Son La: Moc Chau plum blossom season attracts many tourists

Mong ethnic children play under plum trees in full bloom. (Photo: Quang Quyet/VNA)

This year's plum blossom season in Moc Chau (Son La) is more beautiful than every year thanks to favorable weather. Flowers in many gardens of the same species are blooming evenly, attracting more tourists from all over the country.

However, as tourists flock to see flowers in spring, there have been many complaints about overloaded accommodation, food and entertainment services, and traffic jams.

The "attraction" effect of plum gardens

In spring, plum-filled areas in the Moc Chau plateau are covered in a pure white coat. Moc Chau plum garden owners calculate the time to strip the leaves so that the plum trees bloom at the right time for people to go on spring outings.

Plum blossoms are in full bloom on Moc Chau plateau, Son La province. (Photo: Quang Quyet/VNA)

Mr. Duong Minh Thien (a tourist from Dong Nai province) shared: “I have seen many pictures of white plum gardens in the northern mountainous region and have been fascinated. This year, I was lucky to go to the North at the right time when Moc Chau plum blossoms were in full bloom, so I couldn't bear to miss it. Although the travel was difficult and there were times when the weather in Moc Chau was cold, which could be called heat shock for people from the South, in return, the time lost in the magical white plum garden in the misty fog was an unforgettable impression."

Ms. Phan Thi Luu (Thach That district, Hanoi city) said: “On my Facebook, there are many people showing off photos and checking in at Moc Chau plum gardens. Therefore, my family took the opportunity to go to Moc Chau right away. We didn’t have time to prepare clothes and cameras to take beautiful photos, however, our group completed the goal of enjoying the full spring atmosphere of Moc Chau as well as experiencing some local specialties in 24 hours.”

At the Bong Bo plum garden, Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen (Hanoi) felt satisfied with the photos of white plum blossoms. Traveling from Hanoi to Moc Chau on Saturday morning, during the 2-day weekend, Ms. Yen had enough time to experience and take photos at the strawberry garden, rose garden, plum garden and peach garden.

Planning to return to Moc Chau from March to May to pick plums, Ms. Yen said: "Next time, I will learn from my experience, book a room and plan to go early to avoid traffic jams at tourist attractions, take photos, and also book a better room."

Ms. Tran Bao An traveled from Hoa Binh to Moc Chau at 5am. Because they could not book a room, An's group of friends decided to go and return in one day. To have beautiful, poetic photos, many tourists invest in costumes, makeup, and hire professional photographers.

In Na Ka valley, pine forest of Ban Ang, Mu Nau... some plum blossom gardens bloom early, people come to take pictures, check-in, post on personal information pages, social networks, creating a strong effect. Some late blooming flower gardens will continue to be attractive destinations, attracting tourists to Moc Chau. Thus, the time of Moc Chau tourism associated with plum blossoms instead of taking place in 1-2 weeks of blooming flowers has been extended to about 5-6 weeks.

Other tourist activities in Moc Chau are also "following suit." Mr. Tran Van Binh (sub-area 14, Moc Chau town) said that plum gardens charge entrance fees of 20,000-50,000 VND/person. Motorbike taxi services to the highland gardens also cost 50,000-150,000 VND/person/trip depending on the area. Thus, during the plum blossom season, garden owners and local people have an additional income of several million to tens of millions of VND/day.

Creating new momentum for tourism development

At this time, due to the sudden increase in visitors in a short period of time, many groups of visitors travel by private vehicles to "check-in" Moc Chau quickly, so there are many complaints about the overload of tourists. Mr. Bui Van Binh (owner of Binh Huy homestay in Moc Chau) said that from the 2nd day of Tet At Ty to the end of February, most of the rooms have been booked and deposits have been transferred. During the week, there may be a few vacant rooms, but on weekends, there are "no rooms left."

The standard room is for 2 adults and 2 children, but many families and groups of friends are willing to pay extra to add extra mattresses and share beds, as long as there is a place to stay. Therefore, to have a good trip to Moc Chau, visitors should proactively book rooms in advance to ensure a place to eat and stay, or proactively contact reputable travel agencies to buy tours.

Grasping the trend of plum and apricot blossom viewing tourism in the northern mountainous provinces, many travel agencies have launched plum blossom check-in day tours and 2-day weekend tours. However, both tour packages are fully booked until the end of February 2025.

This shows the strong attraction of Moc Chau plum gardens. In addition, young people also quickly make trips to catch up with the trend (follow the trend) with destinations that have day trips.

According to freelance tour guide Nguyen Hong Nhung, after Tet, many people have been looking for accommodation, asking about plum gardens and the blooming status of the flowers in the gardens. “On peak days, there are many visitors, so there is a lack of accommodation, many people have to ask relatives and friends in Moc Chau to pick them up and take them home. On peak weekends, many tourists come to Moc Chau without booking a room in advance, leading to a situation where they cannot find accommodation, even having to sleep on the bus,” said Ms. Nhung.

Cham Homes Resort owned by Ms. Pham Thu Trang is located in So Luong village, Muong Sang commune, Moc Chau district, about 30 minutes away from Moc Chau town center. However, the resort is always fully booked from after Tet until the end of February 2022.

To be flexible and support families with young children coming to Moc Chau during plum blossom season, Ms. Trang contacted local residents to have more accommodation for additional guests. The advice of those working in tourism in Moc Chau for visitors is to proactively book rooms and transfer deposits to ensure room reservations. Large groups should book both food and transportation services in advance to avoid waiting and increased prices.

In addition, tourists who drive to Moc Chau themselves need to be mentally prepared for several hours of traffic jams when traveling to Son La, or have to turn around and skip some tourist destinations such as the glass bridge, plum garden, and rose garden.

In May 2024, Moc Chau tourist area with a scale of 206,150 hectares, located in Moc Chau and Van Ho districts, was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Tourist Area, creating more conditions for tourism here to develop more and more, affirming its position on the world tourism map, worthy of being a National Tourist Area.

Currently, Moc Chau National Tourist Area has more than 320 accommodation establishments, more than 390 food and beverage establishments, 58 shopping establishments serving tourists, serving more than 10,000 guests/day.

In particular, for two consecutive years (2022-2023), Moc Chau National Tourist Area was voted and honored with the award "World's Leading Regional Natural Destination" by the World Travel Awards. This has been creating new momentum for the development of Moc Chau tourism.

In 2024, Moc Chau will attract nearly 2.6 million tourists, with revenue reaching over VND 3,367 billion. Moc Chau currently has 17 projects in the tourism and service sector with a total investment of over VND 3,760 billion; of which, there are 5 investment projects in Moc Chau National Tourist Area with a total investment of over VND 1,330 billion.

According to statistics from the People's Committee of Moc Chau town, during the Lunar New Year holiday of At Ty 2025 (from January 25 to February 2), Moc Chau plateau welcomed 105,000 visitors, bringing in revenue of more than 136 billion VND. When plum blossoms bloom after Tet, Moc Chau welcomes an average of tens of thousands of visitors per day, causing many services to be overloaded.

Moc Chau is one of the national key tourist centers in the development strategy of tourism in the Northwest region.

In the coming time, Moc Chau will be planned to become a driving force for tourism development in Son La province and the Northern Midlands and Mountains tourism region with a diverse, unique, branded, highly competitive tourism product system associated with natural landscapes and cultural identities of ethnic groups.

At the same time, Moc Chau is promoting the development of attractive and highly competitive tourism products; focusing on improving the quality of travel, accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment services; focusing on developing key products: Resort and medical tourism; eco-tourism associated with agriculture; tourism to visit historical and cultural relics and scenic spots; especially focusing on the form of homestay tourism... to better serve tourists coming to Moc Chau every spring./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/son-la-mua-hoa-man-moc-chau-thu-hut-nhieu-du-khach-thuong-ngoan-post1013704.vnp