Tourism in the Mekong river tour vietnam: Potentials and solutions for development

SUMMARY:

Tourism is a general economic sector with interdisciplinary, inter-regional nature, imbued with humanistic cultural identity and highly socialized. Tourism is also a smokeless, profitable industry that has a positive impact on implementing the open-door policy, deepening international integration, enhancing the country's position, developing the economy, and creating jobs. jobs, expanding cultural exchanges in the ASEAN region. Implementing Decision No. 803/QD-BVHTTDL of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism approving the "Project on tourism development in the Mekong Delta until 2020", the Mekong river tour Vietnam : https://vietnamadventuretour.com.vn/tours/private-mekong-delta-tour/ region has have bases, exploit and develop tourism strengths in the region.

Keywords: Tourism, potential, Mekong Delta.

1. Tourism potential in the Mekong Delta region

In Vietnam's tourism development strategy to 2020 and vision to 2030, the Mekong Delta is considered as one of seven typical tourist regions across the country approved by the Government.

From the above overview of the geographical location and nature of the Mekong Delta region, the basic potentials of the Mekong river tour Vietnam in tourism can be stated as follows:

Firstly, the Mekong Delta has a diverse and unique ecosystem, from marine ecosystems, islands, estuaries, wetlands, mangroves, delta islands, with many biosphere reserves, national parks, nature reserves with high biodiversity and rare goods in the world, such as: Mui Ca Mau National Park (Ca Mau province), U Minh Thuong (Kien Giang province), U Minh Ha (Ca province). Mau), Tram Chim (Dong Thap province), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang province), Bac Lieu bird garden (Bac Lieu province), Dong Thap bird garden (Dong Thap province) ... These are very valuable resources for development. Ecotourism. Besides, the whole region has more than 700 km of coastline and more than 145 large and small islands and many beautiful and pristine beaches: Mui Nai, Hon Chong (Kien Giang province); Hon Khoai (Ca Mau province); Ba Dong (Tra Vinh province)... In which, the most famous is Phu Quoc island (Kien Giang province), also known as Pearl island with a wild beauty, along with many rare natural resources. Phu Quoc was once evaluated by travel agencies as a place with great potential and advantages to become a "tourist paradise" attractive enough to tourists like Ba - Li island (Indonesia).

Second, the Mekong river tour Vietnam is located in the lower reaches of the Mekong River, the largest river in Southeast Asia, with two tributaries of the Tien and Hau rivers. The Mekong Delta has a natural area of ​​nearly 40,000 square kilometers, equal to 5.6% of the basin's area, with an interlaced network of rivers and canals, dubbed the "water world". For a long time, the type of tourism by boat and boat crept deep into the canals, experiencing the rustic and poetic life of the people in the river area is also very attractive to tourists when coming to the Mekong river tour Vietnam with many types of tourism. including spiritual tourism. Spiritual tourism is essentially a type of cultural tourism, taking spiritual and cultural elements as a goal to satisfy people's spiritual needs in spiritual life in Ba Mountain, Chau Doc (An Giang province). .

Thirdly, with many incentives of nature, the Mekong river tour Vietnam is known as a peaceful land, cool climate, healthy trees and many natural products. The Mekong Delta has a lot of unspoiled land, where there are many conditions to develop eco-tourism, this is a type of tourism that is being favored by developed countries in the world.

Fourth, in recent times, along with the trend of innovation and international integration of the country, tourism in the Mekong river tour Vietnam has received a lot of good news: 5-star luxury resort Vinpearl Phu Quoc (Phu Quoc island district) , Kien Giang province) and the 5-star Muong Thanh hotel (Can Tho city) come into operation, these are the two most luxurious resort facilities in this area up to the present time. Previously, Vietnam Airlines opened routes to Phu Quoc - Singapore and Phu Quoc - Siem Reap (Cambodia). Then VietJet opened the Can Tho - Da Nang route, Vasco cooperated with Vietravel to open the Can Tho - Da Lat direct route. Many other localities like An Giang attract tourism by investing in cable car projects, building the largest Maitreya Buddha statue on Cam mountain, and building the largest Shakyamuni Buddha statue on Sam mountain. Bac Lieu province built a memorial area for the late musician Cao Van Lau, Ba Non La Theater, Nha Mat tourist area, etc. Many other provinces and cities have also attracted tourism development projects.

Fifth, cultural potential with bustling floating markets in the early morning, such as: Cai Rang (Can Tho city), Phung Hiep (Hau Giang province), Cai Be (Tien Giang province), Nga Nam (Tien Giang province). Soc Trang province) ... or islets that are flooded with sunshine and fresh nature all year round such as Phung islet, Oc island, Quy island (Ben Tre province), Tien island (Dong Thap province), My Phuoc island (Soc Trang province). ), Thoi Son islet (Tien Giang province)… is also a very typical beauty of the Southern river region. In addition, on this land of nearly 18 million people, there is a long-standing community of four ethnic groups Kinh, Hoa, Khmer and Cham, containing a rich cultural, religious and spiritual diversity.

sharp. Hundreds of large and small festivals throughout the year, thousands of long-standing religious structures of great historical and cultural value have been included in the tour program by travel agencies. The Mekong river tour Vietnam is also the homeland of reciprocal dances on the river, especially, the Mekong Delta provinces are also the place to practice and develop the Southern Don ca tai tu art form - the representative intangible cultural heritage of the people. The type recognized by UNESCO is expressed through the sweet voices of the "garden amateurs", the sisters Hai, Mr. Ba, Ms. Sau... making visitors feel excited, adventurous and difficult. forget.

The advantages of rich natural resources, combined with cultural quintessence and community history, have created a multi-identified Mekong Delta culture, bold in the East, both discreet and simple. It is also the typical cultural identity of the land and the gentle and generous people of the South, contributing to the creation of diverse and specific tourism products. In particular, the cultural nature of river tourism "garden" has created a unique portrait for the Mekong Delta region, making the Mekong Delta like a "garden of paradise", with endless potential for developing eco-tourism and vacation. maintenance. The Mekong Delta has a rich and diverse tourism development potential with specific types of tourism such as eco-tourism in gardens, rivers, sea and islands, indigenous culture and spirituality.

2. Existing difficulties and limitations hinder tourism development in the Mekong Delta region

Although the Mekong river tour Vietnam has great potential for tourism development, the region still has major difficulties and limitations that need to be removed for tourism development as follows:

Firstly, compared with the potential of the Mekong Delta, the results of tourism attraction and development have not been achieved as expected, not commensurate with the potential, showing a lack of linkages and loose links, promoting advertising and promotion. Tourism promotion has not had high results in the Mekong Delta.

This is clearly shown by comparing the number of tourists to the Mekong Delta region with the whole country and the total tourism income of the region. According to the data of the Mekong river tour Vietnam association, in 2013, the whole region received 1,668,800 international tourists, accounting for 8.3% of the total number of international tourists in the country; 9.8 million domestic visitors, accounting for 5.8% of the total domestic arrivals of the country; total income from tourism in the region reached VND 5,141 billion, accounting for 2.7% of the total tourism income of the country. In 2014, the whole Mekong Delta region welcomed more than 22.4 million tourists, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2013, tourism revenue reached more than VND 6,300 billion, an increase of nearly 24%, of which, there were nearly 2 million arrivals. international visitors, an increase of 10% compared to 2013. In 2015, there were more than 24.0 million visitors to this land. Compared to the number of international visitors to Vietnam in 2015 was 7.5 million arrivals/person, 10 million arrivals in 2016, the number of foreign tourists to the Mekong Delta region was 5.56 million arrivals/person, respectively. people and 6.44 million turns of people.

Second, the biggest difficulty of the Mekong Delta to develop tourism is that the transport connection is still very limited. Although, the region has strengths in river, sea, road and air routes, but the connection of intra-regional traffic is very difficult, the passenger transport time is from 5 to more than 6 hours on the route only. there are 200 km. In fact, in the region, although the air route has developed, it has not yet met the increasing demand of tourism, the river route has not been developed, the sea route lacks passenger ports and the means of transport are not yet capable of exploiting passenger transport. . The road network in the whole region and in the region has not yet formed a network to meet the requirements of tourism, and there is a lack of infrastructure in terms of transport infrastructure, ports, rest stops, information and telecommunications systems. visitors' needs.

Third, lack of products, gifts and souvenirs for visitors' needs. Products are rudimentary, lacking creativity, causing boredom for visitors, thereby leading to a decrease in the competitiveness of destinations. At the same time, it is difficult for tourists to recognize the unique and unique features of each destination, which is very important in attracting and persuading visitors. Visitors to Tien Giang have the program "Returning to the Mekong Delta", to Ben Tre have a tour "Yacht on the Mekong River", through Vinh Long also encounter a similar product "Returning to the river and garden civilization". Although going through three provinces, the visitor's experience only stops at the level of visiting the fruit garden and watching the floating market on the river. Crude and arbitrary copying tourism has not brought visitors any new feelings. The principle of doing tourism is to always renew yourself, tourism in the Mekong river tour Vietnam does not seem to be able to do this, but it is also patchwork, and the professionalism is not high. Product value, unsophisticated souvenirs, art and low value, do not attract tourists and visitors to tourist destinations hardly know what to buy as souvenirs for a trip.

Fourthly, doing tourism according to ready-to-eat habits, exploiting the available potential, leading to fully exploiting the available potential but less willing to invest in new and new investment also choose the short-term and easiest way. , the creativity is not high and does not pay attention to the needs of tourists, making regional tourism boring. During the past decades, river tourism

Water, floating markets in two provinces Cai Be floating market (Tien Giang province), Cai Rang floating market (Can Tho city) are all typical tourism products of the Mekong River region, long been recognized by the local tourism industry. The locality is considered as a "goose that lays golden eggs", so it is carefree to exploit, but lack of investment and care, making the product lack of vitality, causing boring psychology for tourists.

Fifth, the direct, indirect and spontaneous tourism human resources in the region account for nearly 70%, most of them are unprofessional, untrained in professionalism, communication, culture, traditional history and psychology. The spirit of the region, causing tourists to worry about the service, the phenomenon of rowing and selling high prices when visiting floating markets or river cruises. People are the face of tourism, so it is necessary to join hands to build a skilled, in-depth and professional tourism workforce for the Mekong Delta in the trend of international integration. both traditional and national identity in general and the Mekong Delta in particular.

In recent years, tourism in the Mekong Delta has had many positive changes, especially in promoting and connecting with tourist centers outside the region such as Da Nang and Lam Dong, actively participating in many events. tourism such as "Tourism Festival in Ho Chi Minh City 2014", "Space to introduce traditional culinary culture of Vietnamese ethnic groups" and well organized the national tourism year "National Tourism Year". 2016 - Phu Quoc - Mekong river tour Vietnam" with the theme "Discovering the Southern Land"; Creating momentum for the promotion and new development of tourism in the Mekong Delta for the period 2016 - 2020 and a vision to 2030 according to the Prime Minister's Decision No. 2227/QD-TTg dated November 18, 2016 approving the Regulation Master plan for tourism development in the Mekong Delta region.

3. Some implications for solutions to exploit tourism strengths of the Mekong Delta region

With the general objective: “Developing tourism commensurate with potentials and strengths; affirming the important position of the region for Vietnam's tourism. Gradually improve the position and role of tourism in the socio-economic development of the region, contributing to improving and enhancing people's living standards, contributing to promoting the image of the Mekong Delta region to the whole country and the world. .

To welcome the APEC Summit at the end of 2017 and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of ASEAN, as well as the connection of an ASEAN community, with the arterial route across Asia via National Highway 22 and in the following years, the region The Mekong Delta has many opportunities in terms of policies and orientations of the Party and the State to exploit the tourism advantages of the Mekong Delta region with the center of the region identified as Can Tho city, Phu Quoc island (Kien Giang province) and the city. My Tho (Tien Giang province) aims to turn tourism into an economic sector that makes a really important contribution to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta region, actively contributing to the process of economic restructuring, efforts to reduce poverty sustainably for the people, ensure security and national defense, and contribute to diversifying tourism products of the Mekong river tour Vietnam region, enhancing the position of the tourism industry on the basis of effective and sustainable exploitation of natural resources. advantages in terms of location, resources and nature of the Mekong Delta.

Accordingly, the author has a few suggestions for solutions as follows:

Firstly, complete in the direction of amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2005 Tourism Law. The 2005 Tourism Law has had many positive and effective impacts on economic, political, social life and development. development of the tourism industry, but also revealed difficulties and problems. Emerging are the limitations and inadequacies in the implementation of the current Law on Tourism, the management of resources, tourist areas, and tourist attractions overlap, and the efficiency is not high. The construction and implementation of tourism development planning have many shortcomings. The travel business is messy. The quantity and quality of tour guides have not met the needs and lack of professionalism. The quality of tourist transport activities has not met the diverse needs of tourists. The quality management of tourist accommodation establishments still has many shortcomings. Tourism promotion lacks resources, lacks professionalism and efficiency. International cooperation and integration activities are also implemented passively.

Second, promote links, connect and promote tourism with provinces and cities that are located as major tourist centers of the country such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Lam Dong, Quang Ninh, and the city. Hai Phong, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Tien Giang, Kien Giang and An Giang. Promote in many forms such as seminars, trade fairs - Tourism, release 1,500 tourist maps of the Mekong Delta. Towards the formation of a national tourist route connecting the Mekong Delta with the Central Highlands, the Northwest and the Northeast. Building and forming a route connecting tourism in the Mekong Delta with ASEAN countries via the trans-Asia route - National Highway 22 through Cambodia to ASEAN countries.

Third, apply and expand the public-private partnership model in order to upgrade the infrastructure of passenger terminals and ports on rivers and seaports, and at the same time coordinate with the provinces and cities in the region/industry related to solve the problem. decide on the dredging of Long Ong river (Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city), opening the route to restore river

service for tourism. Speeding up the progress of site clearance for the Trung Luong - Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway to exploit the Mekong river tour Vietnam region. Building a mechanism to encourage the region to participate in self-investment, building and renovating hotels, motels, ecological gardens, forming restaurants, high-class hotels, high-quality resorts, amusement parks , high-end entertainment. Expand and encourage the type of resort tourism combining clean and green ecology, giving visitors access to river landscapes, orchards in the form of home gardens.

Fourthly, improve the organization of state management of tourism in the direction of consolidating the Steering Committees for tourism development in the provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, thoroughly grasping and implementing Resolution No. 08/NQ/TW dated 18/02. 01/2017 by the Politburo on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector, provinces and cities can submit to the Government for permission to re-establish the Department of Tourism, in the immediate future to re-establish the Department of Tourism in Can Tho and Kien Giang, An Giang and Tien Giang, forming a coordination mechanism between the branches of Public Security, Planning - Investment, Finance, Agriculture - Rural and the Department of Culture and Sports in the management of tourism activities in Vietnam. the area of ​​each province, city... in performing the task of state management of tourism; Coordinating well with tourism associations of provinces and cities and Mekong Delta Tourism Association; Strengthen the management of development according to planning; Paying attention to statistics and building a tourism management information system; Improve the capacity of cadres and civil servants in state management as well as effectively operating and exploiting tourism, meeting the requirements of human resources in both quantity and quality. The tourism sector must have the ability to communicate, behave in a civilized, polite, professional and in-depth manner, be good at foreign languages, understand history and culture, and be dedicated to serving tourists and promoting the image of the tourism industry. countries, regions and provinces and cities.

Fifth, tax and financial policies: it is necessary to develop specific mechanisms and policies on tax incentives. Priority, tax exemption, tax delay for a definite time, land tax reduction, loans with preferential interest rates for tourism development investment projects in unspoiled lands, infrastructure undeveloped, socio-economic conditions are still difficult. Proposing specific incentives on corporate income tax, import tax, land use tax, land rent, excise tax, value added tax to tourism businesses, in order to facilitate and encourage enterprises to produce goods of high quality and value, improve competitiveness and meet the demand for purchasing goods and souvenirs with specific characteristics of the region.

In summary, exploiting the strengths and potentials and advantages of river tourism, ecology and "garden" of the Mekong river tour Vietnam in the coming years is an urgent requirement of Party committees, authorities of provinces and cities in the coming years. in the Mekong Delta region, in order to promote economic growth, restructure the economy, exploit comparative advantages, create breakthroughs, attract tourism, connect and develop tourism in the region and proceed to exploit the potential of the region. tourism in the Mekong sub-region and ASEAN, contributing to the implementation of the results of the Politburo's Resolution on developing the tourism industry into a spearhead economic sector of the Mekong Delta in particular and the country in general.

REFERENCES:

1. Decision No. 803/QD-BVHTTDL dated March 9, 2010 of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism approving the “Project on tourism development in the Mekong river tour Vietnam until 2020”.

2. Portal of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho city.

TOURISM IN THE MEKONG DELTA: POTENTIALS AND SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

GHOST. TRAN THI XUAN MAI

Director of Labor, War invalids and Social Affairs Department of Can Tho

ABSTRACT:

Tourism is a complex economics industry, including elements like intertwined sectors, imprinted cultural identity and high level of socialization. Tourism is also a smoke-free industry, which brings in a lot of profits, positive impacts when integrating with the world. It also helps raising the country's position, developing the economy, creating jobs and expanding cultural exchanges in the ASEAN region. Implementing the Decision No. 803/QD-BVHTTDL of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism called the "Mekong Delta Tourism Development Project to 2020", which is about exploiting and developing the Mekong river tour Vietnam strengths.