Visit Lai Thieu to admire the ripe fruit season

With its advantageous geographical location along the Saigon River and a complex network of canals, the people of Hung Dinh, An Thanh, An Son, Binh Nham, and Lai Thieu wards in Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province, have long been renowned for their fruit cultivation. Around this time of year, the fruits in the orchards of Lai Thieu and Cau Ngang areas of Thuan An City begin to ripen, displaying a variety of characteristic and captivating colors of fruits such as durian, mangosteen, strawberries, rambutan, jackfruit, and bon bon. Tourists come to enjoy the fresh air and savor the specialties of Binh Duong's orchards, such as mangosteen chicken salad and durian-grilled chicken.

In particular, Lai Thieu mangosteen has been honored by the Vietnam Record Organization as one of the Top 50 famous fruit specialties of Vietnam. Lai Thieu mangosteen has also been recognized as a collective trademark by the Intellectual Property Office ( Ministry of Science and Technology ). Therefore, many tourists liken this place to a "paradise" of the most attractive tropical fruits in the Southern region.

To provide Lai Thieu fruit growers with an opportunity to interact, learn, exchange experiences, and promote the Lai Thieu fruit brand in particular and the Southern region in general, Thuan An City has organized the "Lai Thieu Fruit Season Festival" in April or May of the lunar calendar every year. With many attractive activities and numerous commercial stalls from fruit growers and traditional craft villages in the province and neighboring localities in the Southern region, the festival has attracted a large number of visitors from all over to admire and explore over the years. As a result, the festival has gradually become one of the traditional cultural events of Thuan An City.

This year, the festival is taking place in the Cau Ngang area, Hung Dinh ward, Thuan An city, with the theme "Cau Ngang - A Season of Rendezvous". The festival features many diverse activities to cater to the sightseeing and shopping needs of locals and tourists from near and far. On this occasion, Thuan An city also organizes many attractive recreational activities, such as: the Thuan An City Open Cross-Country Race with the theme "The Fruit Orchard Route", the "Charming Orchard" contest, the "Colors of the Ripe Fruit Season" photo contest, the "Land and People of Thuan An" photo exhibition, and the "Children's Art Award" painting contest…

According to Mr. Ho Anh Thi, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Dinh Ward, Thuan An City, the festival is an opportunity for the locality to continue building and maintaining the promotion of the image of Lai Thieu fruit orchards to tourists. This creates opportunities for the locality to exchange ideas, learn about, and promote trade and investment in tourism, contributing to boosting the economy and tourism in the ward, especially eco-tourism in orchards. To spread awareness of the festival, the ward has implemented various forms of propaganda and promotion to help people understand the purpose, meaning, and content of the festival, while also encouraging people to participate in promoting orchard tourism, responding to festival activities, and demonstrating hospitality, civilized communication, and polite behavior.

The "Lai Thieu Fruit Season Festival" has been identified by the leaders of Thuan An City as an important event, with the hope of contributing to building a traditional "festival brand" for the locality. The festival organizers also expect this to be an opportunity for orchard owners in the Southern region to interact, learn, exchange, and share experiences in developing agricultural economics, highlighting the role of the people in jointly building and developing eco-tourism in the orchards, and introducing high-quality fruits to tourists.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thuan An City, said: Through this festival, the city hopes that functional units will strengthen close links with businesses and garden owners to jointly contribute to restoring the once famous Cau Ngang - Lai Thieu tourism brand. Local people also need to change their mindset and business practices, be friendly in serving tourists, and contribute to preserving and building a friendly, enthusiastic, and hospitable image to attract more tourists to Lai Thieu in particular and Binh Duong province in general.

In recent years, Binh Duong has implemented numerous measures to improve and develop the productivity and quality of its fruit orchards, covering an area of over 1,238 hectares, including more than 660 hectares of mangosteen trees. To develop eco-tourism services in the Lai Thieu orchard region, many practical solutions have been proposed, such as: encouraging businesses to invest in services tailored to specific tourist groups, including leisure travelers, weekend getaways, conference attendees, group tours, and water-based sports and recreational tourism.

The "Lai Thieu Fruit Season" festival, held recently, served the needs of visitors for sightseeing, shopping, and enjoying delicious food and famous local fruit specialties. It also raised public awareness about preserving orchards and conserving valuable local fruit tree varieties. Furthermore, it aimed to develop orchard tourism, which has been closely linked to the formation and development of Thuan An. Above all, in the context of rapid urbanization, maintaining the festival is an effective way for Thuan An City to preserve orchards within the city while developing tourism.

THUAN UYEN

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