HCM Cit​y (VNA) - Thenumber of tourists to the Mekong Delta has increased significantly as manytourism programmes have been successful over the last year, according to provincialauthorities.

Many attractions in the MekongDelta have maintained their high traffic since the beginning of the year.

The Department of Culture,Sports, and Tourism of Dong Thap province reported that the province welcomed110,000 arrivals in October, up 25 percent year-on-year. This brought thenumber of arrivals to 2.5 million in the first 10 months, up 24 percentyear-on-year. 

Tram Chim National Park,Nguyen Sinh Sac and Xeo Quyt relic sites were among the popular attractions.

To boost tourism, the provincehas also promoted ecotourism and created tours to local fruit gardens.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuong, director ofthe provincial Culture, Sports, and Tourism Department, said that developmentplans, including better infrastructure and effective promotion campaigns, hadbrought about positive changes to the tourism sector.

Around 5.3 million touristsvisited Can Tho city in the first eight months of the year, up 43 percentyear-on-year, according to the municipla Department of Culture, Sports, andTourism.

The city welcomed 76,700arrivals during the National Day (September 2) holiday period,generating more than 48 billion VND (over 2 million USD) in revenue.

The department aims to attract5.5 million arrivals and earn 2 trillion VND (88 million USD) this year.

Since Kien Giang has the mosttourism potential in the Delta, the province in recent years has been a hotspotfor investment, with 274 ongoing tourism projects on 7,690ha of land, worth 231 trillion VND (10.17 billion USD). 

Tran Chi Dung, director of theprovincial Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said that investors hadbeen eyeing Phu Quoc Island, with 218 tourism projects on 6,445ha of land,worth 222 trillion VND (9.7 billion USD). About 30 projects had been carried out onthe island so far.

The province has called forinvestments to upgrade its infrastructure and build airports, seaports androads.

Between 2013 and June 2017, KienGiang province drew 20.4 million tourists, of whom 1.1 million wereinternational visitors.

In 2016, the province had 5.6million arrivals, and of that number, 309,700 were foreigners. Touristsgenerated a total of 3.67 trillion VND (158 million USD) in revenue.

The province targets more thansix million arrivals this year.

The Mekong Delta has attractedmore local visitors compared to the south and north central coastal areas of Vietnam.However, the number of visitors to the Red River Delta and the southeast arehigher than that of the Mekong Delta.

Also, differences in the number ofarrivals between provinces in the Mekong Delta are noticeable. While foreignersto Tien Giang and Ben Tre provinces accounted for 50 percent of the totalnumber of international tourists, local visitors to An Giang province made upone-third of total local tourists.

The Vietnam NationalAdministration of Tourism said that tourism in the Mekong Delta had gained morerecognition, but that it should have been better.

Due to the lack of diversetourism products, international tourists typically spend an average 1.95 dayand local visitors an average 1.7 day in the region.

Pham Vu Hong, chairman of the KienGiang province People’s Committee, said that to meet the demand of visitors,the province would expand the airport, improve power systems and upgrade infrastructure,and complete them before the deadlines.

But he said it was also importantto invest in more tourism products to extend visitors’length of stay. 

Secretary of Dong Thap province’s Party Committee Le Minh Hoan said that Dong Thap, Tien Giang andLong An provinces had collaborated with HCM City to create a tour called "MotHanh Trinh Ba Diem Den" (A journey to three destinations).

Starting from HCM City to LongAn, Tien Giang, and Dong Thap provinces, tourists will be able travel to TanLap Floating Village, an ecotourism site, the Dong Thap Muoi EcologicalReservation Area, and Tram Chim National Bird Park, among other attractions.

The Mekong Delta TourismAssociation has also urged local provinces not to copy each other’s tourismproducts as all of them have similar conditions for tourism.

Tourism experts said that Can Tho city and Phu Quoc island should be key destinations, while My Tho city couldplay a support role for tourism in the eastern area of the Mekong Delta.-VNA