Building Bac Lieu City to become a typical tourist center of the Mekong Delta region

Resolution 11 of the Provincial Party Executive Committee (PCC) term XV on "continuing to promote tourism development until 2025, with a vision to 2030" and Resolution 02 of the Provincial Party Executive Committee term XVI on "building Bac Lieu City into a class I urban area, towards civilization and gradual modernization" both identify the key task as "promoting tourism development and turning Bac Lieu City into the province's tourism center".

Tourists visit the house cluster of the young master of Bac Lieu .

FAST DEVELOPING TOURISM

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with the strong direction of the provincial leaders, after 3 years of implementing Resolution 02, tourism activities in the city have developed rapidly and achieved remarkable results. Specifically, in the period of 2022 - 2023, the city welcomed 5.86 million visitors, an increase of 109.3% compared to the period of 2020 - 2021 and total tourism revenue of over 5,900 billion VND, an increase of 115% compared to the period of 2020 - 2021.

One of the successful lessons learned is that Bac Lieu City has effectively implemented the policies and resolutions of the Central and Provincial Party Committees, Provincial People's Committees, and issued specialized projects and plans on tourism development. Thereby, tourism infrastructure and tourism development projects have received investment attention, the system of tourism service facilities, tourism products and typical tourist destinations have been upgraded. Up to now, the city has more than 100 accommodation service establishments, including more than 20 star-rated hotels; 10 destinations have been recognized by the Mekong Delta Tourism Association as typical regional tourism. In addition, many cultural works serving tourism development in the city have also been restored and upgraded such as: Thai Duong Stone Clock Relic, Xiem Can Pagoda, Quan Am Phat Dai Area, Bac Lieu Prince's House Complex, Nha Mat Tourist Area. In addition, the city also maintains and develops more amateur music clubs, electric car models for city sightseeing, etc.

However, along with the achieved results, Bac Lieu City tourism still has some limitations, such as: The progress of implementing some tourism projects is still slow, not fully effective in attracting tourists; financial resources have not been optimally mobilized to serve tourism development; there is a lack of high-quality entertainment projects and facilities, rest stops on key tourist routes to promote and introduce the province's tourism products, especially projects serving the development of the night economy in the city...

Tourists visit and worship at Quan Am Buddha Temple.

INCREASE INVESTMENT

To promote the strengths of tourism and make Bac Lieu City worthy of being the tourism center of the province, as well as becoming a typical tourism center of the Mekong Delta region and the whole country, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to support and coordinate with the City Party Committee and the People's Committee of Bac Lieu City to focus on organizing and implementing a number of key solutions as follows: Strengthening the attraction of social resources to invest in developing the system of technical facilities of the tourism industry and investing in developing transport infrastructure for key areas, driving forces for tourism development. Focus on calling for investment and promoting the implementation of tourism service projects, such as: 4-5 star hotels, a system of qualified restaurants serving tourists, high-quality shopping and entertainment centers, high-end coastal resort and entertainment villas, commercial business, night markets, night entertainment, walking streets, culinary streets... to attract tourists to visit and experience, typically Lieu Giang Wharf, Da Co Street, Water Music Park... associated with the night-time economic model in the city. At the same time, the Department is actively calling for and supporting investors in tourism service projects in the city, specifically supporting the conditions and procedures to recognize the Bac Lieu Prince Hotel as a 4-star hotel after the project is completed; supporting the investor of the 18-storey Bac Lieu building to invest in upgrading it into a restaurant and hotel; supporting Van Lang Group to carry out investment procedures for the Bac Lieu Bird Garden eco-tourism and resort area; Approach and support investors in river cruise projects based on the utilization of the 30/4 canal port that has been invested in Ward 2 Residential Area...

In addition, continue to focus on developing unique and distinctive tourism products to enhance the brand and competitiveness of Bac Lieu tourism in the tourism market, such as: Upgrading cultural tourism products associated with the immortal value of the "Da Co Hoai Lang" song and the art of Southern amateur music; tourism products associated with the brand of Cong Tu Bac Lieu; spiritual cultural tourism products; green tourism products visiting wind power combined with experiencing the coastal forest ecosystem... Especially, coordinating with sectors and localities to effectively implement the Project on eco-tourism, resorts and entertainment in special-use forests and coastal protection forests until 2030, with a vision to 2035, approved by the Provincial People's Committee.

Folk festivals - one of the strengths of cultural tourism of Bac Lieu city. Photo: KT

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, together with the City Party Committee and the People's Committee of Bac Lieu City, will also continue to promote domestic and international tourism through tourism promotion activities in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and key tourism markets nationwide. At the same time, strengthen focused and key connections, especially connections between three parties including managers - tourism service businesses - tourist areas and destinations; strengthen connections and cooperation to grasp the tourist market and meet the needs of tourists coming to Bac Lieu. Effectively implement programs of connection, cooperation, and connecting tourism routes with localities with developed tourism, especially Ho Chi Minh City and provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region. Promote the application of information technology in tourism development, focusing on building and implementing smart tourism management in the Smart Urban Development Project of Bac Lieu province for the period 2021 - 2025 and orientation to 2030, contributing to the sustainable development of Bac Lieu tourism in general and Bac Lieu city in particular, and improving competitiveness.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also coordinates with the City Party Committee and the People's Committee of Bac Lieu City to focus on improving the quality of state management staff at all levels in tourism and improving the quality of human resources of tourism businesses in both business administration and tourism labor; diversifying forms of tourism training, the province's training facilities supplement or expand their functions to train tourism human resources for the province to meet the requirements of rapid and sustainable development...

TRAN THI

Source: https://www.baobaclieu.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/xay-dung-tp-bac-lieu-tro-thanh-trung-tam-du-lich-tieu-bieu-vung-dong-bang-song-cuu-long-98580.html