Vinh Long: unique tourism products key to attract visitors

Vinh Long (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long is developing standout tourism products to lure more visitors, said Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Thanh Tuan.

Boasting strength in eco-tourism with a vast area of orchards, the province is working to develop local homestay services by encouraging homestay owners to invest heavily in the facility, and equipping local residents with necessary tourism skills so that they can provide the visitors with better services.

According to Tuan, the province is now housing 26 standardised homestays, with two meeting ASEAN homestay standards. They are expected to popularise the unique feature of the locality to both domestic and foreign visitors.

In addition, historical tourism has recently got noticed as the province has 11 national historical relic sites and nearly 50 sites at provincial level. The tourism sector will combine historical tourism tours with the introduction of the traditional culture and art of the ethnic minority groups in the southern region.

Calling for investments from businesses to build tourism infrastructure, organising famtrips and studying community-based tourism products in other provinces are parts of the province’s plan to make it become more attractive to visitors.

According to the department, last year, the province welcomed 1.3 million tourist arrivals and earned 340 billion VND (14.65 million USD) from tourism service, up 8 percent and 8.9 percent year on year, respectively.
 
This year, the province targeted 1.4 million visitors, including 212,000 foreigners, and 350 billion VND (15.08 million USD) in tourism revenue.-VNA