Aspirations of Thai Nguyen’s agricultural tourism

After two editions, the “Morning Coffee with Entrepreneurs” program, organized by the Thai Nguyen Provincial People’s Committee, has continued to attract significant attention. The theme of this late-May weekend session was “Green Agriculture and Tourism Development Orientation in Thai Nguyen Province.”

In a warm and friendly setting, over cups of early morning Thai Nguyen tea, Chairman of the Thai Nguyen Provincial People’s Committee Vuong Quoc Tuan shared the province’s vision for tourism and agriculture. According to him, Thai Nguyen is gradually positioning itself as a “Paradise of Mountain Lake Tourism,” capitalizing on its natural landscapes, tea culture, and distinctive agricultural ecosystem.

Alongside industrial development, Thai Nguyen has identified green agriculture and tourism development as two key pillars for building a foundation for sustainable growth and enhancing the province’s economic value.

“That goal cannot be achieved if we continue with old thinking, old scales of operation, and outdated capabilities,” explained Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan, Chairman of the Thai Nguyen Provincial People’s Committee. According to him, provincial leaders, government officials, businesses, and local residents alike must rethink their approach and pursue a development path built upon the linkage between “a facilitating government, businesses as driving forces, and the ecosystem of indigenous resources.”

Notably, he does not view businesses merely as objects of management or as entities seeking profits. Instead, the Chairman expressed appreciation for the responsibility and affection shown by investors, calling them “people who love Thai Nguyen.” Such wording reflects a different mindset in investment attraction. Rather than competing solely through incentives, Thai Nguyen is seeking to build trust, demonstrate long-term commitment, and foster a shared aspiration for development.

“We believe that the development of businesses is inseparable from the development of Thai Nguyen Province. Therefore, if businesses do not grow, Thai Nguyen itself will struggle to develop,” Chairman Vuong Quoc Tuan emphasized.

According to Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan, achieving double-digit economic growth and truly sustainable development cannot rely solely on the efforts of either the government or individual businesses. Instead, Thai Nguyen must build a business environment based on shared determination, coordinated action, and collective responsibility. In other words, the provincial government is responsible for paving the way, removing obstacles, and creating the most favorable conditions for businesses to expand investment. At the same time, enterprises themselves must proactively enhance their capabilities and continuously improve to meet new development demands.

Referring directly to the province’s tourism sector, Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan said that one of the greatest concerns shared by generations of provincial leaders has been how to help Thai Nguyen tourism overcome the long-standing situation of “having great potential but failing to take off truly.”

Therefore, choosing to develop the province’s tourism brand based on its unique identity, rather than following generic development models, appears to be the most significant shift in development thinking.

According to the province’s development orientation, the eastern slope of the Tam Dao range will focus on spiritual and resort tourism with a tranquil character. Meanwhile, Nui Coc Lake is envisioned as a vibrant, modern tourism hub targeting young visitors and diverse experiential activities. From these central “gems,” other lake areas will continue to be awakened and connected into a large-scale tourism network. Together with Ba Be Lake, Ghenh Che Lake, and many other “mountain lakes,” these destinations represent enormous potential and advantages that Thai Nguyen is offering to investors.

To realize its development goals, Thai Nguyen has identified the need to attract strategic investors with strong capacity, long-term vision, and the ability to lead the market. Alongside its investment calls, the provincial leadership has also demonstrated a clear commitment to accompanying investors through concrete actions.

Right at the dialogue session, Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan directly assigned tasks to departments, agencies, communes, and wards to resolve difficulties and recommendations raised by the business community. From planning, land access, and investment site surveys to providing contact points, incentive policies, and handling administrative procedures, all issues were instructed to be addressed immediately after the “Morning Coffee with Entrepreneurs” meeting.

“After today’s session, leaders of all units must sit down and dedicate time to supporting businesses. Contact numbers and responsible personnel must be publicly announced so enterprises can receive guidance and answers,” the Chairman of Thai Nguyen directed.

This directive was not merely an administrative request, but reflected a governance approach centered on service, where processing speed and close companionship with businesses are regarded as key measures of government effectiveness.

Speaking passionately about agricultural tourism, Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan cited examples from Phu Quoc, Ninh Binh, and Fujian Province in China to demonstrate how tourism development can drive not only agriculture but also many other socio-economic sectors.

According to the Chairman of the Thai Nguyen Provincial People’s Committee, sustainable tourism development is not simply about building more resorts or increasing visitor numbers. More importantly, it requires synchronized transformation between tourism, green agriculture, indigenous culture, and local livelihoods.

In his view, the most important lesson from Phu Quoc lies in its success in attracting strategic investors with strong financial capacity, thereby generating widespread impacts on infrastructure, services, branding, and new development spaces.

One investor in Phu Quoc committed a disbursement scale hundreds of times larger than the total annual disbursed investment capital of many localities. Such major investment “boosts” have fundamentally transformed tourism on the island.

Notably, food and culinary consumption demand in Phu Quoc alone is estimated at around VND 2 trillion annually. This creates enormous room for the development of clean agriculture, organic farming, and high-value production chains. In this context, tourism not only generates service revenue but also becomes a direct driver for local agricultural consumption, enhancing product value and creating sustainable livelihoods for local people.

If Phu Quoc represents a story of breakthrough development fueled by bold thinking and strategic investors, then Ninh Binh, according to Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan, offers a development model even more comparable to Thai Nguyen.

“Ninh Binh is a locality worthy of study and admiration. Thai Nguyen actually holds even greater advantages thanks to its closer proximity to Hanoi, convenient transport connectivity, and the simultaneous presence of diverse ecosystems such as lakes, forests, tea plantations, tea culture, and the climate of the northern midlands,” Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan said.

Ninh Binh has effectively leveraged both its natural conditions and cultural depth to become one of Vietnam’s leading centers for cultural and heritage tourism. More importantly, this development model has not only boosted tourism growth but also generated broad spillover effects for household economies and rural communities.

Beyond domestic examples, the Chairman of the Thai Nguyen Provincial People’s Committee also repeatedly cited Fujian Province, China's tea development story as evidence that agricultural products can be elevated through culture and tourism.

“This is a model that Thai Nguyen can absolutely study and learn from,” Mr. Tuan emphasized.

That aspiration is also the reason why Thai Nguyen Province is determined to prepare a dossier seeking UNESCO recognition for Thai Nguyen tea as a cultural heritage. Once tea is seen not merely as an agricultural product, but as a cultural symbol, a tourism experience, and a source of community pride, the value it creates will extend far beyond production output or raw material prices.

Today, Thai Nguyen tea has long established itself as a well-known brand both domestically and internationally. In an effort to develop tourism products linked to tea culture, Mr. Vuong Quoc Tuan emphasized: “From a cultural and spiritual perspective, we must be determined to build and submit a dossier to UNESCO for the recognition of Thai Nguyen Tea as a cultural heritage. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism must finalize the proposal and roadmap for submission to UNESCO within June.”

According to Mr. Tuan, such determination could bring major opportunities if the recognition is granted, not only affirming the cultural value of Thai Nguyen tea, but also opening up vast potential for experiential tourism, the creative economy, and the promotion of the province’s brand to the world.

Alongside infrastructure development, Thai Nguyen is also making efforts to refresh its approach to tourism promotion. Mr. Tuan emphasized that, regardless of scale, the province values every idea contributing to the development of agricultural tourism in the tea-growing region.

“To promote tourism, we must first renew ourselves.” This perspective reflects Thai Nguyen’s determination not to pursue tourism development in a purely traditional manner, but instead to embrace an open, creative, and experience-based approach. In this journey, what the province needs is not only large-scale projects but also the active participation of businesses, local communities, and the broader creative ecosystem.

Ultimately, as Chairman Vuong Quoc Tuan has repeatedly stressed, sustainable development cannot come from one side alone. It must be a collaborative journey between government and businesses, between aspirations for growth and the ability to turn them into action, and between natural resources and a vision for shaping the future.