Developing eco-tourism, improving people's lives

Mobilize resources

Ben Tre is one of 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta, located at the end of the Mekong River, bordering the East Sea and formed by 3 large islets: Bao islet, Minh islet and An Hoa islet. Ben Tre is blessed with 65km of coastline; at the same time, in addition to the dense system of rivers and canals, the province also has fields, gardens, along with mangrove forests along the coast and river mouths, creating a "green wall" to protect and improve the coastal ecological environment.

According to the leader of the Ben Tre province tourism industry, with its available advantages and potentials, Ben Tre tourism has made great strides in development, many new tourist areas and spots have been formed, many accommodation facilities and restaurants have been put into operation, many destinations and stops with various types of eco-tourism, experiential tourism, agricultural tourism, visiting fruit gardens, craft villages, historical sites, etc. have been attracting more and more domestic and foreign tourists to visit and experience.

Focus on developing eco -tourism models to both adapt to climate change and increase people's income.

However, Ben Tre tourism industry is still facing many difficulties and challenges, especially in the context of climate change. In fact, in recent years, under the impact of climate change, abnormal weather phenomena and extreme natural disasters have occurred more and more frequently, causing damage to people, property and negatively affecting people's lives and activities, affecting the sustainable development of the locality. In particular, riverbank and coastal erosion in the area has also occurred in a very complicated and unpredictable manner, causing loss of production land, loss of protective forests, ... greatly affecting production and people's lives.

Faced with the above situation, Ben Tre province has directed to promote propaganda on the policy of developing tourism adapted to climate change to raise awareness and create consensus in actions of all levels, sectors, businesses and communities. At the same time, Ben Tre province has also mobilized resources to invest, build and upgrade infrastructure systems serving people's lives in combination with tourism development. In particular, the province considers tourism development as a key economic sector associated with the strategy of building new rural areas, creating momentum for rural areas to have more vitality, contributing to improving the material and spiritual life of local people.

Focus on developing ecotourism

With the advantages of nature and many unique cultural heritages, people in rural areas of Ben Tre have boldly developed an eco-tourism model adapted to climate change, gradually bringing a new face to the countryside in the direction of green - clean - beautiful. Rural tourism also contributes more and more to the socio-economic development of the locality such as creating new job opportunities, promoting production and trading of local products, helping to increase people's income.

Along with that, Ben Tre has been promoting solutions and models that are in harmony with nature to create sustainable livelihoods and improve the material and spiritual life of local people. In particular, the province pays attention to the strengths and characteristics of tourism products when linking with other provinces and cities to attract tourists, especially aiming to build models of agricultural economic development associated with tourism products.

"Forest Keeper" Farm combines exploitation with tourism development based on mangrove ecosystem

A typical example is the “Forest Keeper” farm of Ms. Trinh Thi Ngoc Hien in Binh Dai district, which exploits and develops tourism based on the mangrove ecosystem. Ms. Hien said: “With the attention and guidance of the locality, my family has launched an eco-tourism model to both enhance the value of livelihoods under the forest canopy and sustainably develop coastal mangrove forests. With this business idea, up to now, hundreds of local households have ensured their lives and increased their incomes thanks to cooperation to exploit and protect the forest together.”

Mr. Huynh Van Muoi (owner of Muoi No homestay) is also known as one of the first farmers in Nhon Thanh commune, Ben Tre city to switch from agricultural production of growing bamboo to weaving mats to an eco-tourism model. “Thanks to selling grapefruit and coconut to tourists, the value of my family's agricultural products consumed on the spot is 3 times higher than selling to traders. Currently, the entire 8,000m2 of my family's land has been converted to tourism, building a homestay for guests to rest also brings in 10 times more profit than doing agriculture as before,” Mr. Muoi shared.

According to the leader of the Ben Tre province tourism sector, in the face of the negative impacts of climate change, Ben Tre province has also issued many policies to support organizations and individuals in rural areas that have the conditions to participate in tourism. In particular, in addition to applying the general support mechanisms and policies of the Central Government, Ben Tre province also aims to develop ancillary services to support tourism development, linking the development of rural tourism infrastructure; at the same time, focusing on improving the quality of human resources for rural tourism and eco-tourism in the direction of green and sustainable tourism, in order to contribute to improving the material and spiritual life of local people.

Source