Reviving Tourism in Con Dao Island

Con Dao Island used to be known for awful cages, cells and trenches during wartime, but it is now noted for its untouched beauty of primeval forests and beaches.
The Con Dao Township, sandwiched between Co Ong Airport and Ben Dam port, is always bustling and is home to various high-quality resorts.
Tourism paradise
The Con Dao Island is known as a holy land not only in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province but also in Vietnam. Earlier known as “hell on earth” during the American War, now it has become an immortal legend that everyone wishes to visit. The present Con Dao is a paradise of eco-tourism, where one can walk along lengthy beaches covered by sparkling white sand to see colourful coral reefs and a sparkling world undersea or join adventures in quiet forests. Coming there, visitors will be entirely separated from the crowed life in cities.
While walking along the tree-lined streets of Le Duan, Nguyen Hue and Nguyen An Ninh in Con Dao, visitors will see rows of ancient houses. The Con Son Town, the island district’s centre still preserves around 50 houses with firm structure that were built in the French colonial era. People can see the general architecture of Con Dao Island’s centre when walking along these streets.
Con Dao has attracted some investment projects in wind energy, including a project to build a wind farm in a 45-hectare area in Bai Nhat - Bai Da Trang area for three years by Sy Cat Trade and Real Estate Service Investment Joint Stock Company. The VND445-billion (US$24.962 million) project with a 30-year lifespan will have a capacity of 10 MW in the first phase and its capacity will be gradually raised in the following years. Another wind energy project licensed in the island is invested by Aerogie. Plus, Vietnam Limited Company has just selected a location for the project and is preparing to install equipment and facilities.
Waking up potential
The government of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province has mapped out an adjusted programming of Con Dao through 2020, to focus on six main land use purposes including urban living, entertainment-tourism-trade, social infrastructure and public land, sea economy and infrastructure supporting service, green parks, and historical preservation. Provincial authorities plan around 550 hectares of land for functional areas to serve 13,500 people in the Con Son centre by 2013. Land for urban areas will occupy 120 hectares. The district’s economy is forecast to grow fast in the near term, with focuses on tourism; thus, the district should invest in upgrading and building infrastructure of air port and sea ports with the ability to receive ships with tonnages of 50,000-70,000 GRT.
Moreover, the Prime Minister has recently approved a master investment plan for the Con Dao National Park in the 2009-2020 period. The project is aimed at preserving 5,990 hectares of forests and 14,000 hectares of sea areas, with focuses on preserving and restoring sea and forestry ecosystems, protecting biodiversity of indigenous flora species and natural sceneries, raising forest coverage by growing more plants, effectively using biological resources and developing forest environmental services to boost eco-tourism development. The Con Dao National Park is expected to complete 10 programmes by 2020, including natural resource protection and management, sea-forestry ecosystem restoration, building flora collection garden, scientific research, forest fire prevention, eco-tourism development, propaganda and education of forest and environment protection, training human resource, and building infrastructure. The plan will cost a total of VND320 billion, with 58.6 percent of which will come from the central state budget, 14.9 percent from local budget, 5.4 percent from bank loans and 22.1 percent from investors.