Overview of Accommodations

Ben Tre has 40 tourism accommodation establishments with 698 rooms that can supply tourists with accommodations. Some major accommodations: 

Ham Luong Hotel (***)
Address: 200C Hung Vuong St., Ward 5, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.560560

Viet Uc Hotel (***)
Address: 144 Hung Vuong St., Ward 3, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753. 511888

Hung Vuong Hotel
Address: 148-166 Hung Vuong St., Ward 3, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.822408

 Sao Mai Hotel
Address: 106C Binh Thanh, Binh Phu, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.823679

Dong Khoi Hotel
Address: 16 Hai Ba Trung St., Ward 2, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.822632
 

Dong Nam A Hotel
Address: 180A1 Dong Khoi highway, Ward Phu Tan, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.827282
 

Kim Cuong Hotel
Address: 1B7 Doan Hoang Minh St., Ward Phu Khuong, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.814366
 

Dai Phuc Hotel
Address: 1K Nguyen Thi Dinh St., Ward Phu Khuong, Ben Tre city
Tel.: 0753.838879
 

Thao Nhi Hotel
Address: Hamlet 1, Tan Thach village, Chau Thanh province
Tel.: 0753.860009
 

An Khanh Hotel
Address: Hamlet 5, An Khanh village, Chau Thanh province
Tel.: 0753.624624
 

Tay Do Hotel
Address: Hamlet 3, Binh Thoi village, Binh Dai province
Tel.: 0753.851315

Ben Tre Guest House

Home sweet home!

Its 2:00pm in Vancouver but 3:30 am in Hanoi. I should be asleep right now, that is what my body is telling me. The race to catch up on not only sleep but all of my assignments has begun however,  I can't seem to focus; all I can think about is the previous 12 days. For a third year university student I consider myself impressively lucky to have been a part of the CBT VietNam project not just once but twice over the past year and a half. It has been an honour to participate in this project and I wish to take this time to express my deepest thanks to all the amazing organizations involved:

• Capilano University
• Hanoi Open University
• PATA Foundation
• Sofitel Metropole Hanoi
• Buffalo Tours
• Footprint Vietnam
• RTC Vietnam
• and Handspan

Thank you all for your contributions. This has been the most significant career building exercise of my life and with out all the above noted it never would have happened. Also I would wish to thank Stephanie Wells, Chris Carnovale, Jen Reilly and Chris Bottrill for their dedication to this project and the to students of Capilano University.

Lastly there are the villagers to thank. The Red Dao and H'Mong communities invited us into their homes and dedicated their time to learning and participating in our project. These people have touched the hearts of all involved and I can only hope to see them all again.

Back to Vancouver

The team is at Hanoi International Airport, preparing for the trip back to Vancouver. Reflecting on our time with the communities in Sapa, the whole experience has been incredible. Breakthroughs were made not only in Ta Phin and Hanoi, but also in Lao Chai. Most importantly, strong relationships were built.

Overall, a fantastic start to a new phase in community-based tourism development. Thank you to everyone involved!

Updates from Sapa

After a successful trip around Hanoi, the Red Dao women made it back to Ta Phin full of new ideas. After getting off the night train, the CBT team split into two teams: Team Ta Phin and Team Lao Chai.

The focus for Team Ta Phin was to debrief after the tour operator meetings.  The entrepreneurs had gained insight into the tourism industry within Vietnam and were keen to put their ideas to work. The first step was meeting with local government to help build these newly developed relationships.  With that underway the women were able to focus on product development.  Some 'experiences' that the women are working on are cooking classes, herbal bath, walking tours and embroidery lessons.  These will augment the homestay product already in place.

Team Lao Chai had a different challenge; as this project is in its infancy the team spent much of their time researching the community, visiting potential homestays and discussing how much it would be to upgrade their homes so tourists would be attracted to stay the evening.  The message was beginning to take hold but there still was some uncertainty; on Sunday, the first homestay-owners from Ta Phin joined the Lao Chai team and presented their experiences with the development of community-based tourism.  There was noticeable excitement amongst Lao Chai's potential homestay-owners and they had a chance to talk more over lunch. 

The group departed around 3:00pm and felt that the day was a success, with four more CBT visits planned steps will be made to provide avenues for Lao Chai to also succeed.

Many Thanks to our Friends in Hanoi!

Two days of meetings have been highly productive in the Hanoi Old Quarter for our CBT group. Ta Phin entrepreneurs have met with numerous private tour operators. We would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest thanks to following companies that have hosted us over the past two days:

• Buffalo Tours
• The Responsible Travel Club of Vietnam
• Hanoi Backpacker Hostel

Tonight the women will be participating in a Cultural Night hosted by the Sofitel Metropole. Then tomorrow the meetings will continue as we meet with the Hanoi chapter of Handspan.

The women are learning about the expectations and clientele of the tour operators. The experience has been valuable and enlightening to the Ta Phin entrepreneurs, whom as a group are ready to entertain the idea of packaged tourism to the villages.

Introduction to homeland Ben Tre

Ben Tre is a delta province located downstream the Mekong River, bordering the East Sea, with 65 km of coastline and is accreted by four major rivers Tien Giang, Ba Lai, Ham Luong and Co Chien, which divide it into three large isles:

• An Hoa Isle (including 2 districts: Chau Thanh and Binh Dai).
• Bao Isle (including Ben Tre City and 2 districts: Giong Trom and Ba Tri).
• Minh Isle (including 4 districts: Cho Lach, Mo Cay Nam, Mo Cay Bac and Thanh Phu).

Ben Tre province is in the southwest and has two distinct seasons (six months of rain and six months of sun). The rain and weather are favorable with a thick system of rivers, canals which create an eco-tourism potential featuring the South, with its lush orchards, coconut forests laden all year round. Ben Tre is also the place which produces seedlings for supply throughout the country and neighboring countries.

Ben Tre has a historical system of quite rich and diverse relics and culture; referring to Ben Tre, everyone in the country knows the homeland Dong Khoi once spent a brave war of resistance, especially the long hair army imprinted in people’s hearts. Besides, Ben Tre is also the region producing more celebrities who live eternally in history such as Great-grandfathers Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Phan Van Tri, Phan Thanh Gian, Vo Truong Toan, Lanh Binh Thang, Le Quang Quan (Tan Ke), Truong Vinh Ky, Lt. Gen. Dong Van Cong, Female General Nguyen Thi Dinh, Vice President of our People's Council Huynh Tan Phat, etc.

Moreover, the natural elements with cultural tradition of our motherland helped the land of Ben Tre have a rich and diverse tourist potential.

Ben Tre Tourism Promotion Information Center compiled to show tourists some outlines. We hope this book will help readers understand the primary features of the land and people, along with basic information of Ben Tre Tourism, as well as a companion when arriving in the coconut land of much hospitality and tourist potential.

Tourism Information Promotion of Ben Tre

No. 108/1 Street 30/4, Ward 4, Ben Tre City, Ben Tre Province

Tel: (84-75).8511480 – Fax: (84-75).3838813

Email: ttxtdlbt@gmail.com

Blog: http://dlbentre.blogspot.com - http://tipcbentre.blogspot.com

Website: http://sovhttdl.bentre.gov.vn

- Official name: BEN TRE TOURIST PROMOTION INFORMATION CENTER

- Transaction name: Ben Tre Tourism Information Promotion Center (TIPC)

Over the past few years tourism businesses are of small scale standing before the great challenges of integration trend, hardly able to reach out to promote general introduction to the province to lousiness, to domestic and foreign tourists on tourism development, activities of the province. Thus, it is necessary to have active intervention and support of the State in the field of tourism promotion information at the provincial level.

On August 23rd, 2010, the provincial People’s Committee Decision No.1821/QD-UBND on the establishment of Tourism Promotion Information Center under the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ben Tre. This is a work unit with the function of advising the leaders to implement the operations of information and promotion of tourism in the provincial area.

Tourism Promotion Information Center (TIPC) has functions to organize activities on the following areas:

- On tourist information: organizing and developing information technology activities in the field of Culture, Sport and Tourism locally: serving the administration of the Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism as well as the business activities of enterprises.

Collecting receiving tourist information from the industries businesses, locally and abroad; providing information for tourism enterprises to operate around the province of Ben Tre.

As regards the promotion of tourism: Constructing plans, tourist promotion program, organizing, implementing programs to promote tourism, events, fairs, seminars, exhibitions of tourist, information activities on tourism (domestic and abroad) nationally regionally and locally. Developing communication products, introducing tourism promotion, Announcing new tourism products, Surveying tourist destinations (including tourist site, tourist area, tourist routes), International cooperation on tourism promotion, organizing pilot tours for tour operators, introducing tourist attractions, promoting in investment in the tourism sector, tourism promotion with local, regional, domestic and international economic region.

With respect to the training of human resources: Coordinating with other units, tourist training schools to open professional refresher courses for tourist business units in the provincial area.

In addition, the Center also does tourist investment projects, constructing billboards in the provincial area and a number of other projects when being authorized by the Department./.

Updates from Sa Pa!

Ly May Chan

After getting off the night train from Hanoi the morning of Sept 30th, Kyle Sandilands and Jase Wilson have been working hard to meet the trip's objectives. In Sa Pa, the team met up with Ms. Ngoc Ahn and HOU student volunteer Ms Trang. 'Team Sa Pa' are preparing 11 Red Dao entrepreneurs for their big trip to Hanoi where they will meet with private sector tour companies. So far a lot of learning has happened, including:

• culture shock preparation,
• business meeting etiquette,
• presenting their business, and
• public speaking skills

Excitement is high for our entrepreneurs. For some, this will be the biggest trip of their lives. Some are apprehensive and have expressed their concerns about the big city and the trip in general. Some of the community leaders are more well traveled and are assisting with pulling the group together. For example, Ly May Chan has shared her past experiences of the big city and what to expect.

Tonight is the night that the adventure begins! We start the long trek to Hanoi this evening. The team is prepared for eventualities - but maybe not prepared for the amount of attention that eleven beautifully dressed Red Dao women are sure to receive! The ladies have packed their best - undoubtedly they will make quite an impression on the tourists in Hanoi's Old Quarter.

Soon to come will be footage of our trip. Keep up to date on Facebook and Twitter. We are looking forward to your comments.