River tourism is one of the two main tourism products that Can Tho is developing, contributing to the goal of building a “river city”. With a river route of nearly 1,157km, Can Tho is taking advantage of natural conditions to develop and promote the strengths of this unique tourism product.
River tourism survey team at Talison Con Son floating restaurant. Photo: Kieu Mai
Many new routes are exploited
Previously, river tourism in Can Tho often had a few familiar routes: Ninh Kieu Wharf to Cai Rang floating market, or routes to explore small canals. However, in the past few years, Can Tho has had new, more diverse routes. Notably, the local river routes are being exploited by Victoria Resort Can Tho, Victoria Cruises, and Victoria Mekong Cruises. Accordingly, in addition to the river route to explore Cai Rang floating market and familiar craft villages, there are also river routes connecting Can Tho and the Mekong Delta provinces, and international routes.
“Discover the Mekong” and “Mekong Impression” are two river products currently in operation with their own unique features. Of which, “Discover the Mekong” takes tourists on a river cruise with the Mekong Princess on the Can Tho – Vinh Long route, exploring the unique cultural beauty of the Kinh, Hoa and Khmer ethnic communities. “Mekong Impression” is a river cruise with the Cai Be Princess of the Victoria Cruises fleet to Vinh Long – Cai Be (Tien Giang) to explore the river culture of the island gardens and traditional craft villages. Ms. Vo Xuan Thu, General Director of Victoria Resort Can Tho, said: “The Mekong region is vast with many interesting values and extremely unique stories of local people living together for tourists to explore. Through the journeys, tourists will better understand and love the beauty of the people and country of Vietnam. We bring authentic local cultural experiences in each land on the journey.” Evaluating these river products, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, General Director of Hai Au Can Tho Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Company Limited, said: “From a travel perspective, these river journeys meet the diverse needs of different types of customers and markets. The products are very diverse and flexible, including in-depth experiences and closeness to local culture. These are river products that can be exploited in many ways. In particular, we are planning to exploit and connect with customers from the Middle East.”
In fact, Victoria Mekong Cruises’ cruise routes are very popular, especially international routes, such as Can Tho – Phnom Penh (Cambodia). The current demand of tourists for international routes is increasing and Victoria Mekong Cruises has launched an additional 8-day, 7-night product with the following itineraries: Can Tho – Siem Riep (Cambodia), Ho Chi Minh City – Siem Riep. These are itineraries to explore the river culture along the Mekong River and the Mekong Delta region. Currently, these tours are almost fully booked for 2025 and 2026. Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Anh, Deputy Director of Spotlight Travel Company, said: “With Victoria Mekong Cruises' river products, we have previously connected and brought customers effectively with 4-day, 3-night itineraries. Now, the products have been renewed, expanded to 8 days and 7 nights, and there are more flexible and diverse round-trip routes. I consider these to be interesting and potential products to exploit many different customer segments.”
In fact, river tourism routes in Can Tho have been exploited more diversely, not only boats but also yachts and canoes. Specifically, such as river products from canoes of Mekong Delta Adventure and Event Tourism Company Limited. Currently, this unit has about 40 inter-route products from Can Tho to the Mekong Delta provinces, in which the most prominent are itineraries to explore river mouths and islands.
Overcome obstacles, promote advantages
According to the Master Plan for tourism development in Can Tho City to 2020, the period to 2030, Can Tho's strength is identified as an urban river, a convergence of "Mekong River Civilization"... Accordingly, Can Tho Tourism Department also organized many survey trips, orienting the construction of typical river product routes.
At the end of September, the Can Tho City Tourism Development Center organized a survey team with the participation of many travel agencies in the city, to evaluate and build a suitable river tourism route. The team surveyed the inter-river route from the districts of Ninh Kieu, Cai Rang and Binh Thuy with a variety of destinations on the river branches and small canals along the route of Cai Rang floating market, Kara Homestay & Café, Ut Truyen folk toy making site, Nhat Tam Farm vineyard, Talison Con Son floating raft restaurant... Ms. Le Thi Hong Nhi, Head of Sales Department of Western Discovery Company, said: "Through surveying the routes, I found that there are destinations to exploit, such as Cai Rang floating market, Kara Homestay & Café and Ut Truyen folk toy making site. This route has a variety of experiences to learn about river culture, craft villages and accommodation, and the route is quite suitable when it can combine river and road routes". Meanwhile, Mr. Truong Van Vinh, Director of IDO Can Tho Tourism and Events Trading Company Limited, said: “From a travel perspective, I think river tourism products are an advantage of Can Tho and over the years these products have also been promoted well with journeys to explore floating markets and canals. In this survey, I found that there is still a lot of potential for river tourism. The beauty of this journey is that it can go into small canals and see the lives of people in the river area. This route also has a variety of experiences in farms, craft villages, pagodas, etc. However, there are still limitations in infrastructure. At high tide, the bridge is too low, making it difficult for boats to pass, easily getting stuck, making tourists feel uncomfortable. Therefore, I also suggest that there should be investments in infrastructure, or consider smaller boats to suit the route.”
Can Tho's river tourism potential is considered to be very large, with a dense system of canals, notably heritage destinations and relics along the route. However, there are still many limitations in terms of transport infrastructure, wharves, etc. Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Le, Director of the Can Tho City Tourism Development Center, said: "River tourism is one of the products that will receive investment attention in the coming time of Can Tho. In the near future, Can Tho will coordinate with Ho Chi Minh City to survey the river tourism routes of Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho and the Mekong Delta provinces, assess the current situation, and orient the construction of typical routes."
Promoting the strengths of rivers and streams is being paid attention to and invested in by the city's tourism industry. River products here are focused on building towards experiencing the daily life of merchants on floating markets, the lives of people associated with fields and gardens on islands and riverside areas... Therefore, the products will be exploited based on the advantages along the Hau River, Can Tho River and the system of islands and islets. In particular, Cai Rang floating market (Cai Rang district), Son islet (Binh Thuy district), Tan Loc islet (Thot Not district) all have their own projects and investment plans. In addition, Can Tho also plans to build 3 waterway bus routes on the Hau River and Can Tho River: Ninh Kieu - Thot Not, Ninh Kieu - Phong Dien and Ninh Kieu - Cai Rang.
In fact, to develop river tourism, there needs to be a master plan, including inter-regional traffic planning, focusing on product planning. At the same time, it is necessary to upgrade waterway infrastructure, build wharves, ports and develop support services; build specific tourism products based on the historical, cultural and ecological values of each river. There needs to be a connection between localities in the orientation of developing river products, building riverside nature reserves; paying attention to pollution control and environmental protection measures... Can Tho has currently developed a project on river tourism, and is coordinating with Ho Chi Minh City to build a typical river tourism route.
According to Can Tho Newspaper
Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/can-tho-phat-huy-tiem-nang-du-lich-duong-song-20241007153633592.htm
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