AnGiang (VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of An Giang has set towelcome 9.2 million foreign and domestic tourists in 2019, according Vice Directorof the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Pham The Trieu.

Thelocal tourism sector aims to earn 5.5 trillion VND (nearly 236.6 million USD) fromtourism in the year, up 14.58 percent against the same period last year.

Trieu said the locality will focus on attracting investment to tourism infrastructuredevelopment in its key sites, especially the Sam Mountain national tourist site.

Attention will be paid to promoting tourism development connection between An Giangand localities in the west of the Mekong Delta such as Can Tho, Ca Mau, Kien Giang,Bac Lieu, Hau Giang and Soc Trang.

Tourismpromotion programmes will be organised to promote An Giang’s potential andstrengths to international markets, including Cambodia, Thailand, the Republicof Korea, the US, Japan, France and Germany, towards drawing more foreigners tothe locality.

The locality is calling for enterprises, especially travel firms, to invest in culturaland ecological tourism models, resorts and tourism projects for entertainment,contributing to creating new tourism products, Trieu noted.

Inthe coming time, An Giang will pay heed to effectively tapping resources to developtourism in connection with protecting the environment, towards promoting sustainabletourism development, while enhancing training of human resources servingtourism, Trieu said.

It is also introducing policies to support tourism development to encourage bigfirms to invest in the field, he added.

According to statistics from the department, An Giang welcomed 8.5 millionvisitors in 2018, an increase of 16.44 percent compared to the previous year.Of the number, foreign arrivals were 100,000, 33.3 percent higher than 2017. Revenuefrom tourism activities hit 4.8 trillion VND (over 206.4million USD), up 29.73 percent year-on-year.-VNA