Child tourists joining the tour to discover the heritage
For a long time that such a number could be reached!
At the end of the week, we joined a tour for students organized by a tourism enterprise. The subject of the tour was child tourists from a kindergarten in the city. The trip to Thanh Toan tiled roof bridge (Thuy Thanh commune, Huong Thuy town).
Here, the children were able to visit the house of farming tools and experience a number of craft villages. The children are mostly from the city; so, that was the first time they saw all kinds of agricultural tools, experiencing activities such as pounding rice, making conical hats, etc., so everyone were surprised and excited.
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thanh, Deputy Director of Dai Bang Tourism Joint Stock Company, the tour organizer, said that after a quick research on the market, in just a short time, the company continuously "launched" 7 tours about educational tourism. Besides, there are tours required by schools and educational centers.
Selected destinations are associated with Hue culture and traditions. In addition, a number of cultural and historical sites in Quang Tri, Da Nang have been selected, increasing the diversity of the destination. It has been a long time since the outbreak of the pandemic that there were 1,000 customers using the company's services.
“When building the tour, besides the business goal, the company also wants to educate the traditions of the homeland and the country so that students have the right to feel proud of Hue's history, people and culture; from then on, nurturing and strengthening cultural identity, fostering national spirit, arousing pride and desire to dedicate itself to a happy Hue,” shared Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thanh.
Welcoming and serving 3,480 students from different schools across the province within 2 weeks, from March 31 to April 15 was a new record of Hue Lotus Homestay (78 Minh Mang, Hue City) since its operation so far. Ms. Duong Thi Thuy Hang, owner of Hue Lotus Homestay, said that learning life skills is particularly interested in by schools and parents towards comprehensive education for children. Therefore, the services of Hue Lotus Homestay aim to provide practical experiences for students, helping them grasp knowledge quickly, create excitement in learning.
Many students in the city saw a bamboo cradle for the first time
Hue Lotus Homestay is currently exploiting 5 tours for students, including kid farming tour; fish catching tours, chicken care tour; pizza making tour; watching puppet show tour; especially, the tour to experience the craft village with 6 traditional trades: paper flowers making, agarwood incense and bud making, folk toys making, clay chicks making, cake making, painting on “do” paper. According to the representative of this tourist destination, the tour is closely monitored by the teachers and parents, so it makes parents feel secure, and the children really have happy moments.
In Thanh Tien paper flowers village (Phu Mau commune, Phu Vang district) or in the agricultural service model of Greenlife farm (Huong An ward, Huong Tra town), or Hoa Sen educational farm (Loc Hoa commune, Phu Loc district), etc., these places have continuously welcomed students to visit and experience the services recently.
The development of the field is still large
Currently, educational tours are exploited with time lasting within a day; hence, the cost is not high. However, according to the leaders of the tourism industry, in the period when tourist flows decline due to pandemic, and for a long time many destinations cannot welcome any visitors, educational tour is the timely replacement and supplement making up for lost customer markets. On-site passenger flow, also the flow of tourists which is being encouraged to exploit with appropriate services and tours before tourism goes back to normal as before.
Ms. Duong Thi Thuy Hang informed that, throughout 2020, Hue Lotus Homestay met with difficultyand could be moderately exploited. There are times the homestay had to close due to pandemic. Guests coming back and hitting higher numbers than before are indescribable emotions at this time. Tourism is a supply chain, so when it goes well, it will help many other services to get back well again.
According to Mr. Tran Dinh Minh Duc, Head of Travel Management Division, Department of Tourism, currently there are many tours in Hue specializing in education. There are tours that are mostly on education, there are tours that are oriented towards entertainment. Therefore, to achieve the ultimate goal of an educational tour, tour operators need to balance education and entertainment. These two forms support and combine with each other to create perfection, increasing efficiency and creating a better impression for children.
“Educational tours are being exploited by businesses mainly targeting students. For educational tourism, it can extend to college students, parents and other stakeholders. The tours not only stop at visiting and experiencing craft villages, cultural heritage, but also expand to volunteer work, exchange learning, environmental protection, etc. Summer camps are also the forms that need to be expanded. But it is necessary to ensure security and safety factors, especially for young guests,” said Mr. Tran Dinh Minh Duc.
Currently, the potential to exploit educational tours is still quite large. Potential customers are not only in the schools of Hue city but also those in rural areas. Or, tourism in mountainous areas can be exploited if there are suitable tours with supportive prices. In the city it is possible to use rural services; in contrast, in rural and/or mountainous areas, it is possible for students to attend tours held in the city.
Story and photos: Quang Sang