Tourists choose to buy agricultural products from Son La.

Attractive agricultural tourism experiences

With over 2,150 hectares of tea plantations, more than 3,000 hectares of vegetables, and over 10,400 hectares of fruit trees, along with high-tech agricultural production areas, Moc Chau has become an ideal destination for tourists to experience agricultural tourism. Moc Chau district is strengthening its efforts to encourage and support farmers, businesses, and cooperatives in developing service models to promote ecotourism, with many well-known tourist destinations such as: tea plantation experiences at Vinatea Moc Chau Tea Village, the heart-shaped tea hill, the fingerprint tea hill, and Moc Suong tea hill; strawberry picking experiences at Chimi Farm and Hoa Moc Chau Farm; flower and fruit harvesting experiences in Na Ka plum valley and Mu Nau plum valley; and dairy cow care experiences at Dairy Farm...

In Mai Son district, Co Noi, the "strawberry capital," boasts hundreds of hectares of dedicated strawberry farms planted annually, attracting numerous tourists from both within and outside the province to experience fruit picking. Integrated farms, vineyards, and orange orchards, producing organically and offering sightseeing and dining services, are being established and developed, further boosting agricultural growth in Mai Son.

In Bac Yen, besides cloud hunting in Ta Xua and experiencing the Dinosaur Backbone, tourists can also enjoy the spectacular scenery of Xim Vang during the rice harvest season with over 300 hectares of terraced rice fields, or visit the heritage tree cluster with over 200 ancient Shan Tuyet tea trees hundreds of years old. In addition, there are mango growing areas in Yen Chau, longan growing areas in Song Ma, rice fields in Muong Tac, Phu Yen district, and cage fish farming in the Son La hydroelectric reservoir. Along with these are 5 high-tech agricultural zones, export-oriented farming areas, and geographical indications. The entire province currently has over 200 unique regional agricultural products and 151 OCOP products with 3-5 star standards, adding to the attractiveness of Son La tourism.

Tourists experience picking plums in Na Ka plum valley, Moc Chau district.

Attracting tourists through agricultural product festivals.

In recent years, Son La has made its mark with festivals associated with the flower and fruit seasons in various localities, becoming year-round events. These events serve both as a chance to promote the province's agricultural products and to showcase the potential and strengths of Son La's tourism.

With over 20,000 hectares, Son La is the largest Arabica coffee growing region in the country. In 2023, the first Son La Provincial Coffee Festival, themed "Son La Arabica - The Flavor of the Northwest Mountains," was a large-scale event with significant meaning in promoting the Son La coffee brand. It also created a positive effect in promoting Son La tourism, especially experiential and exploratory coffee tourism tours, fostering linkages and supporting tourism development in the coffee-growing region.

Many fruit-harvesting festivals in the districts of Son La province have been held for many years, becoming impressive highlights on the journey of exploring the region. A prime example is the Moc Chau district's plum harvesting festival, held since 2014, which has become an annual cultural and tourism event. Meanwhile, in Yen Chau, known for its sweet bananas and fragrant mangoes, every June, people flock there to participate in the mango festival and experience attractive cultural, artistic, and sporting activities.

Song Ma District holds an annual longan festival associated with vibrant cultural activities and the launch of Song Ma longan exports. For the past two years, Muong La District has maintained the organization of the Hawthorn Flower Festival, creating an event that attracts a large number of tourists to experience the "fairytale land" of Ngoc Chien. In addition, there are the "Golden Harvest Festival" in the highland district of Bac Yen, the Moc Chau Tea Festival, the Orange Festival (Phu Yen), the Coffee Festival (Mai Son)... all of which help promote and sell Son La's agricultural products and create a double effect in promoting the province's tourism.

Experience the vineyards in Moc Chau.

Developing green and sustainable tourism.

The province has specifically oriented its tourism development towards leveraging its strong agricultural sector. Resolution No. 41/2022/NQ-HĐND dated August 31, 2022, of the Provincial People's Council on policies supporting tourism development in Son La province for the period 2022-2026 outlines four main policy groups: supporting tourism product development, tourism promotion and advertising, human resource development, and community tourism development. These policies encourage, support, and promote the participation of businesses and the people in tourism development, leveraging the strengths of each locality to create unique tourism products.

In 2021, the Provincial People's Committee approved the "Zoning Plan for the Conservation of the Characteristic Agricultural Ecosystem of Moc Chau District," which includes tea hills and grasslands within the urban area, developing raw material areas linked to ecotourism. Tourism promotion activities also focus on green and sustainable tourism linked to the district's strong agricultural sector. Recently, a tourism promotion conference themed "Orientation for the Development of a Green and Sustainable Moc Chau National Tourist Area" was held as part of the ceremony announcing the recognition of Moc Chau as a National Tourist Area. The conference focused on solutions to promote green tourism development and included the signing of commitments between tourism companies and businesses to strengthen cooperation in tourism development in line with the local development orientation.

Developing tourism in conjunction with strong agricultural sectors has proven to be sustainable. In particular, green agriculture, with production methods based on organic farming and VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, is attracting significant tourist interest. This has led to the creation of eco-tourism and experiential products that are environmentally friendly and protective, helping Son La tourism develop in line with its "green and sustainable" direction.

Text and photos: Thanh Dao