Thuan An city encourages ecotourism development

As one of the localities with fast industrial development, Thuan An city is also a locality that still retains valuable specialty orchards. The delicious taste of specialty fruits in this land along with available advantages are the conditions for Thuan An to exploit and develop tourism.

Numerous tourists come to Thuan An to join Lai Thieu ripe fruit season 2023.

 Ecotourism potential

Lai Thieu in the old time (present-day Thuan An) is considered a very special agro-ecological region of Binh Duong and the Southeast region, once considered a "holy land" of fruits with many delicious fruits, such as: mangosteen, durian, jackfruit, langsat... In particular, mangosteen grown on this land has a very distinctive flavor. The lush green gardens and sweet fruits here are also the conditions and advantages for this locality to exploit and develop tourism, especially eco-tourism combined with specialty orchards.

Coming to orchards in Hung Dinh, Binh Nham and An Son wards of Thuan An city in a ripe fruit season, surely each of visitors also has a very pleasant and comfortable feeling as being in harmony with nature. Some orchards are also invested more by its owner to serve tourism, with services of fruit picking, enjoying specialties, catering etc. right at the garden.

Nguyen Minh Huy, Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Hung Dinh Ward, said that the infrastructure in the ward has been upgraded, and roads in the Cau Ngang area were also renovated to create favorable conditions for service industry. In addition, the ward also strengthens the popularization of the advantages and position of the locality in tourism development and its limitations and shortcomings in order to gradually change the way of thinking and doing of each individual and household. At the same time, this job is also to encourage organizations and individuals to invest in tourism services, creating reliable quality attractions, eateries, and resorts, joining hands with local authorities to re-build Cau Ngang reputation.

Recently, some households that have large gardens in Hung Dinh ward have paid attention to renovating and investing in more services to serve tourists and increase their family income. Especially, in ripe fruit season (around April-May of the lunar calendar every year), the number of domestic and foreign tourists, especially from Ho Chi Minh City, coming to experience and relax at local orchards has increased a lot.

However, according to Mr. Huy, compared to the number of orchards in the area, the number of orchards knowing how to provide services and attract visitors is still quite modest, with more than 10 business households.  Therefore, in order to preserve specialty orchards, facilitate tourism development, and increase people's income, gardeners need to have a close connection with each other to create quality products and services to attract more and more tourists to the locality.

Tourism development

In addition to industrial development, Thuan An city is also preserving and developing specialty orchards combined with tourism development by exploiting its available advantages.

In particular, the city has focused on high-tech agriculture and maintaining areas specializing in local specialty fruits. One of the activities that have been carried out for many years, contributing to the preservation and restoration of orchards in Thuan An city, attracting tourists to the locality is the Lai Thieu ripe fruit festival. This festival is maintained to promote and introduce the image of Lai Thieu orchards to visitors. Thereby, the festival creates favorable conditions for localities to exchange, learn, promote trade, invest in tourism, contributing to the economy and tourism in the area.

Orchards of this land not only provide specialty fruits with distinct flavors but are also considered the green lung of the city. In Thuan An city, there is a system of historical - cultural relics recognized by provincial and national levels; tourist areas, tourism services are invested by private businesses. Besides, activities to promote tourism development also received much attention from city leaders. These are favorable conditions for Thuan An to gradually develop tourism, especially orchard tourism, serving the needs of a large number of tourists, contributing to the local economic development.

Nguyen Tu Hai, Head of Culture and Information Office of Thuan An City, said that tourism development is one of the issues that always concern city leaders. Over the years, Thuan An City has set up plans to restore and develop tourism in many forms, such as: retain the area of fruit orchards, restore the Lai Thieu mangosteen brand, and periodically organize the Lai Thieu ripe fruit festival to promote and introduce local culture and specialties, Lai Thieu people in the old time and today Thuan An to a large number of tourists, encourage people to invest in tourism. In addition, Thuan An also develops industrial tourism by bringing visitors to industrial parks, factories and enterprises in the area.

“In the coming time, the office will continue to advise the City People's Committee to implement the strategy of developing Vietnam's tourism in the area. On the basis of the local tourism advantages, we will promote the development of tourism. At the same time, to develop eco-tourism, the city is also making plannings for wharves along the Saigon River, implementing Thuan An urban planning based on urban development along the Saigon River. In particular, the city will dedicate space to develop culture and sports to attract tourists to this area", said Nguyen Tu Hai.

By H.Thuan, D.Huyen - Translated by Ngoc Huynh