Mekong River Delta develops ''tourism quadrangle''

Vietnam’s Southern provinces and cities of An Giang, Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Can Tho are carrying out a cooperative program to develop tourism during the 2010-2015 period, with an orientation to 2020; shaping the “tourism quadrangle” in the Mekong River Delta.
The four provinces and cities will collaborate to build and upgrade tourism infrastructures; encouraging economic components to take part in tourism development. In the long term, the four provinces have overall plans for their major economic areas and will focus on specific tourism products to further attract tourists.
In the short term, these provinces will coordinate to train human resources, establish tourism promotion centers, set up websites to provide and extend information related to tourism, and diversify tourism products.
Specifically, Phu Quoc, Kien Giang Province will be developed into an island tourism city, with a complex of luxury tourism services, five to seven-star hotels, casinos, shopping centers, and a conference center.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said that infrastructures such as bridges, roads, and airports in these provinces have not been completed yet. The number of hotels over three-star is not sufficient, the tourism products are not abundant and do not reflect the potential of Mekong River Delta tourism.
The VNAT also encourages travel agents to focus on other factors which have not been tapped effectively such as resort on beaches, sea-diving, picnicing, camping, and bicycle tours crossing the Mekong River Delta.
With nearly 3.5 million tourists to the Mekong River Delta annually, the region needs 10,000 trained workers to serve tourists. But now, the figure stands at only 3,000 workers, only 50 percent of which have experienced basic training courses.