Leaders of An Giang have planned to turn the province into the maintourism centre of the Mekong Delta by capitalising on its potential.

By diversifying tourism products, upgrading infrastructure andtraining human resources, in 2014, the province hopes to attract 5.8million local and foreign tourists, a growth of 2 percent against 2013.

According to provincial authorities, religion-related tourism is among the new angles they are hoping to maximise.

As part of this, tourists will visit Cam and Sam mountains, MotherGoddess Temple, and take part in traditional ox racing held annually bythe local Khmer ethnic groups.

The province also plans to build aChau Doc entertainment complex and Cam Mountain site aimed at medicaltourism with cool weather on the mountain, similar to the well-knownDa Lat resort city in the Central Highlands.

Meanwhile the TraSu cajuput forest will focus on eco-tourism, with activities includingfishing and boating through the forest in addition to visits tohistorical sites.

Alongside this, the canvas-weaving craft villages of the Cham ethnic groups will also be restored.

Famers' Association of An Giang province recently introduced a tourpackage entitled 73 Hours in That Son (Seven Mountains), which givestourists an introduction to typical farming practices and families inthe locality.

Last year, 13,000 tourists including 600 foreignerstook the tours which involved them in local life, such as farming,fishing, cooking and listening to traditional music.

In theprevious year, with support from Dutch farmers, An Giang announced aninvestment of 18.4 billion VND (0.86 million USD) for agriculturetourism development in the province.

Farmers of 15 communes inthe province registered to participate in the programme. Each communenow has five to 10 families involved in tourism services.-VNA