Tra Vinh province seeks 5-star resort investments to draw extra overseas vacationers

Tra Vinh is looking for 5-star hotel investments in the southern Vietnam province to attract greater numbers of international tourists, said Duong Hoang Sum, director of its Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

At a tourism promotion conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, Sum said Tra Vinh was calling on businesses to invest in five key tourism projects: a 5-star hotel covering 0.5 hectares in Ward 1, Tra Vinh town; the 20-hectare Hang Duong Eco-tourism Area in Cau Ngang district; the 22/12 Farm Eco-tourism Area covering 19.3 hectares in Duyen Hai township; the 18.5-hectare Ao Ba Om tourism-culture resort in Ward 8, Tra Vinh town; and the 2-hectare Ba Dong resort (second phase) in Duyen Hai township.

Tra Vinh’s tourism sector had quickly recovered after the Covid-19 pandemic, with the total number of visitors in 2023 exceeding 2.16 million, up 49.72% year-on-year. The province earned tourism revenues of over VND1.7 trillion ($67.84 million) last year.

In the first six months of 2024, local tourism saw continued growth in the number of visitors at over 1.5 million arrivals, up 42% over the same period last year. The province earned H1/2024 revenues of VND1 trillion ($39.9 million).

Sum stressed that despite having diverse products, Tra Vinh’s tourism development was not yet commensurate with its potential, with the number of visitors and tourism revenue still modest compared to other provinces and cities in the region.

Therefore, the province was paying great attention to linking up with provinces and cities across the country, especially Ho Chi Minh City and other Mekong Delta localities.

Trading floor for tourism development

Dr. Duong Duc Minh, deputy director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, told the press on the sidelines of the conference that Tra Vinh possessed many unique tourism products with rich cultural identity and verdant nature. However, to attract and retain foreign tourists the joint efforts of authorities, investors and the larger community was needed.

In early 2024, the Swiss global air quality monitoring agency IQAir ranked Tra Vinh town third among the Top 15 localities with the cleanest air quality in Southeast Asia. That means it was the cleanest locality in Vietnam, he stated.

The task set for the province now is how to make tourists, especially foreigners, understand more about local unique tourism products, he said.

Minh said his institute has cooperated with Tra Vinh to promote tourism investment and support travel businesses in connecting and retaining international tourists.

Tra Vinh lacks 5-star resorts and hotels to serve the needs of international visitors and the province is striving to attract the needed investment, he added.

Minh noted that to develop tourism, it was necessary to have key products characterized by each locality, bearing both indigenous and international factors. Building unique destinations, upgrading tourism supply chains and applying technology to tourism development was a way to ensure sustainable growth, he said.

“We are working with localities to build a tourism trading floor, which will connect customer data with suppliers and businesses. Most importantly, this exchange will transform shopping behavior and stimulate tourism.”