TDM City to awake ecotourism potential

Ecotourism is now a new trend. Taking available advantages, some areas in Thu Dau Mot City have developed this tourism type and gained initial good results.

Tourists visited orchards in Tan An Ward, TDM City  

Tan An spotlight

With favorable soil conditions and being along the Saigon River, in recent years, people in Tan An Ward (TDM City) have developed orchards. With an area of ​​about 175ha, fruit trees, including rambutan, durian, mangosteen, mulberry ..., many gardeners in this area previously grew and sold fruit to traders. But now, orchards in Tan An became an ecotourism destination for all ages. Every year, from May to August is the ripe fruit season, tourists come here to enjoy the fresh air of nature. Visitors may stroll under trees laden with fruit, lie in a hammock in orchards, or enjoy fresh fruits.

Mr. Nguyen Van De, living in quarter 2, Tan An Ward, started to invest an orchard in 2002. After about six years, his orchard, including rambutan, strawberry, durian, has been harvested. At that time, he only harvested and sold to traders, but about 3 years ago, some tourists inside and outside the province have come to visit and enjoy the fruits. Foreseeing this demand, he decided to convert the orchard to ecotourism destination. Mr. De said, this change has helped to enhance the product value, significantly improve his family income. In every ripe fruit season, his orchard welcomes daily about 50 guests; in weekends this amount can be up to 200 visitors per day.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Ni, Chairwoman of Tan An Ward Farmers’ Association, total area of ​​orchards in the ward is about 175ha. To maintain and develop orchards, the ward has encouraged farmers to join the roup of fruit tree production. The group has now 10 households with each garden area from 5,000m2 to 1ha. Gardeners of this group are supported in terms of seeds, planting techniques, high-quality fruit production process… In addition, members may take out loans (about VND500 million each) from provincial Farmer supporting fund to renovate and develop orchards. The switch to combining agricultural production with ecotourism has been considered as a solution not only helps farmers in the province increase their incomes but also improve economic efficiency of orchards. This has also stimulated the urban agricultural restructuring towards sustainable development.

To promote the advantages

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Loi, Deputy Chairman of TDM City Farmers’ Association, said some wards along the Saigon River with orchards had the advantage to develop ecotourism. However, the development of this type is initially spontaneous. Realizing the great potential for this type, TDM City Farmers’ Association has established 2 ecotourism destinations combined with “don ca tai tu” (southern amateur music) to serve customers. Accordingly, each destination will gather about 20 households or more having an orchard of 5.000m2 or more. To develop this form, gardeners need instructions, trainings, technical support, tourism promotion. The city authorities will survey demands of gardeners wanting to make investments in ecotourism to timely offer consultancy to select convenient sites to tourists, contributing to diversifying local tourism forms.

According to the adjusted general planning for urban construction in TDM City till 2020 approved by PPC, by 2020, TDM City would be a district of Binh Duong City. Regarding agricultural economy, TDM City will focus on urban agriculture and ecotourism. In particular, western area of the city, along the Saigon River, are planned to be ecotourism area, including Dinh Hoa, An Hiep, Chanh My, Tuong Binh Hiep and Tan An. This area will be saved for gardens and houses overlooking the Saigon River to create landscapes, clean streets; while encouraging the development of garden villas as an identity of the peculiar architecture...

It can be seen, the comprehensive development of ecotourism in the western TDM City is consistent with the planning to boost the plant restructuring, raising the value of per land unit… According to TDM City People’s Committee, efficient exploitation of ecotourism potential and advantages is also a prerequisite for local trade – services to further develop in the future.

Reported by Quynh Nhien – Translated by Ngoc Huynh