Thanh Phu tourism on the development road

About 50km from Ben Tre city, Thanh Phu is the coastal district of Ben Tre province. If you go more 20 km from the district center, you will reach Con Bung. It has not only traditional values of history - culture, nature with bold beauty, but also of craft villages, good people, all of which have created Thanh Phu potentials and opportunities for tourism development.

Determining the potential and strength of Thanh Phu in tourism development, the district is calling for investment, promoting tourism in the area. In recent years, Thanh Phu has promoted tourism, proposed many solutions for developing tourism solutions. To 2020, the tourism industry has basically become a key economic sector, creating a driving force for social - economic development.

Tourism products of the district have been increasingly invested and developed, the quality of tourism services has been improved to meet the tastes of tourists such as: eco-tourism, marine tourism, cultural-tourism research tourism. history, community tourism, traditional trade tourism, and tourism about researching history and culture, etc. In addition, Thanh Phu has an extremely attractive marine ecosystem with fresh seafood, creating a special attraction for tourism of the district as well as the province. The material and technical facilities are currently developing in terms of quality and quantity, accommodation facilities have been invested and built to serve the needs of tourists; As on December 2018, 6 accommodations were established with more than 88 rooms serving tourists, Con Bung currently has 13 households dealing in catering services.

Traveling to Con Bung - Thanh Phu beach (Photo: P.VHTT)

In Thanh Phu district, there are currently many invested projects with capital up to hundreds of billion dong. The project of preserving, embellishing and promoting the values of Ho Chi Minh historical relics on the sea in Thanh Phong and Thanh Hai communes with a total investment of VND 1,500 billion, in the first phase more than VND 80 billion and currently is now in phase II. Embellishment of a monument at the pbridgehead receiving North-South weapons in Thanh Phong commune is invested 500 million VND. In addition, the district has upgraded the asphalt road 57 from Cau Van (Giao Thanh commune) to Con Chim junction (Thanh Phong commune) and put the road from Ho Co Cemetery to Con Bung commune (commune) in use. Thanh Hải), Cau Van's bridge connects the upper communes of the district with three coastal communes to satisfy of the local people and tourists visiting the Con Bung beach.

However, Thanh Phu tourism also faces with many challenges, difficulties and major limitations. Up to this time, the district does not have entertainment facilities to meet the needs of visitors. Infrastructure is not synchronized. Tourism products are not diverse, attractive and duplicated. Con Bung tourism activities only focus on coastal and inland areas, unexploited sea space with existing potentials. The accommodation facilities are mostly small in scale, unable to meet the high demands of tourists.

Human resources do not meet the current development needs. The progress of projects is still slow, infrastructure is still poor due to lack of investment capital, ...

Nghinh Ong festival in Thanh Hai commune, Thanh Phu district (Photo: P.VHTT)

Therefore, the district needs to focus on promoting propaganda, calling for investment, building tourism products, creating specific characteristics so that they do not overlap elsewhere, and well exploit the traditional cultural and artistic values to make distinctive product through festivals: Nghinh Ong Festival, visiting Ba Chua Xu Temple ...

Linking with local people to develop, looking for consensus, raise tourism awareness, create jobs for people, build an image of Ben Tre people who have been always friendly and hospitable are advantages to get back to visitors. At the same time, educating the environment protecting marine resources in the context of climate change affecting tourism for local people in the locality are also needed.

Ben Tre needs to promote the exploitation of marine tourism potential, the space between the mainland and the sea. Calling for investment good policies to encourage investors inside and outside the province to build restaurants, hotels, amusement parks and resorts near the sea to serve tourists' needs, as well as extend the length of stay. Implementing well the promotion through the application of advanced technology, taking advantage of the 4th industrial revolution, exploiting the local cultural identity in promoting the image of land and people of Ben Tre.

District Government should strengthen tourism cooperation with neighboring localities to create inter-district tours such as Cho Lach - Mo Cay Nam - Thanh Phu, Chau Thanh, Cho Lach, Mo Cay Bac, Thanh Phu, cultural spiritual tours in the district ... or linking tours with neighboring provinces: Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, ... In particular, each locality has its own specific tourism product so that it will not be duplicated and bored.

Thanh Phu is a district with outstanding tourism potentials. If you know how to develop and invest in the right direction, Thanh Phu will be an attractive destination to attract tourists every time you visit Ben Tre./.

Author: Bảo Trâm

Translator: Phương Thy