"National Tourism Year 2016: Phu Quoc - Mekong Delta" is a national and international socio-economic and cultural event. There will be many special activities and events of Kien Giang province that will take place throughout 2016. To learn more about this event, Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Nguyen Van Sau, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Kien Giang. Thu Huyen reports.
Could you please introduce the National Tourism Year: Phu Quoc- Kien Giang in 2016?
The theme of the event is "Discovering the land of the South". This is the first time Kien Giang hosts the National Tourism event. Due to economic development, Mekong Delta provinces have become a more attractive destination. Under the theme "Discovering the land of the South", Kien Giang province wants to attract more tourists to the Mekong Delta and the southern provinces to explore specialities like water orchards and immense green fields, and the largest granary of Vietnam. And there is high potential for marine and ecology tourism development such as Phu Quoc Island; U Minh Thuong and U Minh Ha National Parks of Kien Giang, and Ca Mau, Dong Thap Muoi, Tra Su sesame of An Giang. Hopefully, National Tourism Year 2016 will help tourists learn more about the Mekong Delta.
What strengths will be tapped to attract visitors for the National Tourism Year?
Kien Giang has many beautiful resorts at Phu Quoc island and Ha Tien town as well as ecotourism in Phu Quoc National Park and U Minh Thuong National Park. Ha Tien is a popular tourist site of the region thanks to its beautiful beaches and landscapes. The province has tourism products associated with local festivals. To exploit these products, Kien Giang has also been actively preparing and calling for investment in infrastructure, diversifying tourism products and exploiting tourism resources.
What types of new products will be exploited?
One new product is the Vinpearl Land Recreational Complex of VinGroup. Currently, the Group is investing Saperri Zoo area, expected to come into operation in its phase 1 in late 2015, and to become the largest zoo of the region once the phase 2 is completed. Currently, Phu Quoc is deploying cable cars connecting An Thoi town to Hon Thom Island, the largest island in Hon Thom Commune. At Hon Thom Island, there will be an area especially designed for visitors. Also, Phu Quoc National Park has much potential for tourism development as well as scientific research. Phu Quoc National Park in collaboration with experienced firms is exploiting 8 tour routes on rivers and canals of Phu Quoc National Park to discover local fauna and flora.
The National Tourism Year of Kien Giang- Phu Quoc promises to attract large number of tourists to Kien Giang. What measures will be implemented to improve tourism services?
In accordance with Prime Minister's Directive 14, Kien Giang is strictly intensifying price management. It is also a routine task of the local government agencies at district and commune levels. Kien Giang province has strengthened management, especially requesting prices of tourism products and services to be listed. In parallel, the authorities are strengthening their inspection to complete all tasks. Along with the press conferences of the National Tourism Year 2016 in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, Kien Giang will organise a conference at all levels to carefully manage services and pricing to avoid unfair competition. Demand stimulus programmes are designed to attract more tourists to Phu Quoc, Kien Giang and the Mekong Delta.
13 provinces in the Mekong Delta have many tourism products sharing several similarities. How could we promote the value of each local tourism product?
We can say the most typical product of the Mekong Delta is eco-tourism. The second typical product is diverse and abundant primary forests, which are preserved and developed at local levels. Phu Quoc Island is the largest island of Vietnam with a range of mountains, rivers, streams and satellite islands as well as the beautiful beaches. Phu Quoc has fresh water resources to serve 5-7 million tourists. With such characteristics, provinces of the Mekong Delta try to strengthen linkage to promote all unique local products. For example, we have linked tours of five local provinces including Can Tho, An Giang, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, and Kien Giang. This is the tours with destinations that have been advertised to the tourists. Each province will also pick out their featured products to promote the tours and to reduce the duplication that might happen among local tourism products of the Mekong Delta.
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