'Awakening' rural tourism potential of Tan Tay Apricot Village
People in Tan Tay commune, Thanh Hoa district, Long An province are developing rural tourism from the potential and advantages of the apricot growing village in accordance with the province's orientation. This is considered a premise for rural development, creating jobs and income for people, promoting economic restructuring, preserving the traditional cultural values of the locality.
A corner of the Apricot Growing Village in Tan Tay Commune (Thanh Hoa District)
The Apricot Growing Village was established in 2004 by Mr. Tran Van Thong, who brought apricot varieties from Ben Tre to grow in Hamlet 4, Tan Tay Commune, bringing high economic efficiency. In 2020, the Apricot Village in Tan Tay Commune was recognized as a craft village by the Provincial People's Committee. By 2023, the Provincial People's Committee approved the Project on developing the Apricot Craft Village in Tan Tay Commune in association with Long An tourism development to 2030.
According to the Project, the village strives to build rural tourism. By 2025 there will be at least 10 households and by 2030 there will be at least 20 households participating in the chain of tourism products and services in the village with services such as accommodation, fishing, making bonsai, don ca tai tu, dining, cars, boats to transport passengers, taking photos, etc.
According to the People's Committee of Tan Tay Commune, the entire Apricot Craft Village in Tan Tay Commune currently has 430 hectares of yellow apricot from more than 526 households. On average, each household has a profit of more than 600 million VND/hectare/year. The Head of the Representative Board of the Apricot Craft Village in Tan Tay Commune, Thanh Hoa District - Nguyen Van Hoang said: "The development of tourism in the Apricot Craft Village in Tan Tay Commune is assessed to have a lot of potential. People are very excited and unanimous in developing tourism to create high economic efficiency. However, the rural tourism model in Tan Tay commune has just begun to develop with a number of households implementing the pilot model. In the coming time, people will continue to develop rural tourism in the direction of each household providing a separate tourism product and service, limiting duplication and competition with each other".
People in Tan Tay commune taking care of apricot tree
Mr. Huynh Van Thuy (Hamlet 4, Tan Tay commune) takes advantage of the available apricot garden to develop rural tourism with a tourism service model called Ba Thuy Tram Dieu May. This is the first tourism service model in Tan Tay commune's apricot village. Mr. Thuy's apricot growing model combined with rural tourism is a harmonious combination of existing natural ecological landscapes, building experiential products associated with exploiting natural values, community culture, daily life and production of people in the village. Currently, this rural tourism destination attracts many domestic and foreign visitors to visit and experience.
Like Mr. Thuy, Mr. Tran Van Phuoc (Hamlet 4, Tan Tay Commune) built a rural tourism destination combined with karaoke singing together in a 2-hectare apricot garden. Mr. Phuoc is investing in building more stilt houses on canals in the apricot garden to attract tourists.
Rural tourism site of Mr. Huynh Van Thuy's household (Hamlet 4, Tan Tay Commune)
According to Dr. Ngo Thi Thu Trang, Deputy Director of the Saemaun Undong Rural Development Center, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University, currently, the Craft Village only has 2 single service destination and this is not considered rural tourism. Because rural tourism is not simply about sustainable development of each individual but must be the strength of the community, people must work together, protect the products and tourism brands of the craft village. Therefore, to develop tourism, the Tan Tay Apricot Craft Village needs to establish a tourism coordination team. This coordination team will play a management role, dividing households into many small groups, each group in charge of a separate area, for example, the culinary group, the experience group, the amateur music group or the transportation group, etc.
“The members of the coordination team will sit together to unify the direction of building tourism products for the apricot village; at the same time, build a mechanism to distribute customers and carry out the stages of promotion, connect routes and tours. From there, tourism in the apricot growing village of Tan Tay commune will develop in a systematic direction and have more tourism products” - Dr. Ngo Thi Thu Trang suggested./.
By Staffs - Translated by Q. Thien
