Seasonal work for eco-tourism garden

Long Khanh City is in the garden ecotourism season. Jobs at tourist attractions are becoming more bustling, such as: taking tourists to visit fruit gardens; welcoming, guiding and serving tourists; preparing food when customers have a need...

Mr. Che A Cau, an employee of Chu Loc La Garden Eco- Tourism Site, takes tourists to visit the fruit gardens. Photo: A.Nhon

Thanks to seasonal ecotourism work, hundreds of local workers have stable jobs and guaranteed income.

* Stable job, guaranteed income

For the past 10 days, Mr. Che A Cau (53 years old) has been present at Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site (Cay Da Hamlet, Binh Loc Commune, Long Khanh City) at 7:30 every day to receive work assignments from the owner of the tourism service. His job is to welcome and take tourists to visit the fruit gardens in the area.

While waiting to welcome groups of tourists from all over to Long Khanh, the members of the driving team of Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site sat drinking coffee and chatting happily. Mr. Che A Cau took advantage of his free time to clean the car to make it new and clean, and at the same time carefully checked the machinery to ensure the service and transportation of tourists throughout the journey.

Mr. Che A Cau said that his family did not have much garden, so he and his wife used to work mainly for hire. They did whatever they were hired to do, from construction workers to picking rambutans and durians... to earn money to support their lives. However, hired work is often unstable, with uncertain incomes. Moreover, climbing and picking fruit is too dangerous and no longer suitable for older people like him.

In 2018, Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site needed to recruit workers. Since then, Mr. Che A Cau applied to work in the driving team. He was diligent so the owner kept him to work regularly from then until now for more than 5 years.

According to Mr. Che A Cau, on weekdays when the number of visitors to the garden is low, he is paid about 400,000 VND/day. On weekends when the number of visitors to the garden is high, his salary increases to 600-700,000 VND/day.

“Compared to working for hire in the past, the job of taking tourists to visit fruit gardens is regular, easy, and fun when interacting and chatting with tourists. In particular, this job has brought in a better source of income, helping to cover family expenses and ensure children's education,” said Mr. Che A Cau.

About 500m from the reception area is the culinary area of Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site. The atmosphere here is quite bustling as many workers are urgently preparing dishes to serve the tourists in time for lunch.

Ms. Pham Huong Chau, an employee working at the food court of Chu Loc La Ecotourism Garden, said that, at the request of customers, the food court mainly prepares rustic dishes such as grilled snakehead fish, seafood hotpot, fried rice, grilled chicken, catfish hotpot, etc. "In particular, the food court also prepares a very delicious and attractive mangosteen chicken salad, so many tourist groups really like this dish," Ms. Chau confided.

Mr. TRAN QUOC PHONG, owner of Ut Tieu Garden Ecotourism Site, said that in the coming time, in order for the tourist site to welcome visitors all year round, in addition to seasonal fruit products, he is collaborating with surrounding households to produce year-round fruit trees. Only then can we create regular jobs for local workers.

Ms. Chau said that she used to work as a factory worker but the job was unstable and her income was not guaranteed. After that, she quit and used her savings to open a grocery store at home, but the results were not very positive. In 2020, when she learned that Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site was recruiting culinary staff, she applied for the job.

Over the years, Ms. Chau has made many efforts to improve her skills in preparing new, diverse and attractive dishes to better serve tourists. Thanks to that, she has been retained by her employer to work stably until now.

* Local employment

Mr. Tran Van Loc, owner of Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site, shared that the 2023 garden ecotourism season has more positive signs than previous years. His tourist site alone is expected to have about 15,000 visitors coming to experience this year's tourist season (an increase of about 15-20% compared to 2022).

Staff working at the food court of Chu Loc La Garden Ecotourism Site are preparing dishes to serve tourists.

Due to the large amount of work, Mr. Loc's family has to hire 25-30 workers to do the following jobs: look after the parking lot; transport visitors to visit fruit gardens and food stalls; advise, guide, and serve tourists... Depending on the nature of the work, Mr. Loc's family pays different wages to the workers.

For example, he pays about VND400,000/day/person to employees serving tourists at the food court and about VND700,000-750,000/day/person to the team of drivers who take tourists to visit the orchard. “We pay drivers higher salaries than employees in other departments. Because their work is continuous from morning to afternoon; moreover, they invest in their own vehicles and fill up their own gas to transport tourists…” - Mr. Loc explained.

Similarly, Ut Tieu Garden Ecotourism Site (Cay Da Hamlet, Binh Loc Commune) also creates jobs for local workers. Mr. Tran Quoc Phong, owner of Ut Tieu Garden Ecotourism Site, said that in his family, there are 5 people participating in garden ecotourism. In addition, he also hires 6-8 workers on weekdays and 20-25 workers on weekends. The daily work of the hired workers is to drive tourists to visit and experience fruit gardens in the area; serve tourists food and drinks; help in the kitchen to prepare food; sell tickets and keep cars for guests... He pays a salary of 7-9 million VND/month/person, depending on the specific job.

Head of the Binh Loc Commune Garden Ecotourism Cooperative Group (Long Khanh City) Lam Phi Hung said that currently, the Binh Loc Commune Garden Ecotourism Cooperative Group has 13 members participating in garden ecotourism. In addition, the tourist sites have also linked up with over 50 households with a total area of about 150 hectares to do tourism together. Since then, the garden ecotourism model has created jobs for about 200 local workers. Thanks to that, many families have increased their income and their lives are much more secure than before.

According to Mr. Hung, the important thing about the garden ecotourism model is to create a spread for the surrounding people to do the same, because tourism has brought huge profits to the people. For example, the rambutan garden of the farmers previously sold to traders for only 100 million VND, but after switching to tourism, the income has increased from 180-200 million VND. The work is easy but the income has increased and no longer depends on traders.

“I think that the model of garden ecotourism in Long Khanh City in general and Binh Loc Commune in particular is very practical and needs to continue to be developed in the future. Because the whole village doing tourism will help local people increase their income, improve their quality of life, protect the green space of Long Khanh City, and create community connections for all people,” Mr. Hung shared.

An Nhon

.

Source link: http://www.baodongnai.com.vn/xahoi/202306/lam-thue-theo-mua-du-lich-sinh-thai-vuon-3169628/