Dong Thap has 72 agricultural and rural tourism spots, including 15 typical activity spots and some newly formed spots. To develop tourism, farmers have proactively renovated and embellished the landscape, invested in infrastructure of tourist attractions.
Models such as visiting fruit gardens, experiencing being a farmer, bathing in fields, and visiting traditional craft villages create attractive products and highlights to attract visitors.
This also demonstrates the creativity of people and businesses in turning daily experiences and agricultural and rural activities into money-making products.
Coming from Ho Chi Minh City to Dong Thap, Ms. My Anh said she had watched many videos of bathing in the Mekong Delta rivers online, but only when she witnessed and experienced it herself at Dong Sen Go Thap (Dong Thap) did she understand why the flood season is so attractive.
"We had a memorable day with activities like bathing in the fields, rowing boats, enjoying specialties... Everything was very familiar but brought a new feeling," she shared.
Tourists are excited about bathing in the fields during the flood season (Photo: Bao Quyen).
On normal days, Go Thap Lotus Pond is a familiar stop for tourists who want to find peace. The lotus field, which is dozens of hectares in size, changes its color depending on the time of day. Visitors often borrow ao dai, ao ba ba, and conical hats to take photos, or row a small boat to the middle of the pond to pick lotus and fish, evoking memories of the countryside.
But what makes Dong Sen Go Thap’s unique brand is the flood season. Instead of just fishing as before, the locals here have turned the flood season, which is a difficult time for farming, into an opportunity to create community tourism products.
The rising waters from the 9th lunar month are no longer a concern, but have become a seasonal resource, attracting a sharp increase in the number of tourists every week.
Children enjoy bathing in copper by their parents (Photo: Bao Quyen).
This is considered one of the creative agricultural and rural tourism products that brings memorable experiences to visitors.
According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hon, representative of the tourist area, this year the water level is higher than usual, flooding the entrance to more than 30 thatched huts in the tourist area. However, this inconvenience has been turned into a highlight. Visitors have to take a boat to the huts, eat and drink right on the water and then jump into the fields to bathe on the spot.
"Since the beginning of the flood season, the number of visitors every weekend has always been at 500-600 people, sometimes up to thousands of visitors. On Saturdays and Sundays, the huts are almost full of visitors from morning to afternoon. The most ideal time to bathe in the fields is around September and October of the lunar calendar, when the water level is low and begins to recede, clear, and about 2 meters deep," said Mr. Hon.
Sharing with Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Sy - the staff in charge of activities at Dong Sen Go Thap - said that the model recreating the flood season is quite rare nowadays, so tourists, especially young people, are extremely excited.
"They find a new yet familiar feeling of their childhood. The activity of bathing in the fields attracts both adults and children. Adults feel like they are returning to the days of wading in the fields to catch fish, while children can freely splash around in the river," he shared.
Tourists eat and drink in a leaf hut, surrounded by water (Photo: Bao Quyen).
According to Mr. Sy, many areas in the West no longer have flood season, making it difficult for the younger generation to experience activities such as bathing in fields and rivers.
"We also don't want these cultural specialties to fade away. Therefore, combining tourism with rural experiences will always have its own appeal to visitors," he said.
Dong Thap identifies agricultural tourism as the province's strength (Photo: Nguyen Cuong).
According to Mr. Sy, the flood season also opens up a series of other experiences such as rowing a boat, fishing, exploring river life, and typical Western customs. This is the reason why the number of visitors during the flood season is often double that of the dry season.
"Many people only need to rent a traditional Vietnamese outfit for 50,000 VND, then freely swim in the river without being charged. The tourist area is equipped with life jackets and a monitoring team to ensure safety. This year's flood season also attracted about 100 foreign visitors, a rare number for a rural tourist destination," said Mr. Sy.
Panoramic view of Go Thap Lotus Field in flood season (Photo: Bao Quyen).
In addition to flood season activities, Dong Sen Go Thap still retains its unique features thanks to its wild landscape and rich ecosystem, with many rare bird species. Boating, fishing or enjoying special dishes... still regularly serve tourists, even when the water recedes.
The flexibility of "dry season products, flood season products" has helped Dong Sen Go Thap become a bright spot in rural tourism creativity. The representative of the tourist area also emphasized that they want to turn natural conditions into advantages, creating stable livelihoods while still preserving the spirit of the region.
Currently, Dong Thap is promoting and building many new ecological, agricultural and rural tourism tours, such as: "Tram Chim National Park - There is such a place" tour, a tour linking the tourist attractions of Binh Thanh raft village - Thien Phu tourist attraction - To pagoda - My Xuong tourist village; a tour associated with the traditional village of making nem and boat building in Lai Vung which have been recognized as National Intangible Cultural Heritage; tours to visit and experience the pink grapefruit garden (Lai Vung); "Following the lover's footsteps, Sa Dec - love of land - love of flowers" tour; "Colors of the border area - Land of pink lotus" tour... to help tourists have a variety of choices when coming to Dong Thap.
Dong Thap is oriented to 2030, with a total budget of more than 1,008 billion VND. Of which, the list of priority projects in the tourism sector is 461 billion VND. This is truly an opportunity and motivation for Dong Thap tourism to make a breakthrough in the coming time.
Dong Thap strives to complete the construction of a geographical indication system for the province's typical products by 2027, such as: Thap Muoi lotus, Cao Lanh mango, Hong Ngu catfish, Sa Dec flowers, Lai Vung pink grapefruit, Chau Thanh longan. By 2030, Dong Thap strives to become a destination with strong brands for all 6 key development pillars (government, tourism, agriculture, investment opportunities, residential community, business community) with great competitiveness in the Mekong Delta region.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/khu-du-lich-mien-tay-don-khach-dot-bien-nho-cho-khach-tam-dong-20251127051811887.htm
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