Phu Quoc island draws tourism developers

Kien Giang (VNA) – Southern Kien Giang province aims to build the image and brand name of the island district of Phu Quoc to make it a high-end tourism destination by 2020.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Mai Van Huynh highlighted the district’s potential and advantages for tourism, saying that the province will focus on developing infrastructure facilities, promotion work and human resource training for tourism.

According to the provincial Department of Tourism, the locality wants tourism investment in tandem with upgrading and preserving historical and cultural vestiges, landcapes and entertainment areas.

More incentives will be offered to create a favourable business and investment environment.

The province will also issue policies to encourage small- and medium-sized enterprises and households to upgrade their tourism businesses, develop community-based tourism, trade villages and traditional crafts and services.

Focus will be put on training human resources for tourism agencies and improving training quality at local educational institutions and ensuring market-relevant training.

According to the district People’s Committee, Phu Quoc island district has lured more than 220 tourism development projects, accounting for 80 percent of the province’s total investment capital.

Nearly 170 projects have been granted investment licences, worth some 126 trillion VND (5.57 billion USD). 30 of them have been put into operation, with combined capital exceeding 31 trillion VND (1.36 billion USD).

Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee Huynh Quang Hung said international and domestic investors, including VinGroup, Sun Group, Bim Group, CEO Group and Thai Group have helped create impetus for Phu Quoc to develop.

The island district has such high-end hotels as five-star Vinpearl, five-star Novotel, four-star Muong Thanh, Saigon – Rach Gia, and the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay, among others.

Many other large-scale projects are underway and ready to serve tourists, including the An Thoi – Hon Thom cable network. 

Infrastructure facilities on the island have been developed, including the north-south road, streets, seaport and airport, making tourism the district’s economic spearhead.

In the first five months of this year, Phu Quoc welcomed nearly 858,000 arrivals, more than 47 percent of the yearly target, up 21 percent from the same period last year. The figure includes nearly 181,000 international tourists, or 60 percent of the yearly target, up 30 percent year on year.

The tourism sector earned more than 4 trillion VND (195.8 million USD) in the period, or 40 percent of the year’s target, up 24 percent year on year.-VNA