Provincial tourism thrives in the new era

Leaders of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the province welcomed the first group of international tourists to the province in the new year 2025.

Vision and directions

After the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, the tourism industry has done a good job of taking over, preserving and developing tourist facilities in the newly liberated provinces and cities to continue expanding its activities. On June 27, 1978, the National Assembly Standing Committee issued Resolution No. 262 establishing the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism under the Government Council. In October 1992, the Government issued Decree No. 05-CP establishing the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism as an agency under the Government. Following that, Directive No. 46-CT/TW of the Central Party Secretariat in October 1994, Conclusion Notice No. 179 dated November 11, 1998 of the Politburo on developing Vietnam tourism in the new situation, was the premise for the establishment of the State Steering Committee on Tourism in 1999, the Tourism Ordinance in 1999 and the National Action Program on Tourism in 2000.

All of the above important milestones show that tourism development has always been affirmed as an important strategic direction in the socio -economic development policy, contributing to the industrialization and modernization of the country. Until Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW dated January 16, 2017 of the Politburo, developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector has demonstrated the highest determination of the Party and State on the cause of developing tourism in the country.

In the province, after liberation, the province focused on overcoming the consequences of war, rebuilding the homeland, entering a period of innovation closely following the policies and orientations of the Central Government. Tourism in the province was recorded to have started to develop since the 2000s. However, during the next 10 years, the reality of tourism development in the province was not synchronous, with many limitations due to obstacles in transportation, limited infrastructure investment, not many tourist facilities, destinations, and monotonous products.

Con Phung Tourism Service Trading Company Limited (abbreviated as Con Phung Ben Tre Tourism) is a unit under the Provincial Labor Federation and Office B of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Guest House, established on April 3, 2005, initially creating a highlight for provincial tourism. Based on local resources, the province began to focus on exploiting eco-tourism, river tourism, and visiting historical and cultural relics.

Shaping the tourism brand of the land of Coconuts

Through many years of efforts to build unique tourism products based on local resources, the image of tourism in the Coconut Land has become increasingly clear and developed more strongly in recent years. Especially with the policy of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector, the province's tourism industry has received more systematic investment and development, with the scale, quantity and quality being increasingly improved. According to Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, tourism activities in the province have developed rapidly in both quantity and quality.

The province's tourism has made great strides in development, tourist accommodation facilities have been invested and exploited effectively, increasingly professionally and modernly, and are highly appreciated by tourists such as: Diamond Star Hotel (5 stars), Ben Tre Riverside Resort (4 stars), Forever Green Resort, Ham Luong Hotel (3 stars) and homestays associated with tourist routes such as: Maison du Pays de Ben Tre, Con Ba Tu, Ut Trinh... Diamond Star Ben Tre Hotel has been recognized by the General Department of Tourism as a 5-star tourist accommodation facility and is one of the 5 units representing Vietnam to be awarded the ASEAN Green Hotel Award in 2024 at the Southeast Asia Tourism Forum - ATF 2024.

To date, the province has 32 licensed enterprises, including 11 international travel agencies, 21 domestic travel agencies, 90 accommodation establishments with over 1,700 rooms with a capacity of about 3,200 guests. There are over 130 dining establishments with about 35,000 seats. Of which, there are 6 dining establishments that meet standards for serving tourists, over 60 tourist areas, tourist attractions, shopping, entertainment, 9 typical tourist attractions of the Mekong Delta and about 10 rest stops to meet the needs of tourists.

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the number of visitors and tourism revenue has increased gradually over the years. From 2017 to the end of 2024, the province welcomed more than 11.7 million visitors, with tourism revenue reaching more than 12.6 trillion VND.

Under the impact of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW, awareness and thinking about tourism development have been raised, with unified views, goals and actions in the Party, government, associations, unions from the province to the grassroots, tourism businesses and communities. Thereby, contributing to raising awareness of preserving and building culture, conserving nature, developing typical products, building a professional and friendly service style, strongly developing tourism associated with the export of local agricultural products in the context of increasingly deep international economic integration.

The province's tourism industry has been restructured, ensuring professionalism, modernity, sustainable development, and efficiency in accordance with the laws of the market economy and international integration. The province has focused on effectively implementing programs, projects, and plans on tourism development. Since then, many projects on infrastructure investment and technical facilities serving tourism development have been completed and put into use, creating favorable conditions for tourism development.

Tourism human resources are regularly cared for, trained, and oriented towards professionalism. Up to now, about 80% of the labor force in the industry has been trained, professionally trained in tourism. Enterprises, tourism businesses and communities are provided with a favorable environment to exploit tourism. The work of promoting, advertising, and linking and cooperating in tourism development is always consolidated and expanded, especially promoting tourism links with Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces and cities of the Mekong Delta.

Entering a new era of development, Ben Tre tourism industry has initially built a brand of eco-tourism, river tourism of the land of Coconut Safe - Friendly - Quality. Tourism development has been contributing to promoting economic restructuring and on-site export, creating many jobs, improving people's lives, promoting the image of the locality and people of Ben Tre.

Article and photos: Thanh Dong

Source: https://baodongkhoi.vn/du-lich-tinh-vuon-minh-trong-ky-nguyen-moi-25042025-a145711.html