"Triangle" connecting Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Vinh Long tourism tour

This is not yet an official tourist route, but from the famtrip group conducting a survey trip connecting the three provinces of Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Vinh Long, with the theme "From river to sea", it has shown great potential and feasibility to build into an attractive tourism product in the future.

These localities are all aiming to exploit the potential of cultural values, expressing their own unique identities. In particular, craft village culture is considered an interesting experience, imbued with the quintessence and soul of indigenous culture.

Floating coconut market village on Thom river (Ben Tre).

Drifting on the romantic Thom River in the land of coconuts

Thom River is explained as Thum River, Khmer means big river; and if anyone hears the pronunciation for the first time and misunderstands it as the word Thom in the Western style, it is also interesting, because walking on this river you will feel like you are lost in the world of coconut, the whole river is fragrant with coconut scent, coconuts are everywhere from the river to the shore.

Ben Tre tourism workers call this the floating coconut market and proudly boast that this is the most unique floating market in the West. Because, Hau Giang has Nga Bay floating market, Can Tho has Cai Rang floating market, Tien Giang has Cai Be floating market... selling all kinds of specialties; but the Thom river floating coconut market only buys and sells... coconuts.

But from the craft villages along both sides of the river, coconuts are transformed into many products. From here, coconut products such as coconut meat, coconut fiber, coconut oil, coconut peat, coconut soap, coconut mats, etc. have spread throughout the country and exported abroad.

Boats full of coconuts from all over the country: Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Tien Giang... go back and forth to dock to sell coconuts to processing facilities located on both sides of the river. The Thom River is actually a canal dug in 1905, 15.1km long, running through Mo Cay Nam and Mo Cay Bac districts, becoming an important waterway that shortens the journey from My Tho to Tra Vinh, making it extremely quick and convenient. The coconut processing village stretching over 7km is the "specialty" that attracts the eyes of tourists from the cruise ships running slowly on the river.

Delta tourism is often considered to be a duplication, now the tourism workers in the West are determined to find uniqueness, distinction, it shows the "specialty" in the tourism orientation of their locality. This can be considered a plus point that should be encouraged for tourism in this region to "stand up"; escape the vicious circle: there is a lot of tourism potential but the development of tourism products is not up to par.

As a tour guide, Vo Thi Thao Nguyen felt really excited and surprised with the floating coconut market craft village of Thom River. After a day of experiencing the connecting route in Ben Tre province alone from Thom River craft village to Cho Lach flower and ornamental plant craft village, Cai Mon brought interesting experiences, bringing tourists closer to the daily life of the people in the West, especially the people in the flower and ornamental plant craft village area. The first survey showed that Ben Tre has a lot of potential for craft village tourism and can be developed into a complete tour specializing in local craft villages.

Making Vinh Long a central destination

Tra Vinh is developing agricultural tourism, creating a certain impression on travel agencies, although there are still some limitations that need to be improved. The experiences of the Sokfarm agricultural tourism model in Con Ong hamlet, Dan Thanh commune, Duyen Hai town are well organized. Here, tourists visit the model of growing purple onions, sweet potatoes, corn of local people and enjoy some typical dishes of the countryside such as: papaya salad, coconut jelly with basil seeds, banh khot.

Experience agricultural tourism at Con Ong (Tra Vinh).

Tra Vinh aims to introduce the specialty of Tra Cuon banh tet village into the tour in Kim Hoa commune, Cau Ngang district. Visitors can enjoy and watch the process of preparing ingredients to make traditional cakes of the West. Along with Tra Cuon banh tet, banh tet la cam, banh tet chu, there are many other types of folk cakes such as: banh ú, banh it, banh la dua, dua meon, dua kieu, com bloc, mam tom...

The purpose of this program is to build a tour linking 3 provinces: Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Vinh Long, specifically welcoming domestic visitors from the connecting bridges of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The program has reserved time to stay and visit Vinh Long for up to 4 days, demonstrating the diversity and richness of Vinh Long's tourism products.

Vinh Long will become an important destination in the “triangle” connecting Ben Tre- Tra Vinh- Vinh Long tourism tours. In which, Vinh Long will promote the unique strength of the cultural heritage of craft villages. Photo: NGO ANH KHOA

Many travel agencies highly appreciate the products of burning coconut leaf torches to watch opera, CocoHome Coconut House, especially the experiences at Mang Thit red brick and ceramic craft village, which are considered to have great potential to become a special destination in the future when the craft village is built into a complete tourism product with many services and organizing experiential activities revolving around the craft village.

With the Eastern tour direction, from Ho Chi Minh City passing through the provinces of Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Vinh Long; the Western tour direction is also built with Vinh Long as the central destination, departing from Ho Chi Minh City passing through the provinces: Long An - Tien Giang - Dong Thap - Vinh Long.

Visit CocoHome Coconut House (Vinh Long).

Mr. Tu Quy Thanh - General Director of Lien Bang Tourism Company (Ho Chi Minh City), assessed: To avoid duplication, Mekong Delta tourism should have linked tours like this, thereby building a product chain, selecting typical products to include in the tour package.

Looking at the overall tour connecting 3 provinces: Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Vinh Long, I see that each locality has its own potential and rich diversity; in which, Vinh Long stands out with many unique and attractive destinations, where our famtrip group can stay here for up to 4 days, also on the occasion of the Red Brick and Ceramic Festival - Green Economy of Vinh Long province for the first time in 2024. After this trip, our company will return to continue to survey in more depth and will sign with a number of partners to serve our unit's tour programs.

Mr. Tran Minh Triet - Vice Chairman of Vinh Long Province Tourism Association, assessed: Through the survey of the cluster linking the three provinces of Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Vinh Long, it has shown that this is an attractive and really potential link, so it is necessary to continue researching and building it into a complete product. Each locality has its own unique features, such as Ben Tre has a floating coconut market on Thom River; Tra Vinh introduces Khmer culture along with the experience at Sokfarm with enjoying coconut nectar; and Vinh Long has the Mang Thit red brick and ceramic craft village.
Mr. Diep Duc Duy - Director of Sao Bien Tourist, agrees with some representatives of travel agencies that delta tourism needs more entertainment services to keep tourists staying longer. In particular, nighttime entertainment services are still too simple, tourists do not know what to do, what to spend at night when traveling to the West. It is necessary to renovate and upgrade the synchronous infrastructure system, as well as upgrade services to a higher level. Because, in the past, tourism was mainly for fun, but now the needs of tourists are higher, they require a higher level of enjoyment and service. Garden tourism, agricultural experience tourism must be organized more professionally, cannot be sloppy like before...

Article and photos: NGOC TRANG - TAN ANH

Source: https://baovinhlong.com.vn/xa-hoi/du-lich/202502/tam-giacket-noi-tour-du-lich-ben-tre-tra-vinh-vinh-long-1ca37b2/