Potentials for tourism development

For a long time, Thuan An city has been known to visitors for fruits, handicraft villages and attractive resorts. Located near Ho Chi Minh city, Thuan An city is a destination favorable for those from Ho Chi Minh city who choose a place of recreation and resting at weekends. 

Visitors have a look and and do shopping at stalls prepared for Lai Thieu Fruit Festival 2019

Potentials

Thuan An city is one of the localities of fast economic growth in the province. Having the advantageous geography and traffic position, Thuan An city has conditions and potentials to exploit tourism.

For a long time, various handicraft villages have been established in the city to work on pottery and other ceramic products. Along with that, various approved historical and cultural relics at provincial and national levels such as Phu Long Temple, An Son Temple, and Thuan An Hoa War-base have been in Thuan An city to make it more potential to exploit local tourism. In the city, the passing traffic route of Binh Duong Highway connects localities of the province and other cities. The Saigon River opens up chances for orchards as traveling by roads or on waterways are all favorable. According to local leaders, those are advantageous conditions for development of hotels, catering services and resorts to attract a large number of visitors who come for exploring and resting, contributing to the development of eco-tourism and improving income of locals.

Thuan An city is also known as a zone of fruits in orchards that have been developed throughout communes and wards of Hung Dinh, An Son, An Thanh, and Binh Nham. Having advantageous traffic system and potential position for tourism development, Thuan An city has been chosen by enterprises and units to construct resorts. Nguyen Van Dam, Deputy Head of Culture and Information of Thuan An city said that by the time 10 stared hotels and over 100 hostels and restaurants have been in place to attract a majority of visitors seeking for tours, culinary opportunities and shopping, namely Phuong Nam Restaurant, Di Ky Green Resort, An Lam River Resort, Sai Gon Park Resort, Minh Sang Plaza, Aeon Mall, Lotte Mall, etc.

“Those are good conditions for Thuan An city to maintain as a place of potentials for visitor attraction,” said Dam.

Connection for development

Nguyen Van Dam added that despite being lack of truly prominent tourism products comparing to other localities, Thuan An city has good conditions for establishment of tourism products. To develop tourism, local division of culture and information, for the time, has coordinated to disseminate information and broadcast local potentials and images of Thuan An tourism to people and tourists far and wide.

Based on the mentioned conditions, Thuan An city People’s Committee, for the time, has focused on direction to launch various activities for local tourism development, including the planning for eco-tourism along Saigon River in 2018-2020, the publication of 1,200 guidebooks on tourism in Thuan An (bilingually English and Vietnamese) to introduce to tourists far and wide of traveling destination in the city. Besides, so as to introduce the bright images of Lai Thieu Orchard and eco-urban zone of Thuan An in connection with business operations related to eco-tourism, Thuan An city has also organized weeks of culture and culinary in 2017 and Lai Thieu Fruit Festival in 2015 and 2019 at Cau Ngang, Hung Dinh ward. Activities in the mentioned week of culture and festival have attracted a majority of tourists from outside the city in a bid to broadcast the images of Lai Thieu orchards.

Aside from the achievements, tourism development in Thuan An city for the time has been facing certain drawbacks. According to Dam, orchards is the major tourism products but fruits actually have not been stable and prosperous (in years of good and bad harvest). At the places of tourism potentials a long Saigon River, the private orchards have been voluntarily set up without any professional approaches. Tourism development on waterways has been limited as internal water ports have not been constructed. Besides, tourists getting to Thuan An city are mainly those who going for local festivals of Mazu Goddess Festival, Lai Thieu Fruit Festival or on fruit harvests (lunar May and June). They get to tourism destination only for recreation and at weekends while local products and services are generally simple. Souvenirs have not been strongly developed to offer special and premium souvenirs to the tourists. Therefore, tourism in Thuan An city for the time has only been in potentials without much promotion of strengths.

Dam added that to make use of all potentials and advantage of tourism in Thuan An city, connection for development of tourism products to service the tourists should be in place. For the time to come, Thuan An city shall coordinate with Binh Duong provincial Center for Trade Promotion and tourist companies and units to connect and create tourism products such as eco-tourism (in orchards and on waterways), cultural tourism (visiting cultural and historical sites, attending festivals and activities in handicraft villages), and resorts in combination with shopping or tours. 

Thuan An city shall invest and construct internal water ports as planned by Binh Duong provincial People’s Committee to connect tours and visits by boats on Saigon River. Lai Thieu Fruit Festival shall be maintained to attract visitors to local orchards at Cau Ngang, Hung Dinh ward and the neighborhood. Concurrently, the city shall call upon organizations and individuals to attend the investments into resorts and homestay sites at An Son ward, Hung Dinh ward, and An Thanh ward by socialization approaches. The connection of tour units and schools shall be established to set up educational tours with visits to cultural and historical sites and local traditional handicraft villages.

Reported by Hong Thuan - Translated by Vi Bao