Unevenly ripened fruits make garden tourism in Dong Nai difficult

During this year's tourist season, the erratic weather has caused many gardeners to face difficulties as the fruits do not ripen at once but sporadically, affecting the effectiveness of tourism exploitation.

In recent years, the garden ecotourism model in Dong Nai province has developed strongly, attracting the attention and investment of many households.

With the advantage of large land and diverse types of fruit, the garden tourism model is increasingly attracting the attention of tourists to experience.

However, during this year's tourist season, the erratic weather has caused many gardeners to face difficulties as the fruits do not ripen at once but sporadically, affecting the effectiveness of tourism exploitation.

Impact of unseasonal rain and intense heat

In Binh Loc commune (Long Khanh city, Dong Nai ), a locality that strongly develops the garden tourism model of Dong Nai province, at this time last year, the fruit gardens were bustling with thousands of visitors each week coming to experience the rambutan, durian, and mangosteen gardens. Currently, many gardeners have opened their doors to welcome visitors, but due to low fruit yields and uneven ripening, it is difficult to attract visitors.

Mr. Huynh Vu Bao Giang, owner of Di Hai garden tourist establishment, Binh Loc commune, Long Khanh city, said that the weather this year is unstable, there are times when the heat lasts for a long time, then it rains heavily, causing the trees to flower and bear fruit unevenly. Especially the rambutan ripens sporadically, making it difficult to schedule an opening to welcome visitors to experience like every year.

Many gardeners have been forced to refuse to receive guests or postpone tours and experiences in the garden because the fruits do not ripen evenly and are not enough to serve tourists.

“Every day we will livestream the current status of the garden on social media platforms so that tourists can know and consider before organizing the trip, avoiding the situation where tourists arrive at the garden and there is no ripe fruit, causing disappointment for tourists,” said Mr. Giang.

At this time, the fruit gardens are not yet ripe due to the weather, but many tourists still enjoy experiencing garden tourism. (Photo: Le Xuan/TTXVN0

Mr. Tran Quoc Phong, owner of Ut Tieu fruit garden (Binh Loc commune, Long Khanh city) said that the tourist season has now begun, and visitors from all over have come to the garden to have fun and experience fruit picking. However, this year, the fruits in his garden ripen in two batches, which has significantly affected the activity of welcoming visitors.

To attract and continue to retain tourists, Ut Tieu fruit garden has developed additional accompanying services such as folk games, stream wading, fishing, boating, local cuisine , and overnight camping accommodation services.

“We have tried to find and connect with some fruit gardens in the commune, from there sharing information about the ripening time of each garden and each type of fruit to work together to arrange to welcome guests, extending the service time for guests during the tourist season," Mr. Phong shared.

According to records in fruit growing areas in Dong Nai province such as Long Khanh city, Dinh Quan district, Trang Bom district, this year the phenomenon of fruit ripening out of season and unevenly ripening is common in many types of trees such as rambutan, durian, mangosteen, jackfruit...

Many gardeners said that this year's erratic weather, with unseasonal rain alternating with intense heat, has caused plants to flower unevenly, resulting in low fruit set rates, reduced crop yields, and a prolonged and unfocused growing season.

Link and diversify products to keep customers

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Nghia, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Bao Vinh Ward, Long Khanh City, this year, due to early rains, typical local agricultural products such as mangosteen, durian, and jackfruit were severely affected, with productivity decreasing by more than 30% compared to last year, and the ripening time was not uniform.

To ensure that local garden tourism activities take place stably and retain tourists, the Ward People's Committee has instructed households to proactively connect and regularly exchange information about fruit ripening time. The focal points grasp information promptly and coordinate visitors appropriately to avoid the situation of tourists coming to gardens that have not yet entered the harvest season, causing disappointment and affecting the image of local tourism.

Chairman of Dong Nai Province Tourism Association Tran Dang Ninh said that the uneven ripening of fruits has significantly affected the development of garden ecotourism in Dong Nai. This is also an inevitable trend when climate change is becoming more and more complicated.

If people want to develop sustainable ecotourism, they need to proactively adapt to climate conditions. Instead of just focusing on one season to welcome visitors, gardeners should orient the development of experiential tourism models in the direction of diversifying products all year round, not completely dependent on the harvest season.

At this time, the fruit gardens are not yet ripe due to the weather, but many tourists still enjoy the experience of garden tourism. (Photo: Le Xuan/VNA)

Agricultural products are an important factor in developing and expanding the garden ecotourism model, so garden owners and farmers need to adjust the flowering treatment schedule, apply irrigation technology, and fertilize appropriately to limit off-season; diversify experiential tourism products such as visiting the tree planting process, garden cuisine, folk games... to avoid being too dependent on the time when the fruit ripens.

According to Mr. Tran Dang Ninh, localities should support farmers in applying technical advances such as automatic irrigation, growth-regulating lighting, spreading crops using pruning techniques, and intercropping short-term crops to retain tourists when the main crops are not yet in season.

In addition, the agricultural and tourism sectors of localities need to build a chain of cooperation links between gardeners - cooperatives - travel businesses to coordinate in welcoming guests, sharing benefits and maintaining the professional image of Dong Nai agricultural tourism./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/trai-cay-chin-khong-deu-du-lich-nha-vuon-o-dong-nai-gap-kho-post1044747.vnp