The central coastal province of Ninh Thuan will be developed into a key national tourism area by 2020.

The target was set in the master plan on tourism development in the locality until 2020 with a vision towards 2030, which was announced on January 21 by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Under the plan, Ninh Thuan will build a number of national and regional-standard tourism sites with the aim of attracting 1.4 million domestic and foreign visitors by 2015. It expects to earn about 55 million USD from tourism activities and generate jobs for 34,000 labourers.

Ninh Thuan also set a target of receiving about three million tourists by 2020, bringing in 335 million USD in revenue and creating jobs for 44,000 people.

To realise the goals, the locality will focus on attracting foreign arrivals from Vietnam’s traditional markets, including Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Southeast and Northeast Asian nations.

It will also pay attention to developing the domestic market, while working with other localities across the country to diversify tourism products such as marine-based tourism, cultural-historical and adventurous tourism, and open new tourism routes.

Tourism infrastructure, especially in transport, electricity and water systems to the tourism projects, will be upgraded to serve the locality’s tourism development.

Ninh Thuan, which is blessed with untouched white sandy beaches, holds potential for developing luxurious tourism models.

The Amanoi Resort invested by Belgian businesses was inaugurated in the locality in October last year.

In 2013, the province received 1.1 million arrivals, an increase of 15.7 percent from the previous year. Of the total, the number of foreign visitors increased by 6.2 percent.-VNA