Phuc Vo, founder of Sai Gon Morning Ride (SGMR), did not choose a salary of nearly 80 million VND/month to focus on developing cycling tours around the city. SGMR's cycling tours have attracted many domestic and international visitors to participate because of the unique experience of exploring culture, religion, relics, traditional craft villages, cuisine...
Phuc Vo - Founder of Saigon Morning Ride
'START' WITH LOVE OF TRAVEL
“Many people think that the longer you work in a certain field, the easier it is to lose your passion. But the more I work, the more I love and want to stick with tourism,” Phuc shared. After nearly 10 years working in different positions in the tourism industry, he could have chosen easier jobs with a salary of nearly 80 million/month. However, he decided not to follow the crowd but to change direction to develop sustainable tourism.
Initially, SGMR was a small project, only operating on weekends with friends who shared the same passion for cycling. In 2018, bicycle tours around the city gradually appeared because of the interest of many people. From here, he began to want to develop this project into a professional tour with careful investment and research.
Community Ride - a project that has been maintained regularly twice a week for the past 2 years.
SGMR was born with the slogan "Ride and Shine" meaning that instead of sleeping in every morning, wake up, cycle around the city, catch the sunshine to start a new day with lots of energy.
He emphasized: “I do not consider the distance or number of kilometers that participants travel as a priority criterion. I just hope that the 'co-cyclists' can improve both their physical and mental health, especially bringing experiences of exploring culture, religion, cuisine, ecology... which few cycling tours can do today.”
All bicycle tours are thoroughly researched about routes, destinations, culture,...
LONG TERM 'OVERCOMING OBSTACLES'
Finding like-minded, passionate and capable people is not an easy task for Phuc. Besides, becoming a cycling tour guide requires many criteria. Good physical strength, knowledge of bicycles, knowing how to repair bicycles, having tour guide skills, knowing foreign languages, understanding the destination... and most importantly, loving bicycles.
Retaining employees is also a difficult task, because the salary for cycling guides is not high. If they meet the required criteria, they can completely choose another job with a much better salary. In the end, only those who have the deepest love for cycling, consider it as a part of their life, can stick with the profession.
Phuc Vo and his "favorite student" (right). The boy shared that he has 2 bicycles: 1 to ride, the other one is on his left elbow. Photo: Bi Le
Besides, currently few people understand the value of cycling tours. With the same cost, many people can choose other tour programs instead of cycling tours. Phuc Vo and his associates always try to minimize costs and maximize the value customers receive when participating in this cycling tour.
He said: “In any job, difficulties are inevitable. For example, when I cycle 55 km, there are many things that make me want to stop. I feel tired, hungry, thirsty, hot, uncomfortable… If I stop cycling, I will feel better. But if I overcome that difficulty, beautiful things await me ahead. As long as I know the destination, all the roads become clear.”
'ACCESS UP' WITH A PASSION FOR BICYCLES
To organize a cycling tour, he and his colleagues spent a lot of time learning - researching - experimenting to build a complete tour program. Currently, tourism training schools in Vietnam do not have a major in Biking tour. Therefore, he researched and built his own training program for his team thanks to the accumulated knowledge and advice from people in the profession.
Tour guides need to have a good grasp of the structure, details and practice regular vehicle repairs to solve problems that may arise during the tour.
Right in the bicycle shop area is where he instructs his colleagues how to repair and take care of bicycles carefully and firmly in every detail. He said, "Customers' bikes always need more attention and care." Cycling tours require more from the tour guide than regular tours.
Currently, SGMR is diversifying its cycling tours for customers. Notable among them is the Sai Gon on 2 wheels series with tours: Nine Dragon Children, Scent of Herbs, Rice Road, Stone Worship... In addition, in each tour program, the team always tries to exploit all the outstanding destinations, unique cultures, and specialty dishes to bring the most experiences to participating customers.
'FINISHING THE FINISH' WITH SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Cycling tours are part of the Sports Tourism branch – a part of the Wellness Tourism category. Accordingly, Phuc Vo always tries to build cycling tour programs that bring joy and positive thoughts after the experience through physical, psychological or spiritual activities – by promoting active participation between people, culture and nature.
Tourists interested in wellness tourism are those who prefer healthy, authentic and unique experiences, aim for sustainable values, and want to be close to nature.
The founder of SGMR always has a burning desire in his heart: to develop sustainable tourism. He said that cycling helps reduce emissions into the environment, increase endurance, physical strength and improve mental health. Especially in Ho Chi Minh City, the cycle of work and life makes people easily fall into a state of suffocation and heaviness. Cycling also directly reduces those problems.
Sharing with Travellive reporter, Phuc Vo excitedly said: “In the near future, we will organize four cycling tours from Ho Chi Minh City to Tra Vinh. Tra Vinh is my hometown, a place with many cultural, natural and culinary values that are not yet known to many tourists.”
