Cocoa garden tourism: New direction in ecotourism business
From the beginning of May 2016, Trong Duc Cocoa Co., Ltd. (Trong Duc Company) began to welcome tourists to visit the cocoa garden and the process of processing cocoa products. Although the company headquarters is located in a remote, remote place (Phu Hoa commune, Dinh Quan district), but nearly 3 months ago, this place has attracted tens of thousands of tourists, opening new directions in ecotourism business. .
3,000 visitors per month
According to Trong Duc Company, the company receives about 100 visitors a day on average, the number of visitors is often high during weekends and holidays. According to preliminary statistics, since opening this form of tourism, the company has welcomed over 10,000 visitors to visit and shop.
Tourists visit the cocoa garden
According to Pham Hung Giang, Head of Sales Department of Trong Duc Company, the reason is that there is a relatively "stable" source of customers in the first phase because the company has prepared quite well when connecting with more than 20 companies. travel in the city. Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces and Suoi Mo Tourist Area (Tan Phu district) in welcoming guests to visit.
Here, visitors are instructed to visit the cocoa garden in the harvest season, visit the process from the stage of fruit harvest, the steps of preliminary processing to the processing of wine, chocolate and other products from cocoa pods. For many visitors, this is the first time to see firsthand the kind of fruit that they have long thought of growing only abroad. “To be honest, for the first time ever, I visited the cocoa garden and also saw the cocoa for the first time. See it very much. At my house, everyone loves cocoa. If I have the opportunity to come here, I want to let my children know, ”said Nguyen Thi Nhung, a tourist in Cu Chi district. Ho Chi Minh expressed.
Not only attracting the attention of distant visitors, this form of tourism also attracts many local people. Huynh Thi Thuy Linh, Phu Ngoc commune, Dinh Quan district, said that before, she used to introduce her friends to all places of beauty in Dinh Quan, such as Ba Chong stone, Mai waterfall, Ba Giot waterfall. But she changed after visiting the cocoa garden and enjoying the cocoa processed products of Trong Duc Company. “Maybe from old to now everyone thinks that foreign countries have cocoa, but now I know that in Vietnam this Dinh Quan area has a kind of cocoa that is both delicious and soft. I think I will introduce a lot of friends later, ”said Linh.
Effective form of product promotion
At present, Trong Duc Company has 4 types of products made from cocoa, pure cocoa powder, 3 in 1 cocoa powder, wine (wine and spirits), chocolate with 10 different types. With the price quite "soft", most tourists come here to visit and choose to buy these products as gifts and use in the family. Choose to buy a lot of chocolate and cocoa powder as a gift for relatives, Ms. Le Thi Thuy, a TP tourist. Ho Chi Minh said, in addition to the relatively cheap price, the main thing is that she has the feeling of peace of mind when directly witnessing the process of planting and processing. “Come here to visit, from planting to production and when trying to use cocoa water and eating chocolate, it is very delicious. Vietnamese goods are very delicious and very reassuring, ”commented Ms. Thuy.
According to Sales Manager of Trong Duc Company, not only to promote more widely their products to domestic consumers, but the company initially has been profitable, though not much from this business form. How to expand the scale to link with travel companies to organize more tours for students and students to experience the work of farmers in a day is like? In addition, we will gradually improve the process of visitors experiencing closed models, from planting trees, harvesting fruits, processing and producing the products we have used. Through this, we want consumers to see firsthand, listen to the products of Vietnamese companies producing ”, Mr. Giang talked about the upcoming plan of Trong Duc Company.