HCMC authorities have sought to find farms which could be turned into tourist sites, in a bid to increase the incomes of farmers. However, many farmers have said they would find it difficult to offer tourism services.

Agritourism in HCMC is facing a bumpy road. In this file photo, a batch of students is visiting a clean veggie garden in HCMC’s District 9

Additionally, many farms which once were open for tourism, have since stopped offering tours.

Recently, a garden at Huyen Thoai orchid cooperative, An Nhon Tay Commune, in the outlying district of Cu Chi, suspended its tours and other activities.

Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper quoted director of the cooperative Dang Le Thi Thanh Huyen as saying that the cooperative invested in accommodations and other facilities for tourists, as requested by the Department of Tourism and the HCMC Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

With an entrance ticket of VND20,000 per guest at that time, guests were provided with drinking water. Guests who were students and came to study were assigned orchids to care for, as well as work to study at home.

Regarding why the garden stopped seeking guests, Huyen said that many guests brought diseases to orchids, harming production and the quality of the orchids. However, the garden is still open to students.

If the garden is to be used for tourism, it will be necessary to develop a model for guests, which includes some 1,000 square meters and is separate from the main garden. Further, orchids on display should be rotated to attract guests, which requires significant costs.

Minh Tan garden in Tan Phu Trung Commune was also thought to have a potential for tourism, but did not seek to attract tourists due to the high initial investments. 

Trinh Minh Tan, the garden’s owner, said that if they sought to attract tourists, there would need to be investments in roads for cars, restrooms, areas for guests to rest and a re-design of the garden. An estimate for such improvements, performed two years ago, was set at some VND5 billion.

Given such a large amount, travel firms said they would take guests to the garden, but did not sign contracts. Some firms even requested more plants be displayed to make the garden more diverse, whereas others said the garden was not suitable to be included in tours to Cu Chi tunnel, due to its location.

Meanwhile, Hai Thanh Koi farm in Trung An Commune, which used to attract a large number of tourists, was closed early this month, as it is seeking additional capital.

According to a HCMC-based travel firm, agritourism is becoming popular in many localities, such as Lam Dong Province. In HCMC, agritourism has been added to tours of Cu Chi tunnels.

Moreover, products at gardens are not diverse, and the long distances needed to travel to visit tourist sites make them less attractive.

In addition, garden owners have not invested in infrastructure, to ensure easier access to their gardens.

According to the city’s tourism department, besides organizing trips to examine agricultural production models in recent years, the department has held workshops where experts and garden owners could exchange opinions, offered training for farmers, sought comments from many parties and signed agreements with the Agricultural Hi-tech Park (AHTP) to promote agritourism.

However, according to the AHTP, models at the park are only suitable for study purposes, whereas visitors want to have real experiences or ecological tourism services. In addition, travel firms want sites to have food sections, which normally require large investments, and are fearful that there might not be enough tourists to justify the expenses. Firms also have sought high quality services, but are only willing to pay smaller amounts for tourist entrance fees.

The tourism department admitted that the city’s agritourism has encountered many difficulties, and connectivity between travel firms, garden owners and craft villages has not met the initial expectations.

SGT