Attracting a sustainable source of tourists to Phu Quoc

For many years, Phu Quoc City, Kien Giang Province, has been known as the "pearl island", a destination that attracts large numbers of both domestic and foreign tourists. However, visitors to Phu Quoc suddenly dropped sharply during the last big holidays.
Tourists snorkelling in Phu Quoc
Tourists snorkelling in Phu Quoc

According to the statistics of the Department of Tourism of Kien Giang Province, Phu Quoc City welcomed 112,635 visitors during the recent five-day holiday, with total revenue from tourism services at more than 132.5 billion VND, the corresponding rates were 11.5% and 24.3% lower than the previous year.

According to the explanation of the leader of the Department of Tourism of Kien Giang Province, the cause of the decline in tourism activities in Phu Quoc is due to the general impact of the economy; high airfares affect tourists' choices of destinations.

The prices of tourist services such as hotel rooms, canoes, and taxis in Phu Quoc are also much higher than at tourist destinations in Nha Trang, Da Nang, Hue, Da Lat, and Vung Tau.

Leaders of the tourism industry in Kien Giang affirmed that the prices are clearly listed, visitors can choose according to their financial ability.

However, with the spirit of market demand, multidimensional information is very useful for the tourism industry of Kien Giang Province, especially Phu Quoc City, to control the market and create a safe, friendly and competitive tourism environment to attract tourists.

Many people believe that, in addition to the high airfare for domestic routes to Phu Quoc, local prices are also unstable, making it difficult for travel agencies to form tours to the "pearl island".

Tourism starts with culture; tourists must be responsible, with all their hearts. Phu Quoc tourism will develop sustainably.

In addition to drastically controlling market prices and protecting customers, airlines and accommodation and travel service businesses need to coordinate to create a product chain with preferential prices and outstanding quality that is attractive to tourists.

The tourism industry of Kien Giang Province and Phu Quoc City needs to promptly apply technology and analyse data to gain a deeper understanding of the demands, psychology, and preferences of tourists. This is an important basis for proactively launching new and suitable products without waiting for the season.

This data source, when large and detailed enough, can be exploited as a general resource, best serving the visitor's experience to increase the rate of visitors returning to the "pearl island".

In the next time, Kien Giang will review and re-statistical all tourist service businesses from accommodation, travel, dining, passenger transport, souvenir shops, specialties, entertainment.

Accordingly, the province will require business establishments to register prices and list service prices clearly; check the organisation of promotions and discounts according to regulations.

At the same time, Kien Giang will also ensure the best tourism service business environment and focus on solving difficulties to make Phu Quoc an attractive and friendly tourist destination.

To develop sustainable tourism, the Phu Quoc tourism industry needs to change the mindset and perception of tourism workers.

The phenomenon of the number of tourists to Phu Quoc decreasing sharply this year will act as a lesson for tourism workers about the need to "care" for a sustainable source of visitors, and how to retain visitors.