Authorities of Can Tho gathered on March 9 to discuss measures to boost local tourism, especially Cai Rang Floating Market which will be built into a strong tourism brand of the Mekong Delta city.

An aerial view of Cai Rang Floating Market in Can Tho

Director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Viet Phuong said to turn tourism into a spearhead sector of the city by 2020, local departments and sectors need to coordinate strongly to take synchronous solutions.

While the transport department should swiftly complete transport facilities linking with key tourism sites, the health department needs to keep a close watch on popular tourism sites to prevent disease transmission and ensure food safety. The Department of Industry and Trade must strictly manage shops at tourism sites to ensure that goods are sold according to listed prices, he said.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Van Tam asked departments and sectors to assist travel companies in creating new tourism products, which is especially important when many provinces have similar products that are not typical for their localities.

Many provinces in the Mekong Delta also have floating markets, and that’s why Cai Rang must be imbued with particular features of Can Tho. It is necessary to develop rest areas, homestay services and shops of local delicacies so as to keep tourists in the city for many days.

Authorities also need to support and encourage the private sector to create new tourism products, Tam added.

He said promoting tourism via online channels like social networks should be considered a “fashionable step” as it is able to access a big number of travellers at low costs. Meanwhile, more attention also needs to be paid to improving foreign language skills of organisations and persons working in the tourism industry.

Can Tho welcomed an estimated 1.8 million tourists and earned 515 billion VND (22.66 million USD) in tourism revenue in the first two months of 2018, up 19 percent and 28 percent from a year earlier respectively, according to the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

In 2017, it enjoyed strong growth in tourism due to a series of international political and cultural events and traditional festivals.

The number of tourist arrivals surged 40 percent to 7.5 million, while tourism revenue rose 61 percent to 2.9 trillion VND (127.6 million USD).-VNA