Ca Mau (VNA) – The southernmost province of Ca Mauhas taken steps to tap into its potential and make the most of its advantages towardsspeeding up tourism development.

In recent years, Ca Mau has seen an annual growth of 12-14percent in the number of tourists. In 2017, the province welcomed over 1.2million visitors, up 61.29 percent against 2010, with tourism revenue rising3.5 times during this period.

In 2018, Ca Mau served more than 1.4 million tourists, arise of 16 percent year-on-year, with a revenue of 2.2 trillion VND (94.6million USD).

Major tourism routes of the locality include Ca Mau-U MinhHa National Park-Hon Da Bac, Ca Mau-Song Trem eco-tourism area, and Ca Mau-MuiCa Mau National Park-Dat Mui Tourist Site.

Thanks to a developed and connected road system, the provincehas formed four tourist areas and 14 community-based eco-tourism sites.

In the five years since Mui Ca Mai National Park launched itscommunity-based ecotourism service, which was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, localtourism has seen rapid growth.

According to Phan Quoc Khai,Director of the Mui Ca Mau National Park, the annual number of domestic visitorsto the park has risen over the years to reach roughly 300,000 people in recenttimes.

Tran Hong Quan, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee ofCa Mau, said that ecotourism and community-based tourism are now the majortourism products of Ca Mau. Therefore, the locality has focused on plans topreserve and develop the Mui Ca Mau mangrove forest ecotourism area and U MinhHa National Park ecotourism area; along with the tourism sites of Hon Khoai,Hon Da Bac, and Khai Long beach.

However, insiders held that Ca Mau’s tourism industry lacksprofessionalism and needs to select key highlights. 

Nguyen Thanh Tuyen, from the Ca Mau Tourism Promotion Centre,said that compared to other regional localities, tourism development in Ca Mau hasyet to match its full potential and live up to its advantages.

The locality’s tourism products have yet to meet the demandof tourists, while tourism promotion has been ineffective.

According to the Mekong Delta Tourism Association, thenumber of foreign tourists travelling to Ca Mau has remained modest as out ofthe 2.8 million foreign tourists to the region, only 25,000 (less than 1percent) travel to Ca Mau.

Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports,and Tourism Tran Hieu Hung said that localities in the province are not yet activein developing tourism products and community-based tourism models, while thetransport infrastructure to tourism sites has been poor and incentives fortourism businesses has remained modest. Only 50 percent of the tourismworkforce has been trained, affecting the quality of tourism services, headded.

Amidst the current situation, Quan said that in the future,the province will design a number of preferential policies to attract moreinvestment in tourism, including those related to land use and ground clearance.

Ca Mau will encourage businesses to invest in ecotourismdevelopment in Mui Ca Mau and U Minh Ha National Parks.

Poor areas will be supported to develop infrastructuresystem for tourism expansion, he said.–VNA