Tapping Unique Tourism Products

Soc Trang is a province with rich and diverse cultures of three main ethnic groups, Kinh, Khmer and Hoa. The province is home to many famous traditional cultural festivals and unique temples. In addition to its advantages of coastal plain and the Hau River system, Soc Trang continues promoting and exploiting ecological tourism, leisure tourism, cultural festivals, religious rituals, spiritual tourism, and historical tourism. In order to unlock its potentials and strengths, Soc Trang will promote investment in the tourism sector in the future.

 

Soc Trang is well known for cultural festivals and prominent attractions like Ooc Bom Boc Festival, Du Ke singing, Lam Thol dancing, Doi Temple and Dat Set Temple. The province has eight national-level monuments and 23 provincial-level monuments. Some relics have become tourist attractions, particularly Doi Temple - a national architecture and artwork where thousands of rats are living, and Buu Son Tu or Dat Set Temple - a provincial level architecture and artwork. Soc Trang also has a coastal mangrove ecosystem and green island system featuring a cool climate - ideal conditions for eco-tourism and marine tourism development.

 

The province has attractive beaches capably developed into vacation properties, including Ho Be beach in Vinh Cuu town. The distance from Tran De town to Con Dao Island - a notorious former jail - is quite close; thus, it is highly feasible to create travel tours between the two sites. Places of interest in Soc Trang include Doi Temple, Dat Set Temple, Bon Mat Temple, Khmer Culture Showroom, My Phuoc Island, Ho Be Tourist Site, Song Phung Tourist Site, Tan Long Stork Garden, and Freshwater Culture House.

 

The Soc Trang tourism industry witnessed a robust development period from 2001 to 2010. The province is keenly investing in tourism infrastructure, tourist sites and routes. Some special festivals are organised to attract domestic and foreign tourists, like Ooc Om Boc, Fish Worshipping Festival and Sea Mercy Festival.

 

To tap tourism potential, the provincial government decided to grant an investment certificate for the Kinh Ba - Con Dao ship tour route (Tran De district) and approved two other projects, namely Song Phung 3 Resort (Long Phu district) and Ho Be Eco-tourism Site (Vinh Chau town). The province is planning some other projects calling for investment capital, including Mo O tourist site, Cu Lao Dung mangrove ecological project, and An Lac Thon Resort.

 

Mr Nguyen Tanh, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: Soc Trang will continue developing and exploiting leisure tourism, cultural tourism, festival tourism, spiritual and religious tourism, and historical tourism.