Agricultural tourism is one of the new tourism products of Ho Chi Minh City with high potential of development, but providers of this kind of tourism are facing difficulties in expanding their service.
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According to the city Department of Tourism, demand for farm tours rises 20-30 percent each year. Some most popular areas for tourists include the 88-hectare Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Agriculture Park in Cu Chi district.
Tran Kim Hang, Vice Director of the Infrastructure Exploitation under the Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Agriculture Park, said that the park has offered a number of farm tours since 2014. The number of tourists to the park has risen sharply to reach over 12,000 in 2016 from only 7,000 in the first year. The figure is expected to hit 15,000 in 2017.
However, Hang said that the park has yet to give adequate investment to the product, with a lack of many services for tourists.
Nguyen Duy Son, Vice Chairman of the Management Board of the park, pointed to a lack of human resources for tourism in the park.
Son stressed that in order to survive and develop, it is necessary to invest more in personnel quality targeting specific groups of tourists.
Truong Minh Hau, Vice Director of Tourism Promotion Agency under the city Department of Tourism held that firms should decide which kind of customers they wish to attract and design their tourism services accordingly.
According to Hau, while investment in tourism infrastructure is necessary, only facilities to meet basic demand of tourists are needed to avoid stretching resources. What is more important is to train their tour guides, establish connections with local community and strengthen communications to promote their tourism products, especially through social media.
Local firms also proposed that the Government should design policies to support infrastructure system in rural areas to serve agriculture tourism, while building a set of criteria for standards of this kind of product.
Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the city Department of Tourism said that tourism is a special economic sector that requires strong connection among sectors and regions.
In the future, the department will continue working with other departments and sectors to improve the city’s tourism products with agriculture tourism one of priorities.