Development potential

After participating in the program "Caravan famtrip 2023 - Welcome to Long An" organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Director of Tin Viet Tourism Company - Le Trung Tin said that the company will launch a tour to explore Long An combining learning about history in 2 days and 1 night, connecting tourism destinations in the province: Tan Lap floating village, king areca row, Vam Nhut Tao historical relic site, etc.

“Previously, I did not know much about Long An tourism. After the Caravan program, I realize that Long An has enough tourism potential, with the advantage of being close to Ho Chi Minh City, so the province can exploit tourism products quite well like other localitíe" - Mr. Le Trung Tin shared.

Dinghy rowing service helps visitors embrace the beauty of the Dong Thap Muoi region

One of the destinations Tin Viet Tourism Company is interested in is Tan Lap Floating Village (Moc Hoa district), an outstanding eco-tourism area of the province. Tan Lap floating village with its peaceful, green space is the chosen by many people when they want to temporarily get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The tourist area is home to the longest dal route in Vietnam weaving under lush green cajuput trees. Dinghy rowing and cable towing services help visitors better enjoy the beauty of the Dong Thap Muoi region when walking under cajuput trees, listening to wild birds flapping their wings, fish snapping and watching lotus flowers and water lilies bloom on the water.

Tan Lap floating village also regularly organizes many new services to serve tourists. Currently, in addition to sightseeing and experience services, Tan Lap Floating Village also has water games, snail catching, fishing, etc. In addition, the cuisine here is mostly outstanding specialties of the Dong Thap Muoi region, giving visitors an interesting experience during their trip. In addition to Tan Lap Floating Village, in Moc Hoa district, Endless Field tourist area is also a prominent eco-tourism destination of Long An.

Students help tourists make snowflake cakes at Vam Nhut Tao historical relic site (Tan Tru district)

Besides eco-tourism, the province also initially exploited community tourism at the Vam Nhut Tao historical relic site (Tan Tru district). Recently, the My hometown Tan Tru tour came into operation at the Vam Nhut Tao historical relic site, every Sunday, helping visitors learn more about the unique cultural features of the district through traditional miniatured occupations at the relic site.

The target audience of the My hometown Tan Tru tour is students to educate traditions and arouse national pride in the young generation. That's why the tour guides are also students in Tan Tru district who were carefully instructed in interpretation and tourist guiding skills. The team of child guides creates a highlight for the tour, attracting, creating friendliness for tourists. The implementation of the My hometown Tan Tru tour creates a new tourism product as well as bringing benefits to the community in the area, creating joy and bringing spiritual value to the people.

Future orientation

In order to take advantage of the available potential to develop rural tourism, in the program "Caravan famtrip 2023 - Welcome to Long An", the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism introduces many destinations with potential for developing rural tourism: Tan Lap floating Village, Chavi Garden, king areca row, Vam Nhut Tao historical relic site, etc. The chosen route was country roads filled with colorful yellow bell flowers or flooded fields in the poetic Dong Thap Muoi region. Some destinations display and provide the province's OCOP products, giving visitors more opportunities to learn about and purchase Long An's agricultural products during their trip. Hopefully, after the Caravan trip, some of the province's tourism products will be exploited by travel and tourism companies to serve tourists, especially tourists from the Central and Northern regions.

Tourists visit the lemon garden at Chavi Garden (Ben Luc district)

Besides the potential destinations that are being exploited: Tan Lap floating village (Moc Hoa district), Chavi Garden (Ben Luc district), etc, Tan Tay apricot village (Thanh Hoa district) is the highlight of Long An's rural tourism. Although not officially exploited for tourism, Tan Tay apricot village has many advantages to become a unique tourist destination of the province. With the characteristic of a large, high-quality yellow apricot growing area associated with the fascinating story of the founder, the infrastructure is gradually being invested and the people are very ready, the development Tourism in Tan Tay apricot village is promising.

Rural tourism is a activity in rural areas, exploiting specific tourism resources of culture, lifestyle, and village traditions, associated with agricultural production activities of rural communities. Rural tourism activities often create many job opportunities, positively impact the life of the community, and directly create a bridge between the production and supply of agricultural and handicraft products with visitors. Therefore, when orienting the development of rural tourism, Long An is always associated with building new rural areas and promoting and spreading OCOP products in the province.

Tourists buying OCOP products at the Dong Thap stop on the Caravan journey

The OCOP product chain integration into tourism products is focused when developing tourism to increase the value and create revenue for each locality. At the same time, it can introduce and promote Long An's image to tourists. Currently, the Provincial Tourism Association is trying to coordinate localities and destinations to connect, build and develop trade for OCOP products as well as to build a unique identity image for the province's OCOP products.

Long An has advantages in geographical location, resources and necessary conditions to develop this type of tourism. However, according to the assessment of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the development of this rural tourism still has many limitations. Clearly realizing the potentials, advantages and having specific development orientations will be the driving force for the province to increasingly improve and gradually develop tourism in the coming time./.