Bom Bo aims to develop community tourism quickly and sustainably.

(DN) - Bom Bo Commune (Dong Nai) is identifying community tourism development as not only a strategy to promote local economic growth, but also a solution to connect the community, preserve culture and maintain the ecological environment. This direction is placed within the overall development strategy of the Southeast region, linked with key transport infrastructure and the trend of green - sustainable tourism.

Recently, Dong Nai has spent hundreds of billions of dong from the budget and mobilized social capital to upgrade inter-commune and inter-district roads in the province. These routes will connect directly with Bien Hoa - Vung Tau and Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressways.

Synchronous infrastructure will help Bom Bo break through in tourism

Vice Chairman of Bom Bo Commune People's Council Tu Thuy Hanh said: "If in the past, visitors to Bom Bo encountered difficulties because of narrow and degraded roads, now that the traffic routes are completed, it only takes less than 2 hours from Bien Hoa and less than 3 hours from Ho Chi Minh City to experience. This will be a great motivation for Bom Bo to make a breakthrough in community tourism."

According to the Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Bom Bo commune, experience from Phuoc Thai commune (former Long Thanh district) shows that thanks to infrastructure investment, the economic growth rate reached 13-14%/year, budget revenue increased by nearly 12.5%/year in the period 2020-2024. Based on the above, Bom Bo expects and believes that it can achieve a similar growth rate if the traffic infrastructure and services are synchronized.

Bom Bo possesses a natural forest ecosystem, traditional agriculture and the cultural life of the Stieng people. This is an advantage for developing indigenous experiential tourism products.

The models being encouraged include: Community homestay, where people renovate traditional houses to welcome guests, serving culinary specialties such as bamboo rice, thut soup, and can wine; agricultural tourism, where guests can participate in rice planting, cashew harvesting, coffee picking, and cocoa processing; culture - history, exploiting the space of gong culture, traditional festivals, combined with historical relics of the resistance war in Bom Bo.

Gong festival of the S'tieng people. Photo archive

Community tourism is only sustainable when the benefits really come to local people. In Bom Bo, the People's Committee of Dong Nai province has directed the development of a set of criteria for "Green - Clean - Healthy Tourism" applicable to participating households and cooperatives. In particular, 100% of homestays must treat waste and wastewater, at least 60% of culinary ingredients served to guests must be from local agricultural products and 30% of souvenirs must be made by the people themselves.

A major challenge today is that the service skills and management capacity of the people are still limited. Therefore, Bom Bo commune cooperates with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize training courses on: Skills to welcome international guests; food hygiene and safety; cultural behavior - preserving identity. At the same time, digital transformation is considered a key solution. The project to build the Bom Bo tourism information portal, integrating an online booking system, a digital experience map, and a 24/7 customer support chatbot is being implemented with a total investment of 12 billion VND.

Provincial Party Committee member, Party Secretary, Chairman of Bom Bo Commune People's Council Vu Long Son emphasized: "We aim to have 70% of homestays and service establishments in Bom Bo participating in digital platforms by 2027, making it easier for guests to access and book services. This is a way for rural people not to be left behind in the trend of digital tourism."

Attracting investment and capital support

To encourage people to participate in community tourism, initial investment capital is an important factor. The People's Committee of Dong Nai province has directed the Social Policy Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to open a preferential credit package of about 100 billion VND for households to borrow to build homestays, develop food services, and make handicrafts.

One of Bom Bo's strengths is the OCOP program (One Commune One Product), which is an important support for local tourism development. Currently, Bom Bo has 5 products that meet 3-star OCOP standards such as Stieng wine, honey-roasted cashew nuts, and pure cocoa. When linking OCOP with tourism, people not only sell products but also create on-site production and consumption experiences.

With a synchronous development strategy, Bom Bo expects to become a bright spot of Dong Nai community tourism by 2030, with specific results: The number of visitors from 12,000 currently, will increase to 60,000-70,000/year by 2030; expected revenue of 150-200 billion VND/year, 90% of tourist establishments apply waste management processes, renewable energy, contributing to building Bom Bo "green - clean - beautiful".

For Bom Bo community tourism to develop quickly but still sustainably, it is necessary to synchronously deploy many key groups of solutions. First of all, the transport infrastructure must be upgraded, ensuring convenient connection with key highways and Long Thanh International Airport, creating conditions to attract tourists.

At the same time, building a unique community tourism model is a key factor, associated with homestay, ecological agriculture and exploiting the cultural identity of the Stieng. This is not only a tourism product, but also a way to preserve and spread traditional values.

Cultural Reserve of the Stieng ethnic group in Bom Bo commune. Photo by Hoang Giap

Bom Bo community tourism is facing a great opportunity to become a fast-growing but sustainable model, if it knows how to take advantage of local advantages, learn from successful models, and persistently preserve culture and ecology.

The road ahead will not be easy, but with the consensus of the government, people and businesses, Bom Bo can completely become a highlight of Dong Nai community tourism, contributing to making the locality increasingly rich, beautiful and civilized.

Huu Cong - Hanh Thuy

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202509/bom-bo-huong-den-muc-tieu-phat-trien-du-lich-cong-dong-nhanh-ben-vung-64b2985/