Is the 'fairyland' in Langbiang plateau ready to welcome tourists?

According to a representative of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City, the 'wonderland' in Langbiang plateau has beautiful landscapes and a diverse ecosystem, but still lacks typical products for travel agencies to be ready to bring tourists there.

To Linh Da (in white shirt) experiences the biodiversity route at Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park - Photo: C.TUỆ

Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park ( Lam Dong ) is considered to have the best flora and fauna ecosystem in Vietnam and has great potential for ecotourism. Are travel agencies ready to bring tourists to this place, which is considered the "fairyland" of Langbiang plateau?

Is the national park ready for visitors?

That was the question raised by Ms. To Linh Da (representative of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City) at the seminar on Developing ecotourism associated with biodiversity conservation, organized by the Department of Forestry ( Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Wildlife Fund in Vietnam (WWF - Vietnam) at the end of September, at Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park.

Citing the way tourism is done in Buon Ma Thuot, Linh Da said that when visitors enter the reception desk, they see the receptionist wearing traditional costumes, inviting guests to drink drinks with a strong local character, and all the designs and constructions carry local cultural values, but here she does not see that.

"I visited the national park's bedroom and found that it only met basic needs such as sleeping, resting, and hygiene, but did not exude the spirit of tourism.

Or like a meal, it is not necessary to eat 5 familiar dishes, but only need to focus on 3 main dishes, but those 3 dishes must be really delicious and typical dishes of this land. If doing tourism, there must be typical products,...

Is the national park ready to meet this factor for the company to send guests?" - Ms. Linh Da shared.

The travel company representative also said that the communication work about this "wonderland" is not commensurate with what nature has bestowed.

At the same time, I hope the national park will design a specific route to "show" the most beautiful things of the park to be ready to welcome tourists.

A corner of Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park - Photo: TUNG DINH

Three reasons to take visitors to national parks

In response to this question, Mr. Le Van Huong, director of Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park, said that there are three reasons why travel companies bring tourists to national parks.

First, bring tourists to the national park to learn about unusual animals and plants. Each animal, each tree is a story, and when experiencing it, the experts of the park can tell tourists thousands of stories. The purpose of true eco-tourists is to learn about ecological values, not to come to eat delicious food or to become famous.

Second, tourists come to the national park to return to Mother Nature, immerse themselves and enjoy the beauty of nature, this is eternal beauty.

Another point that brings visitors to the national park is because of the amenities that the national park provides such as tourist attractions, accommodation, dining, etc.

"The problem here is that Vietnamese tourists, as well as those from developed countries, are very few eco-tourists," said Mr. Huong, adding that the role of the media is to make people see that the value of the national park is different from other tourist areas.

On the way to Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park, on both sides will be lush green pine forests, then to evergreen primeval forests with large canopy - Photo: C.TUỆ - TÙNG DINH

Speaking further with Tuoi Tre Online , according to Mr. Huong, one of the challenges of developing ecotourism is that policy makers do not properly assess the role of tourism in national parks, thus wasting huge tourism resources.

"To do tourism, there must be infrastructure, however, building roads in national parks is currently very difficult. Without infrastructure, tourists will not come. The infrastructure and human resources for tourism are still very weak.

"The entire state budget over the past 20 years has not had any investment source for national parks for tourism" - Mr. Huong shared and hoped that state management agencies would soon approve the eco-tourism project and sustainable forest management plan to have conditions and resources for tourism development.

Kơ Sàn En Luy (in blue shirt above) said that visitors experiencing the biodiversity route will see the connection between the forest and the lives of indigenous people - Photo: C.TUỆ

Helly Tong (photo), a famous 9X girl - associated with a green lifestyle - was amazed when touching the rustic, lovely green patches inside Bidoup Nui Ba National Park - Photo: TUNG DINH

At an altitude of about 1,500m, under the influence of clouds, from the tree roots to the leaves there is moss, this is a typical aquatic species in Bidiop - Nui Ba National Park - Photo: C.TUỆ - TÙNG DINH

Tourists check-in next to the Braian oak tree - Photo: C.TUỆ

The park has recorded 2,089 vascular plant species belonging to 188 plant families (SNRM project, 2017) - Photo: C.TUỆ - TÙNG DINH

Camera trapping activities at Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park. The park recorded 131 species of animals belonging to 29 families and 10 orders - Photo: C.TUỆ

The national park is one of the most important and diverse bird areas in Vietnam, with 326 species belonging to 54 families - Photo: Provided by VQG

On average, Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park welcomes 10,000 - 12,000 tourists each year. Since the beginning of 2023, the park has welcomed over 6,000 tourists - Photo: TUNG DINH

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