Soc Trang is a coastal province in the Mekong Delta. It is located on the mouth of the Hau River, and on overland and waterway traffic routes linking Ho Chi Minh City with Southwest provinces. Natural tourism resources are distributed evenly and accessed easily across the province.
Currently, Soc Trang province has eight certified nation-level historical and cultural relics, and 26 province-level historical and cultural relics, with the most renowned attractions being Uncle Ho Temple (Cu Lao Dung), wartime Provincial Party Committee Base, Mahatup Pagoda (Doi Pagoda), Buu Son Pagoda (Clay Pagoda), Sro Lon Pagoda (Chen Kieu Pagoda). The province also has a lot of favourable conditions for developing ecological leisure tourism thanks to its beautiful natural endowments like islets along the Hau River stretching more than 50 km to the East Sea like Cu Lao Dung Isle and My Phuoc Isle, and coastal mangrove forests. Soc Trang also has a plenty of handicraft villages like Pia cake, sausage, weaving and mattress making. All create a colourful picture with locally unique beauty.
With its potential, Soc Trang is focusing on surveying and planning tourism development, and investing in technical infrastructure systems at tourist sites. Every year, many traditional festivals of the Kinh, Khmer and Hoa peoples are organised in the province like Ooc Om Boc festival, Ngo boat face, Phuoc Bien worshipping ceremony, fish-worshipping festival. In 2013, the province successfully hosted an Ngo boat racing festival of Khmer ethnic group. Conference, seminars and action programmes on tourism promotion left good impressions on domestic and international tourists.
Improving the quality of local tourist attractions is of particular concern. Soc Trang province frequently conducts surveys and examinations at tourist sites to seek appropriate solutions to unlock potential and advantages and create locally distinctive tourism products. The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Soc Trang province always coordinates closely with competent bodies to keep security, order and safety at tourist attractions.
To improve service quality for tourists, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism directs and coordinates with training units to train tourism officials and workers every year to keep up with professional standards and improve tourism human resource quality.
The Directorate of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism also instructs professional divisions to study conditions and criteria to compile documents, materials and artefacts to apply for the official recognition of historical sites and architectural masterpieces in the province. Especially, on September 21, 2013, Buu Son Pagoda (Clay Pagoda) received the Certificates of Records for the largest clay works, Da Bao Tower and Lien Hoa Tower, by the Vietnam Records Organisation. “This is an honour for Buu Son Pagoda in particular and the Soc Trang tourism sector in general,” said Lam Vinh Phuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
He said, to further improve the performance of the tourism sector, Soc Trang province is performing investigations, surveys, statistics, analyses and evaluations of tourism potential, particularly in culture, history, people, festivals, landscapes, places of interest of Soc Trang province. The locality also intensifies tourism personnel training in various forms; builds tourism infrastructure; diversifies product quality; protects resources and surroundings; guarantees social order and safety; and sustains tourism development. The province also studies to develop locally typical tourism products, coordinates with other localities in the Mekong Delta to create joint tourism products in order to attract general tourism programmes. Tourists attractions will be broadly advertised on TV channels.
The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also coordinated with the Department of Planning and Investment and relevant bodies to build regimes and preference and support policies for tourism companies, create a favourable environment to encourage all economic sectors to invest in tourism development.
Huong Giang
Đăng ký: VietNam News
