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Authorities in HCM City plan to exploit the area's river tourism
potential with new programmes, including tours of Can Gio Mangrove Forest.
By the end of this month, the city's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism
will compile agency opinions and report to the People's Committee on the kind of
infrastructure that should be built for river tours.
Last year, several river tours to Can Gio Mangrove Forest were launched by
travel companies, attracting many foreign tourists.
Phan Xuan Anh, director of Viet Excursions, said his company had launched two
pilot tours in the Can Gio Mangrove Forest near the Thi Vai River over the past
five months.
In late April, Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy chairwoman of the HCM City People's
Committee, and a group of officials from relevant departments, took a river tour
from the city's District 1 to the Can Gio Mangrove Forest, a UNESCO-recognised
biosphere reserve in Can Gio District.
The trip was done as part of a research programme on the possible development of
stopover stations on a river tour in Can Gio District.
One of the stopover stations could be a swift-breeding farm in Tam Thon Hiep
Commune.
One of the tours organised by Viet Excursions lets tourists row kayaks in the
Can Gio mangrove forest, visit salt fields on foot, and climb the 10-metre-high
Giong Chua Mountain.
On the other tour, tourists travel by boat to visit Can Gio Mangrove Forest and
listen to a tour guide describing the flora and fauna of the forest.
About 1,000 foreign tourists on cruise ships, most from Germany and the US, have
taken the tours this year.
Investment
However, Can Gio District needs to do even more for tourism development,
according to Anh.
Tourists enjoy exploring Can Gio, but the area has no souvenir or handicraft
products. Tourists could also visit farms that raise swifts, according to travel
agencies.
The Can Gio District-based Phi Long Boat Joint-Stock Company plans to develop
swift farming on an area of more than 50ha in Can Gio and build a centre to
exhibit Viet Nam's swift nests.
With its two passenger ships, one carrying 400 passengers and the other 200, Phi
Long wants to open a Can Gio – Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province river tour.
Le Van Sinh, head of the Can Gio Protection Forest Management Board, said the
Can Gio Mangrove Forest was classified as a protection forest, which meant that
the use of its rivers and canals for tourism development was still limited due
to state regulations.
This waterway issue needs to be solved so that tourism in Can Gio can be
developed, according to Sinh.
One of the tasks that should be given first investment priority is the planning
and building of wharves at stopover stations on river tours.
He said that the city should conduct research on how to allow the use of rivers
and canals in the Can Gio Protection Mangrove Forest to serve tourism services,
including floating restaurants, water skiing and boat rowing.
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