Creating Exceptional Tourism Products in Southern Province

An Giang, with its marvellous water world, advocated the development of cultural and spiritual tourism in combination with water world discoveries.
An Giang has been determined to develop tourism into an spearhead economic sector. Since 1996, the province has completed the tourism development plan until 2010, and even to 2015. Major tourist sites in the province include Sam Mount, Cam Mount, Oc Eo relics, etc. The province also announces decisions on investment incentives for tourism projects. The provincial budget has been channelled into infrastructure like building asphalted roads and electrical networks to identified mountains, etc. to attract investors.
Ms Bui Thi Hong Ha, Deputy Director of the An Giang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: Apart from potentialities and advantages, An Giang has also faced up with numerous difficulties and challenges in tourism development. Tourism companies lack attractive products and professionalism to attract visitors, the community lacks awareness of protecting tourism environment and scenery in addition to unsatisfactory service quality in hotels, restaurants, resorts and places of interest.
Ha said, before such difficulties, An Giang has put forth solutions to develop its tourism. The province will continue to invest and attract investment into tourist sites, including ADB loans for Mekong subregion tourism development programme. With its budgets and financial supports from the central source, the province will focus on building infrastructure systems in Tinh Bien border gate, Cam Mount tourist site and Sam Mount tourist site, etc.
Tourism promotion is one of effective solutions to attract visitors to traditional festivals. In 2001, after the Ba Chua Xu Festival on Sam Mount was upgraded to a national event, the popularity brought in impressive results. With tourist maps, handbooks, posters, pictures and websites in addition to more popular newspapers, broadcasting and television, more people knew the charming beauty and mystery in An Giang province.
In the process of international economic integration, the An Giang tourism sector has prepared a roadmap to step up the exploitation of its advantages of international land and river border gates with Cambodia. It has cooperated with regional provinces and Cambodian border provinces like Takeo, Kandal, Phnom Penh and Siem Riep to organise Vietnam-Cambodia tours.
Recently, creative customer-centred tourism models with competitive prices have been introduced by travel and tourism companies. For instance, An Giang Travel Services Joint Stock Company introduced a super-saving tourism programme which is based on cooperation with other travel companies in other localities to open tours to many places in the country and on the employment of water world in An Giang. When tourists join the floating tours in An Giang, apart from being introduced famous landscapes like worshipping Ba Chua Xu Temple on Sam Mount, sightseeing Cam Mount and Tra Su indigo forest, rowing on rivers in Long Xuyen Rectangle, joining daily life activities of the local people like pricking dien dien (Sesbania sesban) flowers and catching fish. Countryside tours are motivating to all participants.
The Tien and Hau rivers not only bring in aquatic sources for An Giang province but also generate moments of composure to visitors. They also form living habits, foods and customs of four peoples, namely Kinh (Vietnamese), Hoa (Chinese originated), Cham and Khmer, with attention-grabbing festivals like Ba Chua Xua Festival on Sam Mount, Bay Nui cow race during Khmer Dolta festival and Ramadan festival of the Cham people. Besides, An Giang also has many famous historical and cultural relics like Sam Mount with Thoai Ngoc Hau Tomb, Ba Chua Xu Temple, Tay An Temple, Tra Su indigo forest - the living world of storks, floating villages, Cham villages, fish-cage villages, etc. The local beauty and charm of the water world brings more than 3.5 million visitors to An Giang every year.