Tourists in an eco-tourism site (Photo: VNA) The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and theMinistry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held an online forum to promote ruraltourism products through digital transformation on October 2.
The development of rural tourism in the National TargetProgramme on New-style Rural Development in the 2021-2025 period is identifiedas one of the driving forces to create jobs, raise people's incomes, andpromote rural economic structure shift; and helps preserve traditional culturalvalues and protect the environment, heard the forum.
According to Le Ba Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the VietnamHandicraft Exporters’ Association (Vietcraft), rural and ecological tourismaccounts for about 10 percent of tourism in general, and generates about 30billion USD in revenue per year globally. In addition, the annual growth rateof rural tourism is from 10-30 percent, while that of traditional tourism isonly 4 percent.
Vietnam currently has three types of rural tourism, which arecommunity-based tourism, agricultural tourism and ecotourism. The country hasabout 365 rural tourist spots and more than 2,000 traditional craft villageswith potential for tourism. Digital transformation in rural tourism will helpattract more visitors, assist tourists to prepare their trips more easily,provide better services and understand customer behaviours.
To develop rural tourism, Ngoc proposed allowing cooperationwith international organisations to promote Vietnam's rural tourism products,allowing Vietcraft to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment and provinces to popularise rural tourism products through digitaltransformation, and building a national database of tangible cultural valuesand fees for tourism development of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam to achievethe goal of 50 percent of traditional craft villages participating in the ruraltourism value chain by 2025./.
VNA
