Mekong Delta and Central Highlands provinces cooperate to develop tourism

The Mekong delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. Can Tho and Kien Giang are 2 of the provinces of Mekong Delta where have many advantages to develop tourism. Lam Dong is located in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam whose city is Dalat. The city is decorated with a vast variety of flowers. Beautiful flowers such as rhododendron, cherry, mimosa, hydrangea, rose, daisy, and dahlia are all grown here. Dalat offers an harmonious combination of natural scenery and historical sites.
Two Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta localities and a Central Highlands province are discussing the possibility of a co-operative tourism programme that will allow them to offer better quality tourist products at reasonable prices.
Tourism representatives of Can Tho City, and Kien Giang and Lam Dong provinces agreed at a recent meeting in Can Tho City that each of the localities had their own strengths which should be multiplied through effective joint action.
The meeting purposed to create favourable conditions to promote mutual understanding, business agreements, linking tourist routes as well as to develop sustainable tourism, to promote and fully exploit local tourism potentialities, offering diversified and acttrative tourist products to travellers.
Therefore, co-operation between the three provinces would support the creation of tourism products carrying characteristics suitable to each province, avoiding the current phenomenon of different provinces coming up with identical products, Diep Hoang Tung, Vice Director of the Golf Viet Nam JSC in Can Tho said.
He added acting together would have the added advantage of regular prices, not to mention other tourism-related policies that would make visitors more comfortable with travelling in the region.
Furthermore, tourism cooperation will help each individual locality to take advantage of partners' resources, infrastructure, facilities, techniques...to develop its tourism industry.
Le Van Men, Deputy Director of the Can Tho Trade and Investment Promotion Centre, said that inter-provincial co-operative ties was a strategic development policy that would promote sustainable development of Viet Nam's tourism industry.
It would generate more resources to promote tourism and better exploit the advantages and potentials of each locality to create a diverse range of products that can attract both domestic and foreign tourists, he said. It would also help develop the basic elements needed for tourism development, natural and human resources, infrastructure, and technology, Men said.
Even as a common tourism development plan was being discussed, several tourism promotion co-operation documents were signed at the meeting by travel agencies and tour operators. Operators also signed 14 contracts to open "One way – Three Destinations" tours for both domestic and foreign tourists.
Compiled by Thanh Pham (TITC)