Some farmers in the Cuu Long River Delta have ugraded their houses and gardens, turning them into ideal and unique destinations for tourists and this model has proven to be a success.

For instance, the old house, Ba Duc, in Dong Hoa Hiep Commune, Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province draws between 100 to 300 Vietnamese and foreign tourists a day. They come to contemplate or enjoy a homestay tour.

This destination, before the year 2000, was simply the home of seven members of Mr. Phan Van Duc’s family.

Mr. Duc recalled that his family teamd with Cai Be Tourist Company before 2000, so that the Company would bring tourists to his old house. Each tourist brought him VND 2,000. However, the dependence on the Company made his family become passive in the process. Moreover, the boring reception could not attract tourists to visit the house the second time. That urged him to think of something better to entertain tourists.

In 2000, being granted a business license, Mr. Duc upgraded his 2.5 hectare orchard into a ecological garden with a fish pond. Besides, he also built a furnished guest house. The hightlight of his project is the cooking lectures on Vietnamese specialities given by his wife.

Following Mr. Duc’s model, Mr. Le Hoang Vinh in Binh Hoa Phuoc, Long Ho District, Vinh Long Province upgrades his 2.2 hectare fishing pond into an eco tourist site in 2004. Mr. Vinh dared to raise African ostrich and succeeded in opening the service of ostrich riding.

Mr. Vinh also imported various species of birds and animals to entertain tourists.

As a CEO of Vinh Sang Limited Company, Mr. Vinh confided that without intersting models and activities, tourists might be bored.

The orchard with various specialities is the attracting thing of the eco tourist site of Mr. Huynh Thanh Bach, a farmer in Long My Commune, Vinh Long Province. His floating restaurant, valued at over VND 1.5 billion, is being completed and it is hoped that it will attract more tourists to his tourist site.

Mr. Duc shared that, some foreign tourists returned to his house three or four times because they felt interested his family-tailored activities.

Mr. Duc could communicate in English fluently with tourists and got to know their tastes to improve his service.

He boasted that each day, his family received more than 100 tourists. Various tourists enjoyed the homestay service to experience local life. Each night costs US$22 a person.

For Mr. Vinh, he welcomes 300 tourists per day. He is going to team with 20 households to expand the service. Household gardens are different from each other. We will expand our link to forward the community tourism. As a result, the benefits will be for they themselves.

Along with eco garden and floating restaurants, Mr. Bach plans to take tourists to handicraft villages in the locality. Such a method has received big applause from Long My Communal leaders. In a short time, the Commune will open English classes for farmers to lay good foundation for the Commune to choose tourism a key for economic development. The Vietnam travel agencies are also paying attention to this service.