Gen Z opens rustic-style homestay in Can Tho city

Tourism must be unique

While many Gen Z young people choose to seek job opportunities in urban areas after graduation, Nguyen Nhu Huynh (born in 2000), who graduated with a degree in Business Administration from Can Tho University, decided to return to her hometown in Nhon Phu 1 hamlet, Tan Hoa commune (Can Tho City) to pursue an agri-tourism model.

This decision did not begin with a well-structured plan. As Nhu Huynh shared, the initial reason was simply a sense of “not wanting to let it go to waste.” Her family had invested in building the Muong Dinh Homestay to create additional livelihoods for local residents, rather than relying solely on farming.

The idea of developing tourism came from her father, who is a staff member in the agricultural sector and had travelled to many places and hoped that his hometown could also develop tourism. However, when they began implementing the project, the biggest barriers for the family were a lack of professional background, no operational experience, and no clear vision of how it would eventually develop.

At that time, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, disrupting all development plans. With the homestay already built, leaving it unused meant a high risk of failure. In a situation where “not doing it was not an option,” Nhu Huynh chose to stay and continue.

The story of young people returning to their hometowns to start businesses is no longer new, but what sets Nhu Huynh apart lies in her approach. Starting almost from zero, she gradually developed a mindset of doing tourism by tapping into the depth of local culture. This is not an easy model for someone without a professional background, as culture is not something that can be created, but rather something that must be identified and told in the right way.

The first breakthrough came when Muong Dinh Homestay welcomed two international guests. With fluent English, Nhu Huynh directly guided them through visits and experiences in a very natural way. Surprisingly, it was this simplicity that met the visitors’ needs; they did not require complex services or elaborate experiences.

The initial feedback was: “Keep things simple, but make them more well-organized.” This became the foundation for Muong Dinh Homestay to later emerge as an attractive destination for a growing number of international visitors. From then on, instead of trying to innovate by expanding products, Nhu Huynh chose to take advantage of what already existed.

“Perhaps from the perspective of a young person like me, the more I do this, the more I realize there are many fascinating aspects of rural life that others may have always seen as ordinary. That is why I began searching for forgotten memories that people have overlooked, in order to revive them,” Nhu Huynh shared.

Reviving memories of the Xa No canal

Operational since late 2021, Muong Dinh Homestay spans approximately 4,000 m² and was originally an orchard. The space has been renovated to ensure accommodation infrastructure while preserving its natural landscape, with seasonal fruit trees such as rambutan, mango, milk fruit, guava, coconut, pomelo, and durian.

With a capacity of about 44 guests and 14 rooms, the homestay does not aim for luxury standards but instead focuses on closeness and comfort. In the morning, guests only need to step outside their rooms to see a vivid rural scene: boats trading goods along the river, street food carts by the roadside, students heading to school, and more. These experiences are not staged or heavily invested in, yet they are exactly what attract most international visitors.

Currently, Muong Dinh Homestay welcomes around 2,000 visitors per year, 90% of whom are international tourists, mainly from Europe and Australia. The average length of stay is about three nights, with the primary demand being to experience local daily life rather than conventional leisure accommodation.

As a result, the homestay space has also been adjusted toward a more open concept. Details such as seating along corridors, outdoor communal areas, and green landscapes have all been designed based on guest feedback.

A key highlight of Muong Dinh Homestay is its community-based experiential tours along the Xa No canal route, stretching from Nhon Phu 1 hamlet to Cau 2000. Nhu Huynh has collaborated with local residents to design a 5-6-hour itinerary featuring a range of experiences, including boating through narrow canals, fishing for monkeys, visiting traditional rice wine distilleries, bat farms, and goat farms, exploring orchards, and engaging in conversations with locals. The journey concludes with a sunset viewing over the Xà No canal.

This is also the main tourism route she is pursuing, with the aim of expanding a community-based tourism model that taps into the historical and cultural values along the entire canal, rather than limiting it to a few isolated attractions.

“Tourists don’t need overly ‘luxurious’ things; they need real experiences. If you know how to make use of it, the daily life of local people itself is already a tourism product,” Nhu Huynh shared.

Currently, Muong Dinh Homestay has established partnerships with three tour operators in Can Tho City and Da Nang, ensuring a stable flow of visitors and relatively sustainable collaboration networks. After deducting expenses, the model generates an estimated profit of around VND 1 billion per year, a remarkable figure for a relatively new agri-tourism model.

However, the journey has also faced several challenges. Revenue depends heavily on international visitors, making it vulnerable to global fluctuations. In particular, recent increases in booking cancellations have also affected tour operators. In addition, elements of local daily life, such as noise from residential areas, sometimes affect the guest experience.

Overall, however, Muong Dinh Homestay is not only an effective business model but also a distinctive approach to agri-tourism - one with a clear identity in the journey of rediscovering and revitalizing the values of her hometown.

$ 1 = VND 26,367 (source: Vietcombank).