Sa Dec flower village is about 3 km from Sa Dec city, Dong Thap province, is the largest flower village in the West with 4,000 households producing ornamental flowers and more than 2,000 types of flowers. This is also a place where tourists flock to in the days before Tet.
Tran Phuong, a photographer living in Ho Chi Minh City, visited the Lai Vung flower village and pink grapefruit garden in Sa Dec on January 20 and 21, "hunting" for the bright yellow field of raspberry chrysanthemums - a specialty of Sa Dec flower village during Tet, but was not able to take a satisfactory photo. The chrysanthemum field is currently mostly green buds, with only a few scattered baskets of yellow flowers.
The field of raspberry chrysanthemums in Sa Dec flower village is still green with buds, photo taken on January 21.
"Every year, around the 10th of December, the flowers start to bloom, but this year the flowers bloomed quite slowly. There weren't many tourists coming to the flower village last weekend, mostly groups of photographers coming to take pictures," said Mr. Phuong. According to him, around the 20th of December (January 28) the flowers in the village will be in full bloom, which is also the best time for tourists to visit the village to sightsee and take pictures.
The time when the flowers are about to bloom is also the time when travel companies are busy "closing deals" for customers to buy tours to visit Sa Dec flower village - Lai Vung pink grapefruit garden, 20 km from Sa Dec, is also in the season of ripe fruit. In Ho Chi Minh City, many day tours costing less than one million VND are of interest to tourists.
Visitors experience tangerine picking at Lai Vung pink tangerine garden, January 21
Ms. Tran Phuong Linh, Marketing Director - Information Technology of BenThanh Tourist, said that this tour is usually opened for sale near Tet, the organizer calculates the most beautiful time of the flower village to bring tourists to experience. Due to the nature of the area supplying ornamental flowers to the city, the tour usually takes place before December 23. After this day, a large amount of flowers have been moved elsewhere, the fields are sparse. If you come early when the flowers are not in full bloom, the scenery will not be as beautiful.
Currently, BenThanh Tourist's tours to Sa Dec flower village near Tet have almost been booked. This is a short-term tour product and has the lowest price in the domestic Tet tour package. The tour departs from Ho Chi Minh City for 990,000 VND per person, traveling by bus.
The tour is designed to serve tourists who want to celebrate Tet early, enjoy spring sightseeing combined with shopping for some specialties of the West to prepare for Tet. In addition to taking tourists to visit Sa Dec flower village, the program also combines experiences of visiting Huynh Thuy Le ancient house, strolling in the pink grapefruit garden and visiting Phuoc Kieng lotus leaf pagoda.
"The majority of customers buying the company's Sa Dec flower village tour are families and middle-aged customers," said Ms. Linh.
Ms. Mai Hoa, living in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in recent days she has been constantly updating the flower blooming situation on travel groups so that she can take advantage of the weekend to go to Sa Dec with her family to visit and choose decorative plants for Tet.
According to Ms. Hoa, the cost of a one-day trip to Sa Dec flower village is quite cheap and worth the experience. "Next week, my family will come here to visit and buy flowers for Tet because we heard that the flowers here are beautiful and diverse. A pot of yellow chrysanthemums costs less than 100,000 VND," Ms. Hoa said.
Scene of the field of raspberry chrysanthemums in Sa Dec flower village in full bloom, photo taken in January 2022
Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Marketing and Communications Director of Vietluxtour, said that the Sa Dec flower village tour is usually open for sale from early November until about 1-2 weeks before Lunar New Year. This year, the company serves an average of 2-3 groups per week. The 2-day, 1-night tour, priced at 1.5 million VND, departs from Ho Chi Minh City. The tour takes visitors to Tan Quy Dong flower village, overnight in Cao Lanh to visit Lai Vung tangerine garden. The main target of this tour is domestic and overseas Vietnamese tourists, foreign tourists make up a small portion.
While package tours attract families, overseas Vietnamese and middle-aged tourists, a large portion of tourists flocking to Sa Dec near Tet are young independent travelers. According to Ms. Phuong Linh, transportation from Ho Chi Minh City to Sa Dec is now convenient, so young groups tend to organize their own trips by personal means.
In recent years, Sa Dec has attracted more attention and love from tourists, thanks to the local government's investment in landscape care, and many cultural activities and festivals to attract tourists. "Tourism promotion activities are also well done, creating great attraction for this destination," said Ms. Linh.
Vu Dong Duc, a tour guide in Sa Dec, said the number of tourists he guided during the New Year holiday doubled compared to the same period last year. According to him, the garden tour combined with Sa Dec flower village is the choice of many Vietnamese tourists during the short holiday.
At the end of December 2023, Sa Dec organized the Sa Dec Flower - Ornamental Festival for the first time in a week. Mr. Huynh Minh Tuan, Vice Chairman of Dong Thap Provincial People's Committee, said that the event has spread the potential and strengths of the century-old flower village, developed agricultural tourism, and contributed to promoting the local image. Also on this occasion, Sa Dec City People's Committee coordinated with the Provincial Center for Trade, Tourism and Investment Promotion to launch 4 new tour programs. The itinerary is 2 days 1 night, combining a visit to Sa Dec flower garden and famous destinations in the West such as Huynh Thuy Le ancient house, Xeo Quyt relic, Kien An Cung pagoda, Dinh Yen mat market.
Sa Dec flower village and Lai Vung tangerine garden are typical locations contributing to the development of tourism in Dong Thap province. In 2023, the province welcomed over 4 million tourists, with revenue reaching 1,900 billion VND. Of which, agricultural tourism products associated with craft villages attracted 800,000 visitors, with revenue of 150 billion VND.
TH (according to VnExpress)Source
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