Digital-savvy farmers open new opportunities for experiential tourism

When farmers become YouTubers and TikTok creators

Along with the rapid advancement of Industry 4.0 technologies, many farmers have embraced scientific innovations and digital transformation in their fields and gardens to improve product quality. They have also learned to become YouTube and TikTok content creators to promote their products on digital platforms, thereby attracting large numbers of visitors to farms where they can experience the countryside, explore rice fields, orchards, and fish ponds, and purchase local agricultural products.

According to Cao Thi Hang, Director of the Thang Thuy Agricultural Production, Business, and Services Cooperative, every cooperative member appears in videos introducing its products. Produced by the members themselves, the videos authentically showcase vegetable-growing areas, flower fields, and fruit orchards.

Members of the cooperative's management board are also proficient in interacting with customers on digital platforms. As a result, during the chrysanthemum blooming season, the cooperative's vast flower fields attract large numbers of visitors who come to take photos and purchase fresh flowers and chrysanthemum tea produced by the cooperative.

According to the Hai Phong Cultivation and Plant Protection Sub-Department, in communes and wards such as Luu Kiem, An Duong, Thanh Ha, An Truong, An Khanh, and An Lao, many farmers have integrated digital transformation with agricultural production and ecotourism.

To support this model, they have invested in greenhouses, net houses, water-saving irrigation systems, flowering control technologies, post-harvest preservation techniques, and biological products. At a number of farms, every stage, from cultivation, seeds, production, care, harvesting, and sales to tourism services and product traceability, is gradually being digitized.

Supporting farmers in adopting digital applications

Although digital platforms and modern technologies are recognized as essential for developing modern agricultural and rural ecotourism, their application remains concentrated among a limited number of farms operated by younger people. Many farmers who produce OCOP products and local specialties have strong potential to develop experiential tourism but lack experience in using digital platforms to promote rural tourism services.

At the same time, while Hai Phong enjoys advantages in road, waterway, and rail transportation, connections between these networks and ecological farming areas remain fragmented. The absence of integrated tourism routes makes it difficult for visitors interested in rural tourism to travel conveniently between destinations.

To help farmers effectively apply digital transformation to agricultural and rural tourism, Cao Thanh Huyen, Deputy Director of the Hai Phong Forest Management and Agricultural Extension Board, said greater emphasis should be placed on training programs and workshops on digital transformation for agricultural extension officers. This would enable them to help farmers and agricultural producers independently use basic digital tools, including online sales and social media marketing.

According to the Hai Phong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, following the merger with the former Hai Duong Province, Hai Phong now has greater potential to develop rural experiential tourism in addition to its well-established coastal tourism. However, stronger cooperation among businesses, scientists, and travel companies is needed to build value chains linking production, consumption, and tourism development.

HO HUONG

HO HUONG