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TOURISM IN THE MEKONG DELTA
has the fruits of four seasons and a
fresh environment, together with a rich
culture and history thanks to its four
ethnic groups - the Kinh, Khmer, Chi-
nese and Cham. These groups put on
countless folk festivals between them,
showcasing the kindness, hospitality
and tolerance of southern people.
The common means of transport
in the region is the wooden boat. Eve-
rything from fruits to farmers and from
students to wedding parties travel by
water. When in the region, guests must
visit Long An’s Tan Lap floating village
as well as Ben Tre’s coconuts forest
with many products produced from co-
conuts. Other must-see sights include
the bird sanctuary, the Sa Dec flower
village and Tien Giang and Hau Giang’s
floating markets with their thousands
of brilliantly bright fruits.
In addition, cultural and spiritual
tourism is also very attractive here, with
lots of national cultural and historical rel-
ics such as An Giang’s Ba Chua Xu temple
and Bac Lieu’s Bodhisattva pagoda.
Sea and island tourism is a strong
point of the Mekong Delta, with the high-
light being Phu Quoc – the pearl island.
On the up
In 2012 the Mekong Delta wel-
comed nearly 20 million tourists, an in-
crease of 11.3 per cent over the previous
year. International tourists numbered
1.6 million, 11.5 per cent higher than
2011. The turnover from tourism was
VND4,344 billion, up 23.2 per cent on
2011. In the first six months of this year,
nearly 12 million tourists visited the re-
gion - an increase of 8.6 per cent on the
same period last year.
However, compared with other tour-
ist destinations around the country, the
Mekong Delta is still underdeveloped.
“Though the area is very rich in
nature and cultural traditions, there are
many similarities between provinces
and tourist spots in the region. Their
services are not up to international
standards, with a serious barrier in
terms of foreign languages,” said David
Nguyen of Luxury Travel.
“Mekong Delta tourism resources
closely connect with waterways and
the countryside. Currently, the tours
mainly target tourists who want to see
its beauty, but do not explore effec-
tively such strengths as turning it into a
paradise for leisure tourism,” said Phan
Dinh Hue, director of Viet Circle Travel.
“The region’s tourism only explores
the surface of a gold mine which is sim-
ple and at hand, it does not look deeper
to the inner potential. That’s why tour-
ists rarely stay more than three days in
the area,” Hue added.
Tran Dat Duy, deputy chairman of
the Mekong Delta Tourism Association,
agrees. He says the number of tourists
visiting the area is lower than other des-
tinations because the region’s potential
has not been explored effectively.
“We lack strategies to build a brand
Cap