A new tour in Hội An’s ‘world’s most beautiful village’: A high-end product for Đà Nẵng?

A new tour at Hội An’s Cẩm Thanh Coconut Forest will invite visitors to travel beneath green coconut canopies while hearing local stories through performance and community life.

Lê Công Sỹ, director of the Public Service Supply Center of Hội An Đông Ward, said organizers were completing a stage, performance facilities and a reception area for the new product, titled “Back to Cẩm Thanh, Hear the Coconut Trees Tell Their Story.” The tour is being developed around the area’s natural landscape and local cultural identity.

Visitors will arrive at the forest, then travel by boats and basket boats through the waterways. The route will stop at three locations, each presenting a different story. Planned content includes bả trạo and whale-worship performances, fishing-net casting, basket-boat dancing, bài chòi, folk singing and hò khoan, along with an introduction to the everyday living space of local residents.

The ward plans to preserve the coconut forest and dredge waterways to create an entrance for tour boats. It has also invited 23 households whose livelihoods include net mending, weaving coconut leaves and making mats from nipa palm and coconut materials. “We are only reorganizing things and showing residents how to welcome and talk with visitors, so everything remains as authentic as it is,” Sỹ said.

Cẩm Thanh Coconut Forest already receives an average of 4,000 to 5,000 visitors a day. Local officials say the challenge after taking over management of the forest was to create a product that stood apart in a crowded Hội An tourism market. After repeated discussions and contributions from people with local knowledge and tourism experience, the ward plans to introduce the tour publicly to the tourism community in November.

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We are only reorganizing things and showing residents how to welcome and talk with visitors, so everything remains as authentic as it is.