VietNamNet Bridge – The tourism sector of the Mekong Delta may need 208,000 workers by 2020, including 75,000 direct ones, according to the Institute for Tourism Development Research’s latest forecast.

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Last year, the region welcomed nearly 20 million visitors, including 1.6 foreign arrivals, netting over VND 4.3 trillion dong, or just six percent of the country’s total tourism revenue.

The current 4,000 workers are not enough to serve the 10 million plus visitors that travel to the region every year, agreed participants to a seminar held in Can Tho City last April to discuss ways to promote tourism in the Mekong Delta region.

Mr. Tran Dat Duy, Deputy Chairman of Mekong Delta Tourism Association attributed the modest figures to the limited number of tourism products and the quality of workforce.

Mr. Ha Van Sieu, Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, even said the region’s tour guides are not equipped with necessary knowledge and skills, especially foreign language and computer ones.

In addition, cooperation among tourism training establishments is not efficient and not many students choose to work in the tourism sector after graduating from these establishments, he added.

Regarding development orientations, Mekong Delta will enhance its tourism development in four key groups up until 2020, focusing on promoting all localities’ strengths in diverse tourism products such as beach resorts, festivals, ecotourism and cultural tourism.

The region comprises of 12 provinces and 1 city (An Giang, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Can Tho City, Dong Thap, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Long An, Soc Trang, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long) with a large portion of 40,000 square kilometers and the population of 18 million.

Mekong Delta is very potential in tourism; it is original and different form all other regions of the country. At there, the typical ecological landscape is delta, islands and beaches, a charming and attractive region of waterways.

It also has fruits in the four seasons and fresh environment, plentiful resources combined with quintessence of culture, history of local residents. Mekong Delta also has many folk festivals which show kindness, hospitality and tolerance of Southern people.

Source: VGP