"Coastal estuary" tourist village

Tourists enjoy the basket boat shaking service in the coconut forest. Photo: DO HUAN

Mr. Nguyen Van Son - Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee informed that the city is researching and building a dossier to submit Cam Thanh Tourist Village as the best rural tourist village in 2025.

“Through discussion, Ms. Zoritsa Urosevic - Deputy Secretary General of UN Tourism said that Cam Thanh coconut forest completely deserves to be recognized as the best tourist village because it welcomes a "huge" number of visitors and has very clear community products such as: basket boats and experiences in rural river areas", Mr. Son said.

Cam Thanh coconut forest is more than 80 hectares wide, currently preserving many unique features with the mangrove ecosystem of the "coastal estuary", surrounded by many sandbars. Coconut trees grow on both sides of the river and form a forest, green all year round.

Nearby the coconut forest, there are also traditional craft villages such as: making bamboo and coconut houses, fishing, offshore squid fishing, shrimp farming, fish farming and many other beautiful cultural features of the village, which are still quite richly preserved... That is the potential and advantage for developing eco-tourism combined with community tourism.

Dr. Chu Manh Trinh - Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Area Management Board said: "When developing ecotourism, Cam Thanh tourism will shine even brighter and its value will be even more outstanding. Because ecotourism requires conservation and Cam Thanh is conserving, there must be a community and Cam Thanh is preserving the community, especially it will also greatly support economic development in the future".

The fields, boats, buffaloes, fish ponds... that are closely associated with the people's daily lives are now being created into unique products that attract tourists.

Tourists visit and experience fishing with residents of the Cam Thanh river area. Photo: DO HUAN

A group of tourists from the UK who returned to visit Cam Thanh Coconut Forest for the second time said: “Coming back here this time, we found everything much more interesting. We felt like we were truly Vietnamese because we experienced the life of the people here, which is very interesting, friendly and safe…”.

The rapid development of tourism in Cam Thanh has created a vibrant rhythm for this river area. Currently, Cam Thanh has 103 operating accommodation establishments. The number of boats and sampans has also increased rapidly with 1,347 registered boats, mainly concentrated in the two villages of Van Lang and Thanh Tam.

Combining ecotourism development with community tourism is the main development direction that Cam Thanh people unanimously implement.

In 2023, the Bay Mau Coconut Forest Cultural and Historical Relic Site in Cam Thanh Commune was recognized by UNESCO as a “Typical Tourist Destination in Asia - Pacific” and was honored at the Vietnam - India Cultural and Economic Exchange Forum. In 2024, the basket boat experience in Cam Thanh Coconut Forest was listed in the top 25 most attractive boat experiences in the world.

If in 2025, Cam Thanh is recognized by UN Tourism as the best tourist village, the tourism brand of the "coastal estuary" region will be even stronger.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/lang-du-lich-cua-song-ven-bien-3149390.html