In Moc Chau, tourists have many choices, from hiking, visiting orchards, bathing in streams and hot springs, to exploring pristine villages. In recent years, besides famous tourist attractions like Nang Tien Waterfall and Dai Yem Waterfall, the demand for visiting orchards for experiential tourism has been steadily increasing. Recognizing this trend, many orchard owners have learned to fully capitalize on experiential tourism.

The Dai Yem Waterfall tourist area in Moc Chau district, Son La province, attracts thousands of visitors.
Come visit and explore. Photo: Canh Thang.

Promoting tourism potential and agricultural product consumption.

A decade ago, Mr. Mai Duc Thinh, Director of the 19/5 Agricultural Development Service Cooperative in Moc Chau Farm Town, Moc Chau District, diligently introduced many new crop varieties into production. Besides vegetables and plums, he also planted thousands of pear trees and several hectares of grapes, including varieties imported from France. The cooperative's production areas are well-planned, with concrete pathways to welcome visitors.

With the increasing number of tourists flocking to Moc Chau plateau, the demand for visiting and experiencing agricultural production sites has also risen. The 19/5 Agricultural Development Service Cooperative has taken a proactive approach in improving its infrastructure, making its production sites a popular choice for tourists. On weekends, tourists line up to visit the cooperative's pear and grape orchards. Mr. Thinh shared: "Tourists benefit in many ways. Besides introducing and promoting products and providing an experiential learning environment, the cooperative always sells a lot of goods. Tourists get to experience farming and pick their favorite fruits themselves. More importantly, they understand the production process and know the origin of the products. Therefore, they buy a lot. The entire area of ​​the cooperative's grape orchards and pear orchards is sold to tourists."

Moc Chau's tourist attractions draw a huge number of visitors every year who come to explore and experience its attractions. Photo: Canh Thang.

The Moc Chau plateau has a cool climate year-round, which is an advantage for farmers to apply high technology to production. Farmers are very creative in developing agricultural tourism experiences. In recent years, the orange orchard of Ms. Ngo Thi Hoa in Moc Chau town has become incredibly popular. A decade ago, she and her husband planted a unique variety of orange. The oranges have an attractive appearance and a delicious aroma. After many seasons of care and pruning, they have created a picturesque orange orchard. Instead of selling oranges to traders, visitors come to their family to take photos and buy the product. "I don't charge an entrance fee to the orchard, but I sell the oranges for 80,000 VND/kg. I earn billions of VND every year. Every time the orange harvest season comes, tourists flock to the orchard to 'check in'," Ms. Hoa shared.

Ms. Hoa's orange orchard, well-known to many tourists, owes much of its popularity to Mr. Ngo Quang Dao, Director of the Northwest Specialty Cooperative. Over the past few years, Mr. Dao has persistently built connections between orchard models and tourism. He meticulously hires models, photographers, and videographers to photograph and film the orchards, then posts the images on social media. Besides transporting visitors to the orchards, his cooperative also sells Moc Chau specialties. Mr. Dao's stall offers a full range of Moc Chau specialties, depending on the season.

Mr. Ngo Thanh Dao, Director of the Northwest Specialty Products Cooperative, promotes agricultural products. Photo: Canh Thang.

Tourism contributes to promoting the process of building new rural areas.

Through his hard work in developing and promoting tourism in Moc Chau, Mr. Dao's shop has become well-known. According to Mr. Dao, welcoming tourists to visit and experience the gardens benefits both sides. Each visitor becomes an "ambassador" for the tourism industry. They take photos and videos and post them online. From there, word spreads, creating a growing ecotourism movement in Moc Chau. Visiting the gardens, tourists understand the farming process and get to pick fruit themselves. These enjoyable experiences leave a positive impression on visitors.

 

Son La has successfully leveraged its internal resources in developing tourism in conjunction with building new rural areas.
More and more tourists are coming to Son La to explore and experience its beauty. Photo: Canh Thang.

In recent years, in addition to tourism promotion efforts by local authorities, many resorts have also proactively promoted tourism to attract visitors. Through community-based tourism models, people's incomes have been increased, thereby contributing to the local government's efforts in building new rural areas.

Speaking to the newspaper Nong Thon Ngay Nay/Dan Viet Online/Trang Trai Viet Online, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Moc Chau district, Son La province, said: Currently, with its existing potential and advantages, Moc Chau identifies tourism as a key economic sector to increase income and create jobs for local laborers. Community tourism, linked with the construction of new rural areas, is a significant advantage. Linking community tourism development with the new rural development program creates consistency and high efficiency. Based on this orientation, the People's Committee of Moc Chau district directs its specialized departments to participate; assigning the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to advise the People's Committee on the direction for each commune and village to develop tourism, determining which communes and villages should be targeted from the outset. The Department of Culture advises the People's Committee on selecting villages with advantages for community tourism development to build models.

Therefore, Moc Chau district has focused its resources and manpower on supporting communes and villages in building new rural areas. Villages that have met the criteria for new rural areas are also those that have developed very successful community tourism models. These two aspects complement and blend together, creating a unified approach that ensures both the criteria for new rural areas and community tourism villages are met. “Along with leadership and guidance, we have received strong support and determination from the local people in implementing community tourism associated with building new rural areas. As a result, many village roads and alleys have been concreted, becoming more spacious, clean, and beautiful, and villages have streetlights at night... This has contributed to improving the material and spiritual lives of the people. This is also what Moc Chau district hopes for: more and more communes and villages with community tourism and, consequently, communes and villages that meet the criteria for building new rural areas,” emphasized Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Moc Chau district, Son La province.

Not only in Moc Chau, but many other localities with advantages for tourism development such as Ngoc Chien (Muong La), the mango-growing region of Yen Chau, and the foot of Pha Din Pass (Thuan Chau) also consider the development of experiential tourism as a sustainable development direction. These localities have also developed many tourism development programs linked to the construction of new rural areas. This innovative approach also promotes job creation and increases income for local people.

Recognizing that integrating agricultural production with tourism experiences is a sustainable development direction in the process of building new rural areas, Son La province is paying close attention to this. Son La province strives to develop and standardize rural tourism destinations and products by 2025. In districts and cities with potential and advantages for tourism development, the goal is to have at least one recognized rural tourism destination linked to the advantages of agriculture, culture, traditional crafts, or the local ecological environment, and to develop one to two distinctive and attractive tourism products to attract tourists; and for over 50% of rural tourism service businesses to meet standards for serving tourists.

The world's longest canal bridge is located in Moc Chau district, Son La province.
It attracts thousands of tourists to experience it every year. Photo: Canh Thang.

Promote the development of rural tourism in conjunction with digital transformation; at least 50% of recognized rural tourist destinations will be digitized and connected to digital tourism promotion and marketing platforms. Strive for 100% of rural tourist destinations to be introduced and promoted. Aim for districts and cities with tourism potential to develop at least one model of a unique rural agricultural tourism chain. At least 70% of rural tourism business owners will receive training in tourism management; 80% of rural tourism workers will receive training and professional development to improve their skills in serving tourists. Simultaneously, build a database and digital map of rural tourist destinations in the province.

It is known that Son La province has been developing and finalizing guidelines on rural tourism development, while simultaneously developing and improving the quality of rural tourism destinations and products in conjunction with the new rural development program. Alongside this, the province is focusing on exploiting and developing distinctive tourism products, building rural tourism models towards green, responsible, and sustainable tourism; and developing new tourism products. It is also developing agricultural and rural tourism models based on community tourism, agricultural tourism, ecotourism, and handicraft village tourism…

Source: trangtraiviet.danviet.vn