Along with the 2025 Spring tourism season, the market for souvenirs and tourist gifts has also received much attention. More and more products with serious investment, dedication, and typical of the province have been introduced to the market to increase the attractiveness of the destination and retain tourists. However, for these products to be truly attractive, more "pushes" and stronger investments are still needed.
Not yet exploited to its full potential
Vinh Phuc is a province with many famous landscapes, historical sites, festivals and many traditional craft villages. Therefore, in addition to diversifying tourism types, the province also has many advantages in developing souvenir products and tourist gifts.
Recognizing the important role of souvenirs and tourist gifts in developing the province's tourism industry, in 2022, the Provincial People's Committee announced a list of souvenir and tourist gift models with many typical products such as: Product sets made from honey, Tam Dao cordyceps, golden flower tea or Binh Son tower model, Truc Lam Tay Thien Zen Monastery model made of bamboo toothpicks.
In particular, since the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program was implemented, the list of products with the province's characteristics has become increasingly rich with 177 OCOP products classified as 3 stars at the provincial level or higher.
Although there have been many products that have been seriously invested in and are typical of the province, in reality, the appearance of these products at tourist destinations is still limited.
Present at the Tay Thien historical relic and scenic area on the morning of the 7th day of Tet, it is easy to see that among thousands of products on display at the booths, the products with the characteristics of the province are almost absent. Some booths from other provinces even took the "spotlight" with their signs and quite prominent advertising sounds such as Cao Bang chestnut cake, Nam Dinh specialty traditional candy.
Ms. Huong, a small trader with many years of experience in the Tay Thien Relic and Scenic Area, said: “It’s not that we don’t want to sell products that are typical of the province, but we haven’t found any suitable products yet. Before, we also tried selling humpbacked banh chung and ant egg cakes of the San Diu people, but the consumption was quite slow.”
Similarly, at the Tam Dao Xanh IC4 rest stop, where more than a thousand items are on sale, Ms. Le Thi Phuong, Director of Tam Dao Xanh Trading and Service Joint Stock Company said: "Currently, at the rest stop, there are many OCOP products of the province such as Tam Dao honey and products made from bees, cordyceps, Tam Dao Morinda officinalis wine...
However, the products with the highest consumption at the rest stop are not the typical products of Vinh Phuc but Ninh Binh burnt rice, Ba Vi cow milk…”. It is known that the consumption of the province’s OCOP products currently accounts for only 15-20% of the total revenue of this rest stop.
Vinh Phuc's signature products are almost absent from Tay Thien Scenic Area in the first days of the year. Photo: Duc Chung
To dominate the market
Explaining the reason why the consumption of the province's typical products has not reached expectations, according to some traders and tourism gift business units, OCOP products and tourism gifts with the province's characteristics have not really created a strong impression for tourists to pay attention to from form to quality and price.
Through research, it is known that tourists often tend to buy food products as gifts, but these products of the province are quite rare, and some good products have quite high prices. Not to mention, souvenir products with the characteristics of the province are also quite "sluggish" when people in craft villages currently still mainly maintain production and business according to traditional methods without focusing on creating compact products with high aesthetics, bearing the mark of Vinh Phuc land and people to attract tourists to shop.
Besides, although the province has paid attention to investing and attracting investment in the system of facilities and shops to introduce and promote OCOP products, tourism products, and craft villages at tourist destinations as well as on the province's tourist routes, the activities of these departments have not yet developed as strongly as expected.
Private establishments still focus on commercial aspects and do not pay much attention to promoting the province’s OCOP products. Meanwhile, despite the support of the province, not all production establishments have enough capital and capacity to invest in showrooms to welcome visitors to visit, experience production and shop.
In order for Vinh Phuc's typical products to not lose their position in the domestic market, Ms. Le Thi Phuong said: "It is necessary to develop more diverse souvenir and tourist gift products; focus on developing products with the typical features of the province, and at the same time, they must be suitable for tourists' tastes."
In addition, the province as well as production units need to increase communication and promotion activities, so that these products are more widely known, leaving a strong impression in the hearts of tourists when mentioning Vinh Phuc tourism.
Developing and diversifying tourist souvenir products not only increases the attractiveness of destinations and encourages spending, but also motivates the "smokeless industry" to become a key economic sector as the development orientation set out by the province.
Nguyen Huong
Source: https://baovinhphuc.com.vn/Multimedia/Images/Id/123545/New-time-travelers-come-home-with-luxury-products-and-tourist-gifts
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