NDO/VNA – Tourist arrivals to the Mekong Delta was on a surge during the first days of the Tiger Year, signalling a good start for the region’s tourism industry heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can Tho City saw more than 196,000 arrivals during the week-long Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday earlier this month, with the busiest destinations including Cai Rang Floating Market and My Khanh eco-tourism site. The city earned over 44 billion VND (1.92 million USD) from them.

On the first four days of the Year of Tiger, An Giang welcomed 50,000 – 100,000 visitors per day to its popular destinations, such as national tourist sites Sam Mountain and Cam Mountain, Tra Su Cajuput Forest, and President Ton Duc Thang Memorial Site.

Ba Chua Xu (Holy Mother of the Realm) Temple inside Sam Mountain national tourist site in An Giang. (Photo: nhandan.vn)

Ba Chua Xu (Holy Mother of the Realm) Temple inside Sam Mountain national tourist site received some 740,000 visitors between January 30 – February 6, up 85 percent from the same period last year. More than 42,000 people visited Cam Mountain tourist site which features the biggest sitting Maitreya Buddha Statue in Asia, up 50 percent year on year.

Kien Giang welcomed about 98,000 holidaymakers, including 5,582 foreigners, during the holiday, generating some 150 billion VND in revenue. Its popular Phu Quoc resort island alone received 79,000 vacationers. The province aims to attract 5.6 million tourists, including 200,000 foreigners, and earn about 7.75 trillion VND in revenue this year.

The regional cities and provinces are taking various measures to flexibly and effectively adapt themselves and their tourism sector to the “new normal” situation.