Tourists at Phú Quốc Island. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The Cửu Long (Mekong Delta) province of Kiên Giang has seen a rebound in domestic tourism and tourist numbers are expected to surge during the New Year and Tết (Lunar New Year) holidays.

It received nearly 400,000 domestic visitors last month, a 26 per cent increase from October, according to its Department of Tourism.

Nguyễn Chí Thanh, deputy director of the department, said the province has pushed ahead with a tourism stimulus programme and COVID-19 preventive measures to restore travel confidence and demand.

Travel firms are now focusing on quality of travel products and services, and offering a wide range of promotions and discounts to boost domestic travel, he said.

Phú Quốc Island was chosen as the first destination to kick-start the national tourism stimulus programme launched by the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism on November 22.

In the first 10 months of the year the island received 2.9 million visitors, and it expects the number to top three million for the full year.

The delta city of Cần Thơ has launched its own tourism stimulus programme between November and January with a number of discounts on lodging, food, entertainment, and transportation.

Tourism authorities encourage travel firms to offer discounts on tour packages to attract customers.

Around 60 businesses have registered to join the stimulus programme with tour packages and services discounted by 10-60 per cent.

In the first 10 months the city received more than 3.5 million visitors, a 53 per cent drop year-on-year.

It is expected that promotions and stimulus efforts would push the total number of tourists to more than 5.6 million this year.

Bến Tre and Trà Vinh provinces have promoted travel linkages and introduced new tour routes between themselves.

The linkages are aimed at developing travel products that offer unique cultural, food and natural experiences.

Other provinces in the delta like An Giang and Bạc Liêu recently launched stimulus programmes to attract tourists during the upcoming year-end holidays. —VNS