Dong Thap province has developed nearly 100 community-based tourism sites to date and become the third-most attractive locality in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region.
Tourists in Dong Thap (Photo: VNA)
Ngo Quang Tuyen, deputy director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said local people have built effective community-based tourism models that have caught the attention of tour operators and helped diversify local tourism products.
Such models have also contributed to increasing the added value of farm produce and creating jobs with stable incomes, he added.
Most of these 100 sites are located in the districts of Lai Vung, Tam Nong, and Thap Muoi, as well as in Cao Lanh and Sa Dec cities.
Deemed “The land of lotuses”, visitors to Dong Thap should not miss a visit to the lotus field eco-tourism site in Thap Muoi district. There were previously only five families providing tourism services at the site, but their number now counts in the dozens and an average of 10,000 visitors come to admire the fields every month. During peak tourism times, the number of visitors can exceed a thousand a day.
Meanwhile, Tam Nong district, which is famous for its Tram Chim National Park - a Ramsar wetlands site of international importance - is home to about 30 lodging facilities and two eco-tourism sites and welcomes approximately 100,000 holidaymakers annually.
The rich and diverse agriculture for which Dong Thap is known gives it advantages in terms of community-based tourism.
Local agro-tourism sites cover between 5,000 and 10,000 sq m on average and cater to up to 1,000 visitors a day. Total revenue in the 2016-2020 period stood at more than 43 billion VND (1.86 million USD).