Stimulating demand for OCOP products associated with tourism

Connecting OCOP products associated with tourism development is a direction that contributes to positioning destinations, increasing experiences for tourists, promoting, boosting consumption, increasing the value of OCOP products, and developing the economy for localities in Phu Tho.

Foreigners learn about Long Coc Tea products at the Heritage Tea Party “Flavors of the Ancestral Land” held in Hanoi.

Potential market for consuming OCOP products

At the Conference “Connecting consumption of OCOP products” organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the end of 2023, a representative of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism emphasized that the domestic and international tourist markets both have great room to consume OCOP products. Accordingly, hundreds of millions of domestic and international visitors coming and going, circulating through provinces and cities every year, is a large market for consuming agricultural products, especially OCOP products.

In fact, the advantage of the tourism industry is that consumers come to the markets that supply products themselves. Goods do not need to be exported abroad or transported to localities; instead, customers from other places proactively come to the region to experience and shop. If local OCOP products are not only purely commercial but also have cultural elements and indigenous knowledge, they will certainly create a great spread, stimulating both tourism and agriculture and bringing high economic development value to localities. Phu Tho is a province with diverse natural conditions, possessing many advantages to develop the agricultural and rural economies as well as OCOP products. After a period of active implementation, by the end of 2023, the whole province had 237 OCOP products with 3-star or higher ratings and 161 participating entities. In particular, the products are mainly in the food, beverage and handicraft groups, with 1 product ranked 5 stars, 54 products ranked 4 stars and 182 products ranked 3 stars. Because of the rapid increase in the number of OCOP products, it is necessary to promote trade.

Above all, the province has great potential for tourism development, welcoming millions of tourists each year. A simple calculation shows that just the number of tourists buying OCOP products has brought about very high consumption efficiency. Moreover, tourism is an effective channel for promoting and introducing OCOP products. Through tourism activities and tourists, these products will spread to many places.

On the contrary, OCOP products are the place to inspire and promote unique values to attract tourists to the locality. Therefore, connecting the consumption of OCOP products with tourism and turning OCOP products into products serving tourism is one of the promising directions, bringing positive results.

For example, at the Hung Temple Festival and the Culture-Tourism Week of the Ancestral Land in 2024, the Phu Tho Trade and OCOP Products Fair in 2024 was identified as one of the important contents of the event. The fair was organized with a scale of over 350 booths, including more than 100 exhibition booths displaying and introducing OCOP products, typical rural industrial products of the province. The fair has created conditions for visitors to visit Hung Temple to access, choose and purchase quality local OCOP products at reasonable prices, contributing to product consumption and stimulating consumption.

Or with this way of introducing and promoting, in the first 6 months of the year, a series of typical OCOP products of the province were present at the province’s booths within the framework of the Vietnamese Tet Festival 2024, the Ban Flower Festival 2024, the 1st Ha Giang International Culture, Tourism and Cuisine Festival 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2024, the Vietnam International Tourism Fair (VITM Ha Noi 2024), the Hanoi Tourism Festival 2024... along with many forums for linking, developing regional tourism, conferences promoting tourism inside and outside the province. In particular, at the Heritage Tea Party-Taste of the Ancestral Land event organized by the Provincial People’s Committee within the framework of the 11th Asia-Pacific International Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference held in Hanoi, many OCOP products and typical products of the Ancestral Land were introduced to delegates and guests from all over the world. Many products were then included in the “gift bags” of international delegates when they returned home.

Tourists visit and learn about OCOP products from Thanh Thuy district at the Phu Tho OCOP Products and Trade Fair in 2024.

Opening the way to the tourism market

However, as mentioned above, the advantage of tourism is that consumers come to the markets that provide products to experience and buy specialties, so focusing on developing a system of booths and display points and introducing and selling typical OCOP products of localities in the area, especially near or in tourist areas, is a necessary direction.

As at the Ngoc Xanh Island Tourist Area, one of the famous tourist destinations of Thanh Thuy district, which regularly welcomes domestic and foreign tourists to visit and relax on weekends and holidays, the OCOP product display and introduction point have been located right at the gate of the tourist area, with a team of staff on duty 24/7 to serve visitors and shoppers.

Up to now, the OCOP products here have contributed to creating a special highlight of the tourist area. At the same time, with guaranteed quality, beautiful designs, reasonable prices, the products have created peace of mind and trust, contributing to solving the problem of finding local specialties to buy as gifts for tourists.

Ms. Vu Thanh Xuan, in charge of the OCOP product display and introduction point at Ngoc Xanh Island Tourist Area, said: "Our booth sells many OCOP products from the province and district. In particular, the whole district currently has 17 products recognized as OCOP 3 stars or higher, all of which are available on the shelves. Due to the favorable location, the consumption of products here is very good, especially typical products such as Bo village sauce, Thanh Son sour meat, Maika Matcha tea, Sencha green tea, etc.

Up to now, the province has 15 points of sale and introduction of OCOP products, including Viet Tri City (3 points), Tam Nong District (3 points), Tan Son District (2 points), and other districts (1 point). These locations are located in convenient, prime locations with spacious spaces, located in the center of the city, district, or town. This not only helps consumers easily access the products but also acts as a bridge and a tourist connection point, contributing to promoting and widely introducing the advantageous agricultural products of each region and locality.

In addition to the above points of sale and product introduction, the Provincial Tourism Information and Promotion Center has selected locations with a large number of tourists to support the construction of display and sale points for OCOP products in that locality, such as Hung Lo Communal House (Viet Tri City), Au Co Temple (Ha Hoa District), and Xuan Son National Park (Tan Son District).

At these locations, the Center has mobilized and encouraged people to bring typical agricultural products and potential products of the locality to display and sell, achieving very positive results and becoming the favorite choice of tourists, such as Thanh Son sour meat, Dat To banh chung, Cam Khe cassava vegetables, Cao Xa soy sauce, Xuan Son five-color sticky rice, Phu Ninh cassava cakes, Tan Son salted chicken, Long Coc tea, Purple Bud tea, Hoai Trung tea.

Currently, the Provincial Tourism Information and Promotion Center has been promoting the integration of visiting and experiencing craft villages into tours and tourist routes when promoting and introducing them to tourists. travel agencies, aiming to guide tourists to learn about the production process of the product, create trust and promote local consumption because the products are the objects that demonstrate the discoveries and experiences of tourists. This model is bringing clear results for OCOP products such as Hung Lo rice noodles, Thanh Son sour meat, Long Coc sweet soup, Dat To banh chung, etc.

Bringing OCOP products into tourism activities is one of the solutions to create output for agricultural products while promoting tourism development. However, stronger cooperation and connection between the tourism industry and OCOP subjects is needed when OCOP products are not only a commodity but also a factor that creates a driving force for harmonious development between culture, tourism and agriculture.

Phuong Thuy