On July 14th, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) coordinated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST) to organize the seminar to contribute ideas to the project on Orientations and solutions for rural tourism development associated with new rural construction in the period of 2021-2025. The seminar was co-chaired by MARD Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam and MOCST Deputy Minister Doan Van Viet.

 

According to the Office that coordinates the National Target Program on New Rural Construction (NTM), the country currently has over 1,300 areas and tourist attractions under local management, of which about 70% are tourist attractions in rural areas. Rural tourism is generally quite diverse; however, the main types of rural tourism are agricultural tourism, community tourism, and eco-tourism.

 

Rural tourism development is defined as one of the frugal solutions and motivates to establish sustainably New Rural; at the same time, New Rural is the foundation that supports and facilitates the diverse and sustainable development of tourism. In the context that Vietnam is still an agricultural country, with nearly 65.6% of the population staying in the countryside, developing rural tourism economics related to establish New Rural will be an indispensable trend in an organic relationship with mutual impact. In the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to chair and co-ordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to integrate the content of rural tourism development into the National Target Program on New Rural Construction.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in the upcoming time, rural tourism development needs to focus on orientations such as rural tourism development policies, organizing rural tourism spaces, managing rural tourism, mobilizing resources, developing tourism products, developing tourist markets and, developing rural tourism human resources.

The Prime Minister approved of Decision No. 147/QD-TTg on January 22, 2020, determine the development goal of Vietnam's tourism to become a spearhead economic sector, creating motivation to develop for other sectors and fields. Vietnam National Administration of Tourism assessed that rural tourism activities have made positive contributions to both the tourism industry and the development of agricultural and rural areas. Many unique and attractive rural tours have become brands to attract domestic and foreign tourists, typically the Mekong Delta river garden tour; the tour to enjoy the terraced rice fields in the Northwest highlands... Many localities such as Lao Cai, Son La, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Hoa Binh, Ha Giang, Tien Giang, Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue... have become destinations with typical rural tourism products.

Therefore, effective development of rural tourism will realize simultaneously achieving two important political goals: developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector and achieving the national goal of building sustainable new rural areas.

Representatives attending the seminar listened to and commented on the presentations, including the Draft Project on rural tourism development associated with new rural construction in the period 2021-2025 of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Rural Development, Solutions for Rural Tourism Development of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, and the Institute for Tourism Development Research, analyzing the advantages and difficulties in developing rural tourism of travel companies in Vietnam.

MOCST Minister Doan Van Viet said that it is necessary to try to orient rural tourism products well to attract tourists of all ages, especially young people, to avoid the situation where the products are only seasonal. Some regulations on farm scale need to be clarified, such as how large an area is considered for a farm. The construction of the project framework needs to be realized step by step, cautious; foremost, it is not possible to build a decree when there is no practical basis or methodical policy. In the development planning until 2030, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST) will try to ensure the planning requirements, including rural tourism, and will coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to develop a complete rural tourism development project with a highly constructive spirit as a basis for submission to the Government for approval.

According to Agriculture and Rural Development Newspaper