The southern province of Kien Giang is working hard to promote its tourism potential and persuade more businesses to invest in the field.

At the same time, local authorities are creating favourable conditions for investors to speed up the implementation of projects that have already been approved and granted licences to soon put into use a number of tourist sites.

Tourism firms have also been instructed to build and develop their brands in line with creating a wide range of tourism products and services such as shopping, sightseeing, leisure activities and healthcare services.
Training sessions are open for tour guides to improve their proficiency and presentation skills.

Kien Giang is home to 40 tourists sites, including popular ones such as U Minh Thuong National Park, the Giant Buddha Pagoda and particularly Phu Quoc island, which is home to the historical relic site of Phu Quoc prison and a range of attractions such as beautiful beaches, fish sauce trade villages and pearl farms, to name but a few.

A host of festivals are hosted annually in the area, namely the Nghinh Ong festival and death anniversaries of national heroes Mac Cuu and Nguyen Trung Truc, and heroine Phan Thi Ranh, attracting tens of thousands of tourists.

The Mekong Delta province is actively preparing to open some international flights to connect Phu Quoc Island with the region and the world at large.

It plans to put into use a Phu Quoc-Russia air route by the end of the year to serve visitors at home and abroad.

The province welcomed nearly 2.9 million visitors in the first nine months of this year, fulfilling nearly 70 percent of its yearly target. Phu Quoc Island in particular received more than 68,000 tourist arrivals.

During the period, Vietnam served nearly 5.5 million foreign visitors, a yearly increase of 10 percent.

The number of overseas visitors to Vietnam could reach 7.5 million by the end of this year, meaning the country’s tourism industry would hit its target two years earlier than set in the National Action Plan on Tourism between 2013 and 2020, which planned to attract 7-8 million foreign tourists by 2015.-VNA