This is the first tour for international visitors to be deployed after the VietHarvest AgriTour agricultural tourism model was officially launched at the end of December 2023. The model was developed from the Community Project "Improving the livelihoods of farmers in the suburban areas of Hanoi - Agricultural tourism as a business supporting diversified income sources" implemented by VietED, with funding from the Asia Foundation and GSRD Fund, to increase the value of local agricultural products, creating new sources of income from tourism activities for vegetable farmers in Giang Bien ward.
Deployed since September 2022, VietHarvest AgriTour is currently attracting 18 households in Giang Bien to participate, with green agricultural tourism products supported by experts in consulting and designing based on the natural and cultural conditions of the Giang Bien clean vegetable farm-garden.
Joining the half-day tour, international tourists can experience many interesting agricultural activities such as sowing seeds, taking care of plants, harvesting clean vegetables in the garden, cooking rice cakes and sweet soups - traditional specialties of Giang Bien, learning about the famous rope weaving and hammock weaving here, and ending the journey with a delicious meal cooked from the clean ingredients that tourists harvested.
Interestingly, all of the tourist experiences are accompanied by the Giang Bien farmers themselves. Through the support of foreign language-proficient guides, international tourists can chat and interact directly with the locals, thereby understanding more about the lives of Giang Bien farmers on their own gardens and farms.
Mr. Vu Van Truong, a representative of a farmer participating in the agricultural tourism model in Giang Bien, shared: “Since joining the project, farmers who are only familiar with traditional farming work like us have been trained in communication skills and product promotion to better serve tourists. In addition to being equipped with knowledge about growing clean vegetables without using chemicals, we have also been supported by the project to learn about some agricultural tourism models in other provinces to learn how to do it. I hope that more and more tourists will know and come to Giang Bien.”
Ms. To Hue, Director of VietHarvest AgriTour Project, said that since the agricultural tourism model in Giang Bien was launched, many domestic tourist groups have learned about and booked tours to visit and experience here. In particular, since the beginning of 2024, a number of international tourist groups from partner units have come to survey and learn about the model. Giang Bien is a destination very close to the center of Hanoi, so partners want to incorporate it into the schedule to bring international visitors to visit regularly.
According to Ms. To Hue, international tourists coming to Giang Bien are all excited because they are very interested in responsible tourism and feel the friendliness of the people. Ms. Hue said that this April, according to the plan, Giang Bien will welcome 4 groups with about 100 guests, including 60 international tourists.
To serve the expected increase in the number of visitors in the coming time, project experts are standardizing the process of welcoming visitors to improve the professionalism of farmers; investing in additional facilities; strengthening connections with surrounding farmer groups to expand the model and service provision capacity.
“To meet the needs of tourists, we are also designing gift sets such as seeds and sprouts with codes for tourists to take home after finishing their experience. When checking this code, information about the destination and the message of building green tourism with Giang Bien will be displayed, thereby creating an impression as well as a deeper connection between tourists and Giang Bien,” said Ms. To Hue.
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