The People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho set a target of drawing 1.3 million tourists, including 300,000 foreign arrivals, in 2014, raising the number of holidaymakers by 4 percent against 2013.

According to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Thai Hoa, the city also hopes to earn 1.1 trillion VND (52.4 million USD) from the sector this year, a year-on-year increase of 13.4 percent.

To realise the goals, the locality plans to promote its tourism potential and diversify tourism products to well meet the increasing demand of tourists by opening new eco-tourism tours in Can Tho and from the city to other provinces inside and outside the region.

The city will work with An Giang and Kien Giang provinces to form a tourism triangle while developing tours of rivers, the coast, islands and mountains in the region.

The infrastructure network in 20 eco-tourism sites in the locality, which cover an area of almost 300 ha, will be completed soon, while issues related to the environment and safety on several tourism routes will also be solved.

In addition, the municipal authorities plan to mobilise capital from all economic sectors to build accommodation facilities, develop destinations in islets in Hau River and improve the quality of tourism services.

In 2013, Can Tho raked in 953 billion VND (45.4 million USD) from the sector./.