Hanoi - Thai Nguyen: Developing green tourism routes

A delegation from the Hanoi Department of Tourism surveyed the rural agricultural tourism model at Thai Hai Community Tourism Village. Photo: Hoang Lan

Attractive from the villages

Thai Nguyen is the gateway connecting the midland and mountainous regions of the North with the Northern Delta; has a favorable geographical location, located in the planning of the Hanoi Capital region. With this geographical location, the tourism connection between Hanoi and Thai Nguyen is very convenient, visitors only need to travel more than 1 hour to explore and experience the land rich in history, ecological diversity and strong national identity.

Thai Nguyen province has over 1,000 historical, cultural and scenic relics, and is also the cradle of the revolution with "red addresses" such as: Dinh Hoa National Special Relic Site; National Historical Relic Site of the Memorial Site of the Youth Volunteers of Company 915, Team 91 Bac Thai... In previous years, Thai Nguyen tourism was positioned with tourists as often returning to the source and spiritual tourism.

Recently, taking advantage of the natural landscape, uniqueness and diversity in ethnic cultures, Thai Nguyen province has made efforts to build a tourism brand with many attractive products, notably green tourism associated with community ecology and agricultural tourism.

From a barren land, full of wild grass and trees, the owners of Thai Hai stilt house village have turned this place into an ideal ecological space, full of vitality. Photo: Hoang Lan

Thai Hai community tourism village is a clear example of the success in building community tourism products based on natural advantages and ethnic identity. Formed and built in 2003, from the settlement needs of the Tay - Nung - Dao ethnic community, Thai Hai community village has become an attractive tourist destination while still preserving the natural landscape, clean environment and strong cultural identity. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai, Head of Thai Hai village, Director of Thai Hai ethnic ecological stilt house village conservation area, in this village, families do not have private property. The products made by each person are collected and then served the needs of the village community. With this uniqueness and appeal, Thai Hai community tourism village was honored by the World Tourism Organization as "The best tourist village in the world" in 2022.

The village still preserves the traditional lifestyle of ethnic people. Photo: Hoang Lan

In addition to exploiting community tourism villages associated with nature and ethnic cultures, Thai Nguyen also effectively exploits tourism experiences at tea hills in Tan Cuong, La Bang, Trai Cai, Khe Coc... Ms. Dao Thanh Hao, Director of Hao Dat Tea Cooperative shared that to develop into a tourist destination to welcome visitors, the enterprise has built a space for visitors to experience picking and making tea; an area to introduce OCOP quality tea products.

Developing the Hanoi - Thai Nguyen connection route

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thai Nguyen province, with the goal of making tourism a truly spearhead economic sector by 2030, Thai Nguyen has implemented many synchronous solutions for infrastructure development, tourism products, and service quality. Currently, Thai Nguyen is collaborating with many neighboring provinces and cities, including the capital Hanoi, to build new tourist routes and enhance the experience for visitors.

Experience agricultural tourism at Tan Cuong tea hills. Photo: Hoang Lan

Although there are many new products that create their own appeal, Thai Nguyen tourism still has many limitations and is not a long-term destination for tourists. Phung Quang Thang, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Association, commented that many tourist destinations are very beautiful and attractive, typically Thai Hai community village, but the way of communication and promotion is not professional. Most people promote their destinations themselves without a proper communication strategy. "In order for Thai Nguyen's destinations to be more widely known, it is necessary to have the cooperation of local leaders and the community. In addition, the locality needs to regularly organize connections between travel agencies and have a linkage mechanism to create new routes for tourists," Mr. Phung Quang Thang shared.

Regarding this issue, Vice President of Thai Nguyen Tourism Association Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh admitted that currently, tourists coming to Thai Nguyen are mainly day tourists, few stay for 2-3 days. “In the coming time, we will build products for visitors to experience from 1 to 3 days. In addition, Thai Nguyen Tourism Association will cooperate with neighboring localities, including Hanoi Capital to create a continuous tourism experience route,” Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh shared.

Here, visitors can experience tea picking. Photo: HL

Recently, the Hanoi Department of Tourism has coordinated with the Thai Nguyen Department of Tourism to organize a survey team with the participation of more than 40 travel agencies to learn from experiences in rural agricultural tourism, and at the same time strengthen cooperation in building new tourist routes. Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Tourism Tran Trung Hieu shared that Thai Nguyen and Hanoi have many advantages to cooperate in developing inter-regional tourism routes. In particular, agricultural and rural tourism activities are the direction that Hanoi is focusing on developing.

“The Hanoi Department of Tourism will coordinate with tourism management agencies in Thai Nguyen province to organize famtrip groups to bring travel agencies to survey and build products; connect tours and routes to develop sustainable green tourism areas, attracting tourists to stay and experience longer,” said Mr. Tran Trung Hieu.

Video about Thai Hai community tourism:

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/ha-noi-thai-nguyen-phat-trien-tuyen-du-lich-xanh-696962.html