Unique tourism products from Bac Lieu salt making

In order to contribute to honoring the value of the salt industry, Bac Lieu province recently organized the Vietnam - Bac Lieu Salt Festival in 2025. The event opens up development opportunities for the salt industry and tourism products associated with the salt industry, while contributing to promoting the image of the land and people of Bac Lieu to domestic and foreign tourists.

The relief is made from salt on the salt field in Dong Hai district. Photo: VNE

Raising the level of salt making

The salt making profession in Bac Lieu was formed in the early 20th century, associated with the history of land reclamation in coastal areas by ancient people. Thanks to favorable climate conditions, soil quality, and flat coastline, salt production in Bac Lieu is higher than in other regions. The salt quality is excellent with a rich salinity and a unique sweet aftertaste. The salt making profession is closely associated with cultural activities and folk knowledge accumulated over many generations. In 2020, the salt making profession in Bac Lieu was listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Bac Lieu is one of the localities with the largest salt production area in the country with nearly 1,600 hectares, output of nearly 80,000 tons/year. In 2024, the province will have a total of 777 households engaged in salt production. In particular, the province has 2 refined salt and grain salt products proposed for recognition as meeting national 5-star OCOP standards. Bac Lieu salt includes 3 types: white salt, black salt and silver salt. Many products are not only used in food processing but also applied in the fields of medicine , health care...

Under the skillful hands of the people, salt also becomes artistic sculptures and paintings. Within the framework of the Vietnam - Bac Lieu Salt Festival in 2025, many visitors could not help but admire the unique works made from salt such as the 25m long, 5m wide relief, made from 300kg of white salt in the salt field of Long Dien Dong commune (Dong Hai district); the 4.1m high, 3.5m wide zither and the map of Vietnam made from 500kg of salt displayed at Hung Vuong Square (Ward 1, Bac Lieu city), attracting the attention of people and tourists. These unique works of art reflect the spirit of hard work, diligence and creativity of Bac Lieu people.

The Vietnam - Bac Lieu Salt Festival 2025 will take place from March 6 to 8 with many events such as a space to display models, artifacts, and technical advances in salt production and processing; the Bac Lieu Investment Promotion Conference 2025; the activity "Going to Bac Lieu to listen to traditional music", a tour to visit salt production fields in Hoa Binh and Dong Hai districts... According to Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Bac Lieu Provincial People's Committee Pham Van Thieu, the festival is an opportunity to honor the value of salt grains, while demonstrating the determination to preserve and develop the traditional salt making profession. This is the beginning of a new page for the Vietnamese salt industry to step onto the "World Salt Road".

Diversified tourism products in the "salt capital"

Within the framework of the Vietnam - Bac Lieu Salt Festival 2025, the Salt Village experiential tourism model (Truong Dien Hamlet, Long Dien Dong Commune, Dong Hai District) was launched with the participation of 10 households. Here, visitors have the opportunity to explore the unique beauty of the Salt Village spread over an area of 20 hectares, witness the manual salt production process, take check-in photos, rake salt with salt farmers, catch shrimp by hand and prepare dishes with Ba Thac salt...

Ms. Tran Thi My Nhu, a tourist from Ward 1 (Bac Lieu City) shared after visiting the Salt Village: “I was very surprised to directly participate in the interesting experiences here. Although I was born and raised in Bac Lieu, I did not know that the salt making profession of my hometown has so many unique things. I hope that Bac Lieu will be known to more tourists with the image of poetic salt fields and friendly, lovable people”.

Giving advice to make salt tourism a unique product of Bac Lieu, Director of Vietravel Travel Company, Can Tho City Branch Le Dinh Minh Thy said that Bac Lieu needs to build tour packages combining visits to the Salt Village with famous tourist attractions such as the house of the Bac Lieu Prince, Bac Lieu Bird Garden, wind power fields; design tours with themes such as "A day as a salt worker", "Discover the taste of Bac Lieu salt", or link with neighboring provinces such as Can Tho, Soc Trang, Ca Mau to create a "Western Journey - Bac Lieu" route to extend the length of stay, increase the experience and spending of tourists.

In addition to developing the salt tourism model, it is necessary to pay attention to enhancing the value of salt grains by building a Salt Creation Center in Bac Lieu. That is the viewpoint of Head of the Department of Tourism Management (Faculty of Tourism, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City National University) Nguyen Van Thanh. According to Mr. Thanh, this Salt Creation Center can include: a salt handicraft workshop, a salt cosmetics laboratory and a salt beer factory. This is a unique integrated model combining production, processing and consumption of salt products, not only creating products specific to Bac Lieu but also creating economic value, contributing to the sustainable development of the local salt production industry.

Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Bac Lieu, Tran Thi Lan Phuong, said that in the coming time, the Department will consult with the Provincial People's Committee to propose solutions to develop salt tourism into a unique tourism product of Bac Lieu. At the same time, coordinate with relevant units to implement the Project to enhance the value of salt production and processing in the period of 2021 - 2030, build a model of salt making experience associated with eco-tourism and wind power fields to create a chain of eco-tourism products. In addition, the Department also promotes promotion and supports training in tourism skills for people...

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/doc-dao-san-pham-du-lich-tu-nghe-lam-muoi-bac-lieu-695863.html