Thieng Lieng Hamlet, Thanh An Commune, Can Gio District, is a new community tourism destination attracting visitors to Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Hoang Tuyet/Tin Tuc Newspaper
Development on the basis of cultural identity
About 70 km from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, Thieng Lieng hamlet, Thanh An island commune, Can Gio district is quite peaceful, the air is fresh and cool with long stretches of mangrove forests, white salt fields in the sun. From the end of 2022, Thieng Lieng will become the first community tourism destination in Ho Chi Minh City, developing on the basis of local cultural identity and unique mangrove, estuary and sea ecosystems.
Stepping onto Thieng Lieng island, visitors feel light, leisurely strolling or cycling on the road around the island, admiring the rustic houses with clusters of blooming flowers, white salt fields, ships and boats moving offshore. 24 destinations are 24 tourism products associated with each household, scattered along the walking path around the island, making visitors feel truly immersed in the lives of the people, understanding the customs, beliefs, or traditional occupations that are deeply culturally significant of the islanders.
Mr. Nguyen Van Yen, Head of Thieng Lieng Hamlet, said that Thieng Lieng is a small hamlet of Thanh An Commune, with more than 240 households. From not knowing how to do tourism, only familiar with salt production, exploitation, and aquaculture, now doing community tourism, the people in the hamlet are very excited to welcome tourists to visit and learn about their simple life. Coming to the island, tourists are guided to visit Giong Chua mountain, explore the traces of "Nu Oa's feet" at the foot of the mountain, returning to the salt fields, they can personally hold the tools to lead water to make salt according to the traditional method of Thieng Lieng people, enjoy specialties in the space with the strong taste of the sea, tourists are very excited.
Ms. Bui Thi Gia, representative of the household with the destination named "Homestay and cool water Muoi Gia" in Thieng Lieng hamlet, shared that with the advice of the staff of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, authorities at all levels, Ms. Gia and members of the Thieng Lieng Agricultural Trade and Tourism Service Cooperative serve tourists with specialties associated with daily life such as cool water made from familiar plants on the island, rustic dishes, and traditional cakes. If guests want to stay overnight on the island, there will be homestay-style rooms arranged harmoniously, imbued with the countryside but still equipped with amenities, creating convenience for visitors. The islanders are always proud and conscious of preserving the highlights of their lives from the way of preparing food, traditional music, traditional craft production and environmental protection to attract tourists.
Different from the culture associated with the life of sea and island residents in Thieng Lieng hamlet, in the Mekong Delta, Con Chim hamlet (Hoa Minh commune, Chau Thanh district, Tra Vinh province) is an attractive community tourism model because of the culture of the garden and river islands. The community tourism products here are associated with the indigenous culture of the islanders such as the countryside market, visiting organic rice fields, visitors can immerse themselves in the joyful and bustling atmosphere of crab fishing, areca leaf pulling, visiting the ancient Southern kitchen space, picking vegetables, grinding flour with a stone mortar to make banh xeo, banh la mo, banh la dua, banh la mit...
According to Lam Huu Phuc, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Tra Vinh province, each year, the Con Chim community tourism site welcomes about 17,000 visitors, achieving a total revenue of nearly 5 billion VND/year, helping people increase their income and preserve unique cultural features from their own daily life and agricultural production methods. In early 2025, at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2025 in Malaysia, this community tourism site was honored with the ASEAN Tourism Award 2025, community tourism category.
Green space at the Con Chim community tourism site (Chau Thanh, Tra Vinh). Photo: VNA
Become one of the main tourism products
The community tourism model in many localities is showing clear effectiveness, creating conditions for people to increase their income, exchange and integrate, while promoting indigenous cultural values and introducing and promoting unique cultural features to tourists.
With the viewpoint of developing community tourism into a complete and mainstream product in the product system of Vietnam's tourism, linking community tourism services with the development of cultural industries, forming the characteristics of each locality and region, in October 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued the Project on Developing Community Tourism in Vietnam.
Many solutions have been proposed to develop community tourism more effectively. That is, all levels, sectors and localities should organize spatial planning of community tourism sites; support the development of infrastructure and technical facilities for tourism at community tourism sites; support the connection and attraction of tourists, promote the application of digital transformation, smart technology, and integrate e-commerce transactions in the development of community tourism products.
Each locality develops community tourism associated with the culture of the local people and for the people's lives, with the participation of local people; there are policies of the State to promote and mobilize households to participate in community tourism. The construction of the image of a community tourism destination must be associated with the cultural values of the locality, with close coordination and connection between relevant parties on the principle of equality and fair enjoyment of benefits.
From the perspective of a product development expert, Ms. Phan Yen Ly (Canh Cam Media and Event Consulting Company) believes that it is necessary to raise awareness of the local community about the benefits of developing community tourism and preserving traditional values. From there, each member is truly an ambassador to develop the local tourism brand. At the local level, community tourism models pay attention to attracting many socialized resources in addition to proposing timely support policies from all levels and sectors so that community tourism products are increasingly perfected.
Regarding the development of increasingly attractive community tourism products that affirm their identity, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu shared that functional sectors and local authorities do not only stop at strategic orientation but also accompany the local community in the process of developing each community tourism product. Community tourism products can only maintain long-term appeal if they originate from the ecological environment and cultural life of local residents, and are not "copied" from one place to another.
Talking about enhancing the attractiveness of community tourism products in Tra Vinh, including the Con Chim community tourism product that received the ASEAN Tourism Award 2025, community tourism category, Lam Huu Phuc, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Tra Vinh province, said that it is necessary to continue to preserve and promote the cultural features of the indigenous people. The human resources participating in community tourism in Con Chim need to improve their communication skills and foreign language proficiency to serve tourists better and better, always being one of the destinations that tourists cannot ignore on their journey to the Mekong Delta.
According to VNA
Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/du-lich-cong-dong-tao-suc-song-moi-cho-van-hoa-ban-dia-20250602154343315.htm
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