Đồng Nai Province plans to develop eco-tourism related to agriculture. — VNA/VNS Photo

ĐỒNG NAI — The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Đồng Nai Province has worked out a plan to build and develop eco-tourism linked with the province's agriculture.

With the goal of turning tourism into a key industry of the province’s economy, the tourism industry resolves to make the best use of local advantages and strengths.

The province has huge potential for developing eco-tourism related to orchards, forests, waterfalls, rivers, and lakes.

The southeastern region’s largest fruit producing province has more than 70,000ha of orchards and is well known for tropical fruits such as durian, grapefruit, orange, mandarin, and custard apple.

Lê Thị Ngọc Loan, director of the department, said that this year, the province will invest in building "Tân Triều Cultural and Tourism Village" in Tân Triều riverine island, Tân Bình Commune, Vĩnh Cửu District.

The village is also expected to be the province's first tourism One Community One [Speciality] Product (OCOP).

Tân Triều island on the Đồng Nai River is well known for sweet grapefruit, a local specialty, and many orchard owners here offer tourism services.

They also make various products from the fruit such as wine, jam, essential oil, grapefruit milk tea, and salads to serve tourists.

Under the national programme for building new-style rural areas, the province has invested in infrastructure in rural areas, especially roads, creating favourable conditions for orchard owners to offer tourism services.

The province has organised trips for farmers to other provinces to see for themselves how agritourism models work.

Major fruit growing districts such as Tân Phú, Vĩnh Cửu, Cẩm Mỹ, Xuân Lộc, and Long Thành and Long Khánh City have expanded orchard tourism services in recent years.

The province also has multiple craft villages that make well-known products such as fine-art furniture, pottery, dried banana, and grapefruit wine.

Đồng Nai currently has 23 tourism sites and 131 accommodation establishments with a total of 3,500 rooms to meet the demand for recreation and relaxation of domestic and foreign visitors. — VNS