Opportunities for river tourism development

 In order to develop tourism into a key economic sector according to the guideline of Politburo's Resolution 08-NQ / TW, in recent years, Binh Duong has implemented many programs to boost tourism development. In particular, river tourism is determined to be very important, opening up new opportunities for tourism development of the province...

Ancient house of Tran Van Ho on Bach Dang Street, Phu Cuong Ward (Thu Dau Mot City) is one of the destinations in the boat tour route.

 To harness the advantages

There are currently has 4 large rivers running through Binh Duong, including Saigon River, Dong Nai River, Be River and Thi Tinh River. Along these rivers are beautiful natural landscapes, lush green orchards all year round, isles (Bach Dang isle, Rua isle), or alluvial banks along rivers. According to provincial Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism, these are conditions that can be exploited to form weekend resorts, sightseeing tours, ecological tours along rivers, and boat tours .

These available riverside advantages of Binh Duong can be exploited and developed into tourism products to serve tourists. The first product is riverside tours, tours of orchards (orchards of Lai Thieu, Phu Tho, Tuong Binh Hiep, Tan An, Phu An, Thanh Tuyen). Another product type is heritage tours. Taking part in heritage tours by river, tourists may visit cultural destinations distributed along riversides with a distance close to the rivers, such as Phu Long communal house, ancient house of Tran Van Ho , Thu Dau Mot market, Ba Thien Hau temple...

Tours of traditional craft villages is also an advantage of Binh Duong's river tourism. The province has long-standing traditional crafts, such as ceramics, Tuong Binh Hiep lacquer craft village, Phu Tho woodcarving, Dai Hung kiln, clogs, piggy banks... Products of these villages shave been well known by local people, other provinces, cities, and abroad.

Opportunities for development

In recent years, the exploitation and development of river tourism have been carried out. According to Nguyen Thanh Phong, Deputy Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2017 the department cooperated with Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and Saigontourist Company to launch the first boat route from Tan Cang (Ho Chi Minh City) to Bach Dang wharf (Thu Dau Mot City). This is one of seven river travel routes developed Saigontourist to serve visitors from October 2017. Saigontourist has operated many tours bringing hundreds of tourists to Binh Duong by river way, including many international visitors.

In order to exploit and develop efficiently river travel routes, provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism advised provincial People's Committee to approve the plan for renovating Ba Lua port into a tourist port. As a result, Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 4352/KH-UBND dated 28th Aug 2019 for development of river travel routes and products in Binh Duong province up to 2025, orientation towards 2030.

According to Mr. Phong, the promulgated plan is a favorable condition to exploit the advantages of natural resources, riparian orchards in combination with cultural heritage, traditional craft villages to serve visitors coming by river way, forming new and attractive tourist products to meet the demand of tourists in and outside the province. According to this plan, from now to 2030, the province will invest in passenger stations to serve the development of river tourism. In parallel with the investment in passenger terminals, provincial People's Committee will also construct bus stops, stations, means of transport, and tourism products to serve tourists.

Recently, Ho Chi Minh City has opened a high-speed boat route from Bach Dang wharf (Ho Chi Minh City) - Binh Duong - Cu Chi Tunnels (Ho Chi Minh City) and vice versa. The boat route is operated by DP Green Technology Co., Ltd. In Binh Duong, the boat will dock at Tiamo wharf (Thu Dau Mot City). On July 17, the first boat route will be officially put into operation. The birth of this river bus route not only serves the travel need of people, but also boosts tourism activities of the two localities. This is an opportunity and a foundation for Binh Duong tourism to effectively exploit river bus terminals (after being invested according to the provincial plan), bringing more tourists to Binh Duong by river way.

Reported by Hong Thuan - Translated by Ngoc Huynh