Building unique souvenir products

(Baonghean) - Creating souvenir products that are unique to each region is a concern for local tourism businesses today. In Nam Dan - one of the attractive destinations not only for domestic tourists but also welcoming thousands of international visitors every year, unique tourism products are also being created.

On this occasion, many products of Nam Dan were sold at tourist attractions, such as soy sauce of Sa Nam craft village, peanut candy of Nam Giang, dried lotus seeds, lotus heart tea of ​​Kim Lien... In particular, in the souvenir stalls in Uncle Ho's paternal and maternal hometowns, embroidered paintings of Thanh Thuy Cooperative (Nam Thanh) appeared, the products were meticulously hand-embroidered, depicting typical images of Uncle Ho's paternal and maternal hometowns.

Embroidery products of Thanh Thuy Cooperative at the booth serving tourists at Kim Lien Relic Site. Photo: TT

Talking with Ms. Ho Thi Ngoc - the owner of a souvenir shop in Uncle Ho's maternal hometown, it is known that in 2011 she started accepting consignment to sell embroidered paintings for Thanh Thuy Cooperative. At first, it was difficult to approach tourists because the embroidered paintings were not beautiful, many of them did not resemble the real scenery of Uncle Ho's house, and even the colors were not attractive. After listening to the feedback from customers, she discussed directly with Ms. Ho Thi Thuy, Head of Thanh Thuy Embroidery Cooperative to make timely adjustments... Currently, many tourists when returning to Uncle Ho's hometown have sought to buy embroidered paintings from Thanh Thuy Cooperative as souvenirs. They like them because they can be hung for a long time, and are very suitable for giving as gifts or souvenirs to relatives and friends.

It can be said that currently, Thanh Thuy Cooperative's hand-embroidered paintings are the most meaningful souvenirs for tourists when visiting Kim Lien - Nam Dan. Meeting Ms. Ho Thi Thuy - the head of Thanh Thuy Cooperative, she said that in 2010, she directly met with the leaders of Nam Dan district to present the idea of ​​opening an embroidery facility to serve tourism and was strongly supported by the district leaders. Although in 2004, Nam Dan district had invested a large amount of money to maintain embroidery products in Kim Lien, it was not successful. To encourage the Cooperative, the district supported her with 10 million VND as initial capital to buy embroidery tools. Ms. Thuy mobilized 4-5 sisters in the village and directly guided them. At first, when she could not find a market, Ms. Thuy made handicrafts for craft villages in the North. While making handicrafts, she also learned about the market. Also in this year, Ms. Thuy’s hand-embroidered products reached the Saigon market. However, the main goal of her products is to be chosen by tourists when they visit Uncle Ho’s hometown.

Currently, Thanh Thuy Cooperative's embroidery paintings are available in 6 souvenir shops in Uncle Ho's maternal and paternal hometowns. To meet the needs of tourists, in the coming time, Ms. Thuy will embroider a variety of paintings of Uncle Ho's image, portrait of Uncle Ho, the banyan tree, Coc well, Uncle Ho's family members, lotus pond... The good news is that in 2014, Thanh Thuy Cooperative's embroidery products were among 11 typical products voted by the Council for the selection of rural industrial products. In addition to building the image and promoting the brand, finding the consumer market, organizing the selection of typical industrial products also creates a driving force to promote economic development in rural areas.

Brocade weaving exhibition of ethnic minorities in Tuong Duong district. Photo: Thanh Le

Another souvenir product is the brocade weaving products of the Thai ethnic group - which have long been a typical souvenir product for tourists when visiting the Western region of Nghe An. The products must be made entirely by hand, so they are very sophisticated, suitable for the current tourism market. Talking with Ms. Sam Thi Bich, head of Hoa Tien Cooperative (Quy Chau), we learned that: Currently, the products of the Cooperative have initially built a brand in the markets of Hanoi, Hoi An, Hue, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City... In the foreign market, the products have reached neighboring countries such as Laos, Thailand... However, what she worries most is that due to the high price, the products have not been able to reach the market in the province, especially in major tourist destinations such as Vinh City, Cua Lo Town, Nam Dan. If they can reach places in the province, they will be through fairs and exhibitions.

In recent times, our province has organized many seminars and conferences to develop unique souvenir products for tourist destinations. Along with the province's participation, localities such as Nam Dan, Cua Lo, and the Western districts are also making efforts to find them. The problem for our province's tourism industry today is how to create unique souvenir products with their own brands, not only to stimulate consumption and increase trade, but also to promote and deepen the image of Nghe An tourism in the hearts of tourists.

Nam Dan has embroidery paintings of Thanh Thuy Cooperative, Western tourism has brocade; the question is Cua Lo, in the past Cua Lo used to have sea snail products of Cua Hoi Youth Enterprise, now also on the basis of products made from sea snails, can it be transformed to produce souvenir products with images of Lan Chau Island, Ngu Island, or Van Loc Temple?

T. Thuy - P. Thao