Community Tourism: Another Perspective

In Tien Giang province, river tourism products, orchards, traditional confectionery villages, and boat trips on the river are chosen by many tourists.

Ecotourism tour of the garden associated with river landscape, stopover is Thoi Son islet (Tien Giang) - Phung islet (Ben Tre), with many activities: sightseeing Tien river, learning about the life of people attached to the river, enjoying the cool, peaceful green space; learning the process - enjoying coconut candy; taking pictures with pythons; riding a horse cart; listening to traditional music, enjoying fruits of all seasons, rowing a three-leaf boat... is a proof.

Tourists enjoy the experience of rowing a sampan when visiting the river region. Photo: Thuy Nguyen

For frequent travelers, the above products are not new, even somewhat similar to those in the Mekong Delta provinces, but when they have the opportunity to return to the river region, they still choose this tourism product (!)

This shows that tourism units in Tien Giang have taken advantage of available natural resources, effectively exploited the strengths of rivers, gardens, culture, and Southern cuisine to serve tourists. In particular, they have built and exploited tight tours, with extensive, continuous, and interconnected cooperation between many localities..., and importantly, they have promoted the strengths of on-site tour guides to "conquer" and further "retain" tourists to return.

I was impressed with the female tour guide, partly because she was also a "Westerner", but I appreciated her even more because of her love for the land and people of her hometown, only then could she "generously" introduce them to tourists with joy even though the weather in the South in March was not "easy to breathe".

While giving instructions, she skillfully gave out fun quizzes related to the place names, life, and activities of the people in the West, what is the difference between a creek and a canal? Why are they called islets? The female tour guide also introduced the group to famous products of Tien Giang and did not forget to ask the captain to take them to the most "expensive" location for everyone to check-in with Rach Mieu bridge looming at the bow of the boat. She enthusiastically helped take "unique" photos for the whole group with the background being the bridge connecting the two provinces of Ben Tre - Tien Giang.

She also answered many "tricky" and "joking" questions from tourists but did not make things difficult or confusing. Just like that, tourists were "sucked" into the story about the destination the group was about to go to, no one felt nauseous and "motion sick" like when they first set foot on the boat, and forgot the fatigue of having to travel by many different means of transport such as: going by boat, walking in the garden, sitting in a horse-drawn carriage, rowing a sampan...

After visiting and experiencing, visitors will enjoy delicious, crispy Western pancakes.

Another plus point for the female tour guide is that when the group returns to the boat on the other side of the Tien River to end the tour, each tourist is "rewarded" with a fresh coconut that she herself has cut with skillful techniques and does not forget to remind the tourists: "After drinking, please do not throw the shell into the river, but collect it so that the people of Phung Islet can process it into environmentally friendly items."

There are many factors that make tourists return to a place or tourist area they have been to, including unique and new tourism products, professionalism, and the behavioral culture of those participating in tourism activities. Not only in Tien Giang, but also in Dak Lak, some places and tourist areas have "scored points" with domestic and international tourists because they still retain the wild and original beauty of many traditional values, including the connecting role of friendly and open-minded local tour guides, rich and profound understanding of the land and people, especially traditional culture with unique and distinctive customs, practices, festivals and the lives of indigenous people.

Instead of introducing by rote, they rely on life experience, conveying information in the simplest, easiest to understand way. Their daily work and life are a convincing explanation, touching the hearts of tourists. Typical examples include the owner of Arul coffee shop (in Ako Dhong community tourism village, Tan Loi ward, Buon Ma Thuot city), H'Len Nie or Y Xim Ndu, M'nong ethnic group in Yuk La 1 village (Dak Lieng commune, Lak district)...

The Southwest and Central Highlands are two regions with rich cultural identity, beautiful nature and always promise interesting tourist experiences. This is a "valuable asset" to promote tourism development, contributing to the preservation of traditional culture while bringing economic benefits to the locality, stable income for the subject.

However, to maintain the advantage, there are still many "gaps" that need to be filled, including training and developing tourism human resources. This is an important solution to improve the capacity of the community through training courses on tourism, service management, communication skills, tourist service, environmental protection, etc.

People's active participation in tourism will protect cultural values, avoid loss or distortion in the direction of sustainable tourism development.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/du-lich/202504/du-lich-cong-dong-them-mot-goc-nhin-862199c/