At the same time, local authorities are creatingfavourable conditions for investors to speed up the implementation ofprojects that have already been approved and granted licences to soonput into use a number of tourist sites.
Tourism firms have alsobeen instructed to build and develop their brands in line with creatinga wide range of tourism products and services such as shopping,sightseeing, leisure activities and healthcare services.
Training sessions are open for tour guides to improve their proficiency and presentation skills.
Kien Giang is home to 40 tourists sites, including popular ones suchas U Minh Thuong National Park, the Giant Buddha Pagoda andparticularly Phu Quoc island, which is home to the historicalrelic site of Phu Quoc prison and a range of attractions such asbeautiful beaches, fish sauce trade villages and pearl farms, to namebut a few.
A host of festivals are hosted annually in thearea, namely the Nghinh Ong festival and death anniversaries of nationalheroes Mac Cuu and Nguyen Trung Truc, and heroine Phan Thi Ranh,attracting tens of thousands of tourists.
The Mekong Deltaprovince is actively preparing to open some international flights toconnect Phu Quoc Island with the region and the world at large.
It plans to put into use a Phu Quoc-Russia air route by the end of the year to serve visitors at home and abroad.
The province welcomed nearly 2.9 million visitors in the first ninemonths of this year, fulfilling nearly 70 percent of its yearlytarget. Phu Quoc Island in particular received more than 68,000tourist arrivals.
During the period, Vietnam served nearly 5.5 million foreign visitors, a yearly increase of 10 percent.
The number of overseas visitors to Vietnam could reach 7.5 million bythe end of this year, meaning the country’s tourism industry would hitits target two years earlier than set in the National Action Plan onTourism between 2013 and 2020, which planned to attract 7-8 millionforeign tourists by 2015.-VNA