With favourable natural conditions, 122-year-old Da Lat city is workingto secure a role as a key agricultural and tourism centre in the LamDong Central Highland province.

The biggest city inLam Dong and the province’s political and administrative centre, Da Lathas been the locomotive of local development in key economic sectors,particularly hi-tech agriculture, trade, services and tourism.

Besidesits long-time reputation as a resort city with romantic landscape andtemperate climate, the city with a population of 216,000 has undergone adramatic change particularly in its suburban areas.

Basedon the traditional farms, hi-tech agriculture is gaining momentum, with4,500 ha cultivated using latest farming techniques, furtherreinforcing the trademarks of Da Lat vegetables and flowers.

The city is home to 4,440 ha under flowers, nearly two-thirds of theprovince’s total flower fields, producing 1.5 billion flowers last yearout of the province’s output of 2.3 billion.

DaLat also has 6,600 ha under vegetable, ranking third in the province interms of area and output, but the city’s products fetch much highereconomic value thanks to the application of advanced cultivationtechnology.

Together with promoting hi-tech agriculture,Da Lat is exerting efforts to become the country’s leading agri-tourismdestination.

Nguyen Thi Nguyen, Director of the provincialDepartment of Culture, Sports and Tourism, highlighted that Da Lat willfocus on developing its eco-tourism, resorts and conference centres.

She added that it will leverage its agricultural potential to offeragri-tourism, attracting both domestic and foreign visitors to the city.
Popular agri-tourism activities include farm trips forvisitors to try their hands at planting and taking care of flower andvegetable, or sightseeing and picking fruits at farms.

Last year, over 3.6 million tourists arrived in Da Lat, out of the total 4.8 million visitors to Lam Dong province.-VNA