Many issues are raised
At the seminar, experts, managers, businesses and tourism training facilities... presented papers, discussed, contributed ideas and suggested many solutions to develop river tourism routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta.
Despite its great potential, river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta provinces and cities is currently considered to be developing slowly and inadequately. There are not many river tours being exploited and many tours have very few tourists, and may even have to stop operating.
Some of the main reasons hindering the development of river tourism can be identified as: poor waterway transport infrastructure; limited tourism infrastructure; environmental pollution; lack of strategy and planning for synchronous river tourism development; lack of connection between localities in developing river tourism; limited promotion, advertising and branding work...
From a business perspective, Mr. Vi Sieu Nang - Head of Mekong River Operations Department (Viet Princess Cruise Joint Stock Company) - shared that during the survey trip on November 1, when the survey team passed through the Doi Canal to Long An, towards the intersection of Ben Luc River and Vam Co Dong River, the river water had a bad smell and a lot of trash.
This affects the health of passengers and the boat propeller has to stop many times due to trash sticking to the propeller. Therefore, environmental protection is an issue that needs attention.
Need cooperation
Discussing solutions for developing river tourism connecting Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, Mr. Tran Tuong Huy - Deputy Director of the Institute for Social Tourism Research - stated that, first of all, it is necessary to have favorable policies, remove legal barriers on investment and land lease planning. For existing wharves, it is necessary to continue investing in more space and accompanying tourism services.
River transport means need to be invested in accordance with the route schedule and diversified to create richness for river tourism products with types such as: canoes, sightseeing boats, boats with accommodation, yachts...
Invest in renovation and placement of signs to ensure safety of inland waterway traffic. Build protective embankments, especially for sections of the banks that are eroding.
In case of building new wharves, it is necessary to base on the assessment of the effectiveness of tourism resources to create efficiency in exploitation, forecasting the wharf to be able to anchor many different types of vehicles, especially ships with the ability to link in exploitation with the Mekong Delta region...
According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City, in the coming years, Vietnam tourism is oriented to develop into a truly spearhead economic sector. Developing river tourism associated with cultural and ecological tourism products is still one of the priorities in the strategy for developing Vietnam tourism until 2030.
To better exploit river tourism in Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta, it is necessary for state management agencies, localities, enterprises... to join hands to focus on infrastructure investment and synchronous planning, develop specific tourism products, strengthen links between localities as well as strengthen environmental management.
