| Phu Quoc – an ideal tourist destination - Phu Quoc – an ideal tourist destination

Phu Quoc – an ideal tourist destination

Phu Quoc National Park in the southern province of Kien Giang has become an ideal eco-tourist destination. It has special and unique biodiversity values compared to other national parks across the country.

This biggest National Park covers an area of nearly 30,000ha, including more than 27,000ha of forest. It also has 6,000ha of buffer land and 20,000ha of surrounding ocean area, which help mitigate external impacts on the park’s fauna and flora.

According to director Pham Quang Binh, Phu Quoc National Park is located on an island that has a mixture of continental and coastal climate, creating a rich ecosystem of primeval, secondary and indigo forests. Its indigo forests are distributed in the wetlands, the lowlands that are flooded in the rainy season, and sloping hills.

The co-existence of the Malaysian, Burmese and Himalayan ecologies in Phu Quoc has created a rich ecosystem. There are more than 470 species of plants, 140 species of wild animals, and several types of coral reefs offshore. Phu Quoc is also one of the two places in Vietnam where the Dugong, a marine species on the brink of extinction can be found.

In 2001, the government decided to upgrade the park to preserve its ecology and recognise it as a National Park. The Park Management Board has coordinated with local residents and military units to implement forest protection measures, particularly fire prevention.

“The rainy season in Phu Quoc is short but the dry season is longer there. So we have established a forest fire prevention steering board and firefighter units which are on standby,” said Mr Binh. “Every commune and local military unit has worked out detailed fire prevention plans. We also have regular communications with local residents to raise their awareness of forest protection.”

Phu Quoc National Park is a good destination for tourists as it offers a wide range of activities such as camping and trekking. It’s also ideal for those who want to study the tropical forest. As Phu Quoc develops into Vietnam’s ecotourism capital, the jewel in its crown, the park will become ever more attractive to visitors from around the world.

Kien Giang receives high influx of tourists

Half a million tourists, including 20,000 foreigners, visited the southern province of Kien Giang in the first two months of 2009, bringing it total revenue of roughly VND70 billion.

Phu Quoc Island, a historic site, welcomed more than 40,000 tourists, double the figure of the same period last year.

However, the influx of tourists to Kien Giang revealed weaknesses in the province’s tourism sector.

Kien Giang has poor infrastructure, with limited and unsynchronized hotels, restaurants, recreational areas and means of transport. It is also short of competent managers for tourism.

The local tourism industry has launched almost no new tourism options for a long time, and those that were established were later suspended because they did not cater to tourists’ tastes.

There is a very low number of tourists who return to Kien Giang, which is not on a par with its high potential for tourism.

Kien Giang lies in the Mekong Delta, one of the country’s four major regions for tourism.

VietNamNet/VOV