Many years ago, Mr. Tran Van Dung's garden (Tu Dung, Nhon Ai commune, Can Tho city) mainly grew king oranges and lemons. However, prolonged pests and diseases, and increased investment costs have made income from agricultural production increasingly precarious. Instead of continuing to cultivate in the old way, he chose a new direction: doing garden ecotourism.
In 2019, after a period of learning about many community tourism models in the Mekong Delta provinces, Mr. Dung began to renovate the garden of nearly 18,000 m2, switching to planting a variety of fruit trees and combining them to serve visitors. Currently, the garden has hundreds of bon bon mulberry trees and many specialty fruits such as: green-skinned grapefruit, rambutan, mangosteen, jackfruit, durian, cocoa... Thanks to reasonable crop arrangement, almost every time of the year there are fruits to serve tourists.
In addition to visiting and picking fruit at the garden, visitors can also experience rowing boats, fishing, digging ditches to catch fish, enjoying folk cakes and Southern countryside dishes. The advantage of being near Cai Rang Floating Market helps Mr. Dung's tourist destination attract many domestic and foreign tourists.
According to Mr. Dung, on weekdays, the tourist area welcomes about 200 visitors, on holidays and peak seasons, it can increase to several hundred visitors per day. This model currently brings in hundreds of millions of VND in profit per year, while creating regular jobs for about 20 local workers.
Ms. Nguyen Thi My Ai - Standing Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nhon Ai commune, Chairwoman of the Commune Farmers' Association said that this development direction is consistent with the policy of building new rural areas, contributing to increasing people's income and promoting local tourism development in a sustainable direction.
Not only Mr. Tu Dung's model, the type of ecotourism associated with agricultural experience is increasingly attracting tourists as the demand for natural space and garden life is increasing.
Ms. Nguyen Kim Nhien - Head of Song Hau Farm Ecological Area said that what makes tourists excited is not the sophistication but the feeling of being immersed in the rustic rhythm of the Mekong Delta.
Activities such as wading through ditches to catch fish, grilling fish with straw or personally preparing rural dishes bring authentic experiences that many urban people rarely have the opportunity to access.
According to Ms. Nhien, for young people, this is a new experience; for older tourists, the garden space and rustic activities evoke childhood memories and the life of their hometown in the past. This closeness and simplicity has created a unique feature for ecotourism in the Mekong Delta.
As a tourist from An Giang province, Ms. Yen Phuong shared that garden ecotourism brings a rustic, riverine experience and rustic rural life.
After stressful working days in the city, returning to the countryside, I feel very light, being able to pick fruit myself, rowing a boat, experiencing making folk cakes myself and as if "recharging energy"", Ms. Yen Phuong said happily.
