Many destinations with attractive services

Son Tay in the middle of a sunny summer day with white clouds. The heat is kindled in the sunlight. Only the green of the hills, forests, and fields is immense. From the town center, we followed Highway 416 to Long Ho tourist site in Kim Son commune. The houses are hidden under the shade of trees. Outside the street, voices and laughter resound. People are weeding and planting flowers, people are cleaning, planting flags, hanging lanterns and flowers. "Is the village about to hold a festival?". Answering our question, Mr. Vu Huy Nam, Secretary of the Kim Son Commune Party Committee, happily said: "That is because the people are actively preparing for the ceremony to receive the decision of Hanoi City to recognize Long Ho tourist site". Nature has endowed Long Ho with a harmonious and beautiful landscape, with hills, rivers, and fertile fields. More meaningfully, the local people have learned how to do tourism. Still the same house and garden, but now thanks to investment and renovation, they have become homestays serving resort and experience tourism activities. Then the land and ponds in Long Ho are cultivated and raised by the locals to create products for tourists.

Duoi house tourist experience spot attracts many tourists.

Participating in different segments, Long Ho people have promoted their advantages in developing community tourism and resort tourism. According to Mr. Vu Huy Nam, the current tourism trend has many types, including experiential tourism, immersing in nature, participating in activities with local people. From 2020, the Party Committee and People's Committee of Kim Son commune have oriented to build a tourist destination in Long Ho village with the participation of 14 main businesses and households in the village providing many attractive tourism services.

With its semi-mountainous terrain, Son Tay is blessed by nature with many large lakes of scenic and tourist value, the most famous of which is Dong Mo Lake, about 200 hectares wide with many islands and peninsulas by the lake, surrounded by vast grasslands and rows of green trees. Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Dung, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Son Tay town, said: "To create conditions for tourism development, the locality has invested in building synchronous infrastructure with a convenient transportation system. In recent years, many tourist attractions in the area have become interesting destinations such as: Thao Vien resort, Mit village, Glory resort tourist area, Long Ho village".

Now in Son Tay, most of the tourist attractions, resorts, and accommodations integrate all kinds of experiences for tourists such as: Fishing, kayaking, enjoying cuisine , going to traditional rural markets, useful cultural playgrounds for children... Thanks to that, many tourist groups have come to Son Tay to visit and experience on weekdays.

Sustainable tourism, long-term benefits

During the journey to visit Son Tay land to learn about new tourism models, we saw changes in people's awareness and practices. For example, Mr. Nguyen Van Khang's family in Kim Son commune invested in growing tea and grapefruit associated with experiential tourism. The hill is like a small island right at Dong Mo lake, below the vast green rice fields. Coming here, visitors can participate in picking tea, learn about the tea care process, and enjoy tea right in the garden. Along the same tourist route in Kim Son commune, there is the Duoi house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh with a medicinal herb garden, aquarium, restaurant, farm, and mini graphic workshop. Ms. Linh said: "The Duoi house is cozy, quiet, and sophisticated enough for people to feel the depth of Vietnamese culture when coming here."

Beekeeping model combined with experiential tourism serving visitors.

Seeing the benefits of tourism, people are actively innovating their production and business methods, beautifying the landscape, and practicing civilized behavior. Joining us to visit tourist attractions, Mr. Ha Viet Phong, Head of the Propaganda Department of Son Tay town, said: "The locality focuses resources on investing in infrastructure, preserving and promoting traditional values associated with tourism development. In addition, tourist facilities have constantly innovated, creating unique and quality tourism products to serve domestic and international tourists."

People and businesses take advantage of the opportunity to do tourism. That is a positive signal for the development of tourism in Son Tay. With the goal of creating a complete tourism chain, the locality focuses on building many sightseeing routes connecting famous relics such as: Son Tay Citadel, Duong Lam ancient village, Va temple, Khai Nguyen pagoda, Mang temple, Vietnam Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village, Dong Mo tourist area... Recently, Long Ho village was recognized by Hanoi as a city-level tourist destination, contributing to enriching the Son Tay tourism map.

Traveling on the land of white clouds of Xu Doai, we witnessed many unique cultural features, poetic nature and many modern tourist attractions. The locality focuses on developing smart tourism models, applying information technology to create modern tourism products associated with traditional activities such as: Folk art performances, artisan demonstrations, fairs, swimming, rowing... In the joy of welcoming the Son Tay - Xu Doai Tourism Year 2023 which just opened last weekend, Mr. Le Dai Thang, Vice Chairman of Son Tay Town People's Committee emphasized: "In the orientation of tourism development, the locality promotes advantages in terms of cultural and historical values, natural conditions, and human resources. Especially when people participate and benefit from tourism, it is a condition for sustainable and high-quality tourism development".

Article and photos: VU DUY