Water coconut forest – an attractive destination of Quang Nam

According to Mr. Nguyen Yen, Director of the Triem Tay Agricultural  and Tourism Co-operative, some years ago, most of Triem Tay villagers were farmers and earned their living from the fields along the Thu Bon River. All things have been changed since 2014, the ILO, UNESSCO and Quang Nam authorities have cooperated to help Triem Tay Village to develop ecological and cultural tourism. A short time later, the Triem Tay Agricultural and Tourism Co-operative was established with 25 household members. They contributed 50 million VND (about 2,500 USD) to charter capital. First of all, in order to do and develop tourism, Triem Tay residents began beautifying their living environment, changing their habits, behaviors and communication ways.

Hundreds of the local residents took part in the workshops on doing tourism organized by ILO and UNESSCO Viet Nam. These workshops helped them change their daily activities such as fishing, animal breeding, cultivation… to become attractive tourism products. Some families repaired their houses or built new houses for “homestay” services.

After 6 months of operation, the Triem Tay community based tourism village welcomed over 3,000 visitors. The total turnover reached nearly 300 million VND (about 15.000 USD). Each family received over 2 million VND per month from doing tourism.

Mr. Le Van Thanh, Vice chairman of Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee said that developing responsible and sustainable tourism in Quang Nam Province in general and in Triem Tay Village in particular has contributed to improve the local’s lives.

Besides, it has also helped to exploit cultural and environmental sources sustainably.  All tourism activities in the craft villages and community based tourism villages have step by step reduced the development gaps between the coastal and inland regions and the remote and mountainous regions. The development of eco-tourism has also contributed to poverty alleviation. The combination between community based tourism, eco-tourism, countryside tourism and craft villages tourism is very  important to maintain and develop all the resources, better the local socio-economic lives.

After visiting Triem Tay  Co-operative’s community based eco-tourism model, Mr. Cornelius Gregg, an expert of the ILO in Deneva, said the Triem Tay villagers’ income is lower than that of the ASEAN countries’ people. The most important problem we have to do now is upgrading the the tourism service staffs and tourism products in order to meet tourists’ demands, particularly international ones.  Hopefully, in a near future, Triem Tay Village will not only be an attractive destination to tourists, but also a model of community based and sustainable eco-tourism development of Quang Nam Province…