Cai Rang floating market has lost many traders (Photo: Bao Tran).
During a visit to Cai Rang floating market, billionaire Joe Lewis - owner of Tottenham club - expressed his interest in the characteristics of the Mekong Delta river region in Vietnam and raised many questions about the embankment system protecting the Can Tho riverbank from erosion.
As the person who directly led the British billionaire's tour group, Mr. Nguyen Hong Hieu - CEO of Hieutour International Travel Company (Can Tho) recounted: "The British billionaire asked, is there any way to make the concrete embankments more ecological? If from Ninh Kieu wharf to the floating market with rows of flooded trees on both sides typical of the Mekong Delta, the scenery would be wonderful.
That image will show visitors more clearly that Can Tho is an ecological city, with a very special traditional floating market in the heart of the developing city. This will make visitors excited and want to come back here many times more."
The desire to see the unique features of the Mekong Delta on Cai Rang floating market is not only the British billionaire's, but also that of most tourists visiting this place.
Coming to Cai Rang floating market, people no longer see the scene of boats on the wharf, but instead see the scene of traders struggling to load goods among reinforced concrete (Photo: Bao Tran).
The more tourists, the more merchants leave the floating market!
According to statistics from the local Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the number of visitors to Cai Rang floating market increases by 12-15% each year. At peak times, there are over 200 boats transporting tourists every day.
In contrast to the increasing number of tourists, the number of boats and ships of traders on the floating market is decreasing. From 500-600 boats and ships decades ago with bustling trading activities, now the floating market has only 250-300 boats, a decrease of 50%-60%.
According to a report by the People's Committee of Cai Rang district, the first reason why the floating market has lost its appeal is because the infrastructure has facilitated trade by road, with traders going ashore to earn a living.
Next, the impact of the Can Tho river embankment project has broken the inherent "above the wharf, below the boat" structure of the floating market, causing traders to disperse. In that context, the project "Preservation and development of Cai Rang floating market" is considered an urgent and important activity.
Boats and tourist boats make up the majority of vehicles operating on Cai Rang floating market (Photo: Bao Tran).
During the 5 years of implementation, the project has completed most of the items to preserve the cultural values of Cai Rang floating market combined with tourism development. Specifically: Supporting loans for nearly 500 households to develop tourism, investing more than 35 billion VND to build floating market piers, moving many floating rafts to safe anchorages; arranging traffic routes, ensuring waterway traffic; carrying out propaganda work to raise people's awareness of hygiene and safety in the floating market.
Along with that, recently, Cai Rang District People's Committee has also invested in building some auxiliary infrastructure such as: renovating the electricity system on the river, calling on businesses to invest in rest stops and investing in cruise ships selling souvenirs and local specialties.
Merchants struggled to transport goods, the scene of "on the wharf and under the boat" no longer exists (Photo: Bao Tran).
Need to move from natural floating markets to self-made floating markets
Besides the new floating market picture, the work of preserving the floating market culture still faces many limitations. Typically, there is a lack of real scenes on the wharf and under the boat, the number of merchant boats is decreasing. Besides, the people have not built awareness to keep tourists for a long time.
According to research, most tourists to the floating market come from the tourist wharf at Ben Ninh Kieu (Ninh Kieu district), the rest come from spontaneous wharfs, companies with tourist boats, the number of visitors from many sources, not strictly managed and controlled. From this factor, the quality of tourism in the floating market has decreased.
Current trading activities on the floating market are mostly for tourists (Photo: Bao Tran).
Tourists cross a temporary bridge to get onto a floating raft (Photo: Bao Tran).
Ms. Dang Thi Kieu Trang (45 years old, living in Ninh Thuan), a tourist visiting the floating market, said: "I read the review (guide) and saw that it said to go from the pier, but because I woke up late, a local recommended that I take a private boat, and they will take me wherever I want to go. But the price of each boat trip is 200,000 VND/person, which is quite high. After that, I had to bargain for a long time to get it down to 150,000 VND/person."
According to Ms. Trang, Cai Rang floating market has changed a lot since her last visit in 2019. Currently, the floating market has attracted more visitors but the quality of tourism services cannot be controlled.
"I still have an impression of the floating market even though it is different from many years ago. I think if the market had more boats selling fruits like in the picture, it would be more interesting."
Not only Ms. Trang, many tourists also think that the floating market lacks merchant boats. Instead of seeing the bustling scene of buying and selling vegetables, now tourists see boats and canoes selling food to serve tourists more prominently.
"Not only the culinary experience, I want to see how the people on the river sell goods and agricultural products on the river, are they cheap, can I try them?... However, I don't have many opportunities to experience those things because the boats here are mostly food boats. I only see a few boats of watermelon and sweet potatoes, very different from what I see in the pictures," said Ms. Kim Lien (48 years old, living in Thai Binh).
Cultural researcher Nham Hung commented that the original culture of Cai Rang floating market has now faded. The image of merchants trading, one of the typical river culture features on the wharf and under the boat, is no longer seen.
"Doing tourism does not mean losing the inherent culture, but must preserve the elements that make up an ancient floating market culture, for example, maintaining the relationship between merchants. Merchants are the subject of floating market culture, it is necessary to create all conditions for them to stay in the market to enliven the picture on the wharf and under the boat."
According to researcher Nham Hung, many activities in the floating market need to be adjusted. The first step is to satisfy tourists, the next step is to retain traders. The most immediate step is to turn the anti-erosion embankment into an embankment serving the floating market.
Mr. Hung shared that conservationists need to understand the relationships in the floating market. First is the relationship between traders, then between service providers and tourists.
"In the past, the structure of a floating market was merchants and farmers. Farmers brought their products to sell, merchants bought them and then sold them elsewhere. The demand for agricultural products came first, and gradually other types of services were formed. Wholesalers of goods and food in the past mainly served merchants," researcher Nham Hung explained.
Cultural researcher Nham Hung (Photo: Bao Tran).
Need "social hand"
Researcher Nham Hung also pointed out many advantages proving that Cai Rang is one of the floating markets with the largest scale and most convenient geographical location in the Mekong Delta.
"The advantage of Vietnam's floating market is the natural river and natural scenery, while Thailand's floating market operates on canals and has staging elements. Their floating market is about 50km from the city center, while Cai Rang floating market is located right in the heart of the city, in the middle of the garden area," Mr. Hung analyzed the advantages of Cai Rang floating market.
According to Mr. Nham Hung, Cai Rang floating market already has a position on the world tourism map. However, in order for the product to develop to a national level, in the long term, it needs "social hands" to participate in investment. In the process of preservation, the floating market culture will become a tourism product.
"It is time for the government to call on large enterprises to participate and invest, along with commitments to develop floating markets. It is necessary to harmonize the interests of all parties, in which the first beneficiaries must be tourists.
"Service providers on floating markets are already sensitive, but they still need a well-established mechanism. In which there is the participation of 5 resonant components: Management agencies - Investors - Traders - Services - Tourists, all sharing in harmony," Mr. Nham Hung emphasized.
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