Phu Quoc Island.

VietNamNet Bridge - Half a million tourists, including 20,000 foreigners, visited the southern province of Kien Giang in the first two months of 2009, bringing it total revenue of roughly VND70 billion.

Phu Quoc Island, a historic site, welcomed more than 40,000 tourists, double the figure of the same period last year.

However, the influx of tourists to Kien Giang revealed weaknesses in the province’s tourism sector.

Kien Giang has poor infrastructure, with limited and unsynchronized hotels, restaurants, recreational areas and means of transport. It is also short of competent managers for tourism.

The local tourism industry has launched almost no new tourism options for a long time, and those that were established were later suspended because they did not cater to tourists’ tastes.

There is a very low number of tourists who return to Kien Giang, which is not on a par with its high potential for tourism.

Kien Giang lies in the Mekong Delta, one of the country’s four major regions for tourism.

VietNamNet/VOV