According to the Kien Giang Department of Tourism, the province welcomed more than 6.8 million tourists in the January-September period this year, up 12.5% year-on-year and reaching nearly 83% of the full-year target, news site Vietnamplus reported.
The province’s tourism revenue in the nine-month period totaled VND6.28 trillion (US$270.7 million), surging 35% over the same period last year.
The areas in the province that were most frequented by tourists are Phu Quoc, Kien Hai, Ha Tien, Hon Dat, U Minh Thuong and Rach Gia. Phu Quoc alone attracted 3.9 million tourists, accounting for more than 57% of the total in Kien Giang and rising over 33% against the year-ago period.
The province has also attracted investment in traffic infrastructure projects, contributing to the development of the tourism industry. Many large projects meeting international standards have been put into service, such as the Phu Quoc cable car system, Vinpearl Phu Quoc and Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc.
Phu Quoc Island was listed among the top five up-and-coming Asia-Pacific destinations to visit in the fall season of 2018. In addition, JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay, a five-star resort in Phu Quoc, was honored as Asia’s top new luxury resort in 2018 and ranked second among Asia’s best resorts this year.
In the coming months, Kien Giang will restructure the tourism sector to develop tourism value chains and will roll out its tourism development plan, focusing on developing Phu Quoc Island into a world-class tourism center.
In addition, the province will develop special, high-quality tourism products and services to attract more tourists, focusing on ecotourism and cultural tourism.
Kien Giang also called for enterprises’ cooperation in training human resources for the tourism sector, aiming to have 20,000-25,000 trained laborers by 2020.
The province will cooperate with airlines to open direct and charter flights between Phu Quoc and international destinations; waterway tours from Phu Quoc to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia; and coastal road tours to Ca Mau, Cambodia and Thailand.
Tourism promotion programs will be organized in large source markets to attract more tourists from traditional markets such as China, South Korea, Japan and the ASEAN, as well as those from Australia, western Europe and northern America, who tend to stay a long while and spend a lot on tourism services.
