Vinh Long: Attractive community tourism in Con Chim

Con Chim, Hoa Minh commune, Vinh Long province, a typical tourist destination in the Mekong Delta region

Con Chim Islet is located in the middle of the Co Chien River, about 10km northeast of Tra Vinh Ward by river, 15km along National Highway 53 towards Ba Dong Beach. Here, the nature is poetic, peaceful, completely separate from the noise of the city.

The community tourism model of Con Chim hamlet brings visitors new experiences about nature, culture and the life of the local people with the slogan "Coming to Con Chim, the villagers only have their hearts".

As soon as the ferries docked, many people in Con Chim hamlet waved their conical hats and smiled brightly and friendly, helping visitors feel the simplicity, closeness, and sincerity, as if they were returning home. After taking a few souvenir photos at the gate of Con Chim hamlet, many visitors enjoyed cycling on the small roads that were brightly colored with flowers.

Interspersed with rice fields and cool green gardens, along both sides of the road are simple thatched houses, rows of cowhide jars, bowl racks next to ponds,... This is the rustic, strangely peaceful space of a Southern countryside that seems to have receded deep into the past.

Stopping at Be Thao coconut garden, garden owner Tran Thi Thu Hanh personally chopped fresh coconuts picked from the trees, happily inviting everyone to enjoy the cool, sweet coconut water. Under the green coconut canopy of Ms. Hanh's family is an organic rice and shrimp model, visitors can enjoy watching giant freshwater prawns basking in the warm sun on the edge of the pond, or swinging on the rice bushes in the stage of flowering.

Next door, Ms. Pham Thi Sua’s house has arranged a space to introduce the process of making and processing traditional cakes. If interested, visitors can join in grinding flour with a stone mortar, shaping the dough to make banh la mo, steaming it, then peeling the cake to enjoy the delicious rustic taste, dipping it in coconut milk.

Ms. Sua shared, we do tourism with all our heart, welcoming guests like family. Thanks to community tourism, people of Con Chim have jobs, increase their income, contribute to preserving and promoting local cultural values.

Also during the visit to Con Chim, tourists can participate in folk games such as playing u, jumping rope, and throwing cans, recalling childhood memories, including exciting "crab races" with prizes.

Tourists participate in the exciting crab racing game with prizes at Con Chim, Hoa Minh commune.

Visitors were amazed when enjoying a typical Southern family meal at Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen's household. The meal was made with main ingredients from homegrown plants and garden leaves, guaranteed to be green and clean, with boiled vegetables, braised fish, sour soup with catfish, and most uniquely, the Banyan flower salad. Banyan is a typical tree of the Southern Delta river region, growing naturally on the riverbank, producing flowers and fruits all year round with a refreshing, sour and slightly astringent taste, making diners remember it forever.

In the construction of new rural areas, the Party Committee and the government of Hoa Minh island commune pay attention to maintaining, sustaining and improving the quality of the criteria for advanced new rural communes. In recent times, identifying the strengths of natural and cultural conditions, the commune has focused on building and developing the community tourism model of Con Chim hamlet.

According to Mr. Le Van Tri, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoa Minh Commune, in the past, the income of people in Con Chim Hamlet depended on rice cultivation, shrimp farming and fishing. The Commune has coordinated with the provincial tourism sector to guide the community, businesses and tourism service establishments to practice clean and environmentally friendly production, marking Con Chim as a fresh and unique destination for tourists from near and far.

Con Chim has made an international mark, entering the top 12 sustainable development initiatives organized by Japan and is also one of 5 Vietnamese representatives to receive the ASEAN community tourism award in 2025. In the past 5 years, Con Chim community tourism destination has attracted 99,000 domestic and foreign visitors, with revenue of about 24 billion VND and profit of 5 billion VND.

Taking souvenir photos next to a small, simple house in Con Chim hamlet, Hoa Minh commune.

Up to now, the average income per capita of people in Con Chim hamlet has reached 89 million VND/year, double that of 2019. Thanks to promoting the role of the community in developing tourism economy , Hoa Minh commune has completed the procedures and documents to submit to the province for appraisal and recognition as a model new rural commune in tourism.

MINH KHOI

Source: https://nhandan.vn/vinh-long-hap-dan-du-lich-cong-dong-o-con-chim-post919596.html