional 40 sites in the coming time.

In the 2016-2021
period, community-based tourist sites in Dong Thap served more than 4 million
visitors, with a total revenue of more than 486 billion VND.

In central Thanh
Hoa province, the tourism sector has also been active in integrating natural
landscapes, OCOP products, and indigenous culture in tourism development.

According to
Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Vuong Thi Hai Yen, the province is working on a project on developing
agricultural tourism.

In 2022, tourist
sites and attractions in Thanh Hoa province welcomed over 11 million visitors
and earned more than 20 trillion VND in revenue, 3.2 times and 4 times higher
than the figures of 2021, respectively.

The province has
launched new agricultural tourism products such as tours to grow clean
vegetables in Yen Le commune, Nhu Xuan district, in addition to tours to Yen
Trung tourism village in Yen Dinh district, and tours to Linh Ky Moc ecological
farm in Thanh Hoa city.

More
momentum for agricultural and rural tourism

Agricultural
tourism can ensure a profit that is 1.5 times higher than common farming
methods. Therefore, many localities have actively developed rural tourism
product services.

Figures from the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that as many as 65 OCOP
products in the group of community-based tourism services have been certified
within the one-commune-one-product (OCOP) programme. Which, many regions,
including the northern mountainous region and the Mekong River Delta, have
brought into play their advantages of natural conditions, agricultural
production, culture, and traditional craft villages, to build rural tourist
attractions.

Rural tourism
not only helps to promote the potential and advantages of agriculture, craft
villages, culture and ecological environment of localities but also contributes
to improving the living quality of the local people while restructuring the
rural economy towards industrialisation and modernisation.

Under the
programme on developing rural tourism and building new-style rural areas in the
2021-2025 period, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked
localities to identify the development of rural tourism as one key task.

The programme
sets targets that by 2025, about 50% of the rural tourism establishments in
Vietnam will be certified to meet tourist service standards.

Also, at least
50% of the rural tourist spots are recognised to be digitised and connected
with digital technology.

To realise the
programme, the ministry requested localities to accelerate communication
events, raise awareness of tourism businesses and individuals about sustainable
rural tourism development, and launch new tours and rural tourist sites which
can promote local cultural values while protecting the environment.

It is hoped that
with full participation from the socio-political organisations, local
authorities and people, rural tourism will further develop, making an important
contribution to the socio-economic development of rural areas./.