Reviving Eco-tourism Potential in Southern Province of Kien Giang

The southern province of Kien Giang has tried to drive the local tourism into a key economic sector, contributing to its sustainable development.
Unique features of island and sea tourism
Nature endows Kien Giang with a diversified geological structure which includes delta, forests, mountains, sea and islands. This is suitable for tourism development. The province is home to famous places such as Rach Gia, Phu Quoc, Ha Tien, Kien Luong and Hon Dat. The locality area is also known for beaches Mui Nai, Bai Duong, Bai Sao, Bai Dai and Bai Truong and streams namely Da Ban and U Minh Thuong and Phu Quoc National Park. Coming here, visitors will see a diversified ecosystem and Phu Quoc Island with fresh area, indigo forests and bird garden. The province is also famous for special food of U Minh Forest. All of these serve as a momentum for Kien Giang to develop tourism, particularly eco-tourism at U Minh area.
Kien Giang keeps the national cultural identities. The province has many festivals, including Hero Nguyen Trung Truc festival, Tao Dan Chieu Anh Cac festival, Ok-om-bok festival of Kho-mer people and several others. Each has its own features and attracts thousands of tourists.
Under an overall plan for tourism development, Kien Giang belongs to the tourism zone IV which has the strength of water tourism and eco-tourism in the Mekong Delta region.
Enhancing regional cooperation
The province has developed its role in boosting the regional tourism development. An Giang has lots of mountains. Particularly Ba Chua Xu festival, is a platform from which to develop spiritual tourism and mountain-climbing services. The province bordering Cambodia houses the two international border gates of Tinh Bien and Vinh Xuong. Meanwhile, Can Tho, the centre of the Mekong Delta region, has a favourable location and infrastructure system for tourism development, particularly MICE and eco-tourism. Along with Kien Giang, the three provinces have developed a tourism triangle. They also actively cooperated to hold the National Tourism Year of the Mekong Delta Region 2008 and Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2008. The localities have organised many festivals and fairs like the border trade and tourism festival at Rach Gia –Ha Tien- Phu Quoc, Ok-om bok festival and particularly the festival that honours Hero Nguyen Trung Truc, which has lured 700,000 visitors.
Kien Giang has opened many conferences to promote its tourism potential. To date, the province has received more than 200 registrations from both local and foreign investors for their projects. Furthermore, Vietnamese government has invested to upgrade Rach Gia Airport. The Phu Quoc Airport has been upgraded to become an international airport. HCM City- Phu Quoc air route, which previously had only one flight per day, now has seven flights per day. In terms of sea transport, six high-speed modern train routes now provide services to Phu Quoc. Small high-speed trains run to small islands, including Hon Tre, Hon Lai Son and Nam Du every day. The province has also built a network of tours linking the central region and Southeast Asian countries.
Kien Giang tourism sector has enjoyed strong development with an increased visitor number. Last year, the province saw an on-year growth of 6 per cent in arrival number. In the first six months of this year, it posted an on-year growth in tourist number of 20.91 per cent, meeting 52.59 per cent of the full-year target.