Quang Nam Province is determined to become a major tourist destination in the central region and Vietnam, aiming at VND4.6tril (US$288mil) in revenue from tourism annually by 2015.

The province has also targeted four million arrivals per year, including 1.5mil foreign visitors, by that time.

"Tourism is one of the sectors receiving top priority from local authorities," said Quang Nam Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism director Dinh Hai, adding that the province aimed to ensure sustainable development of its hospitality sector and make it more competitive in the context of global integration.

The province has singled out coastal and scenic areas such as the Thu Bon River, the Hon Kem Da Dung area, and heritage sites like Hoi An and My Son, for development of tourist facilities.

Most tourists were coming to the province for the world heritage sites of Hoi An and My Son, and for relaxing at beach resorts. However, the province would have more on offer by 2015, Hai said.

Quang Nam wanted to develop marine tourism, eco-tourism, and ethno-tourism, helping visitors explore forests and mountains and learn more about the lifestyle of ethnic minority groups.

In the time ahead, the province would continue to upgrade infrastructure, especially at tourism sites, develop more tourism facilities and offer visitors more attractive tourist products.

So far, total approved investment for infrastructure has climbed to VND556bil ($34.7mil). Among 155 tourism projects, 95 were already operating and construction has begun on another 11, Hai noted.

Quang Nam would draw up preferential policies to encourage enterprises to further invest in tourism in the province, he added. The province would also work on its tourism promotion efforts in both domestic and international markets, identify more tourist routes, boost joint efforts with other provinces in the region, and focus on human resource training.

The province would continue attending tourism fairs aimed at drawing more Russian and South Korean visitors, Hai said.

Last year, the area also greeted a million foreign visitors, a quarter of the total foreign visitors in Vietnam.

At present, the province has 92 hotels with 3,500 rooms.

The central region as a whole suffered heavy losses from flooding last year, but the number of visitors to the area still rose to about two million, earning about VND500bil ($31.2mil), increases of 13 and 15%, respectively, over 2006.

(Source: VNA)