Phu Quoc is the largest and nicest island in Vietnam and is compared to a Pearl Island because of its natural endowments of mountains, forests, rivers, streams, beaches and An Thoi archipelago - the conservator of corals and seaweeds and the habitat of rare Dugo variety. All these factors are advantages for the island to develop high-grade resorts.
Phu Quoc district has a natural land area of 593 square kilometres. It faces the Cambodian coastal province of Kampot under the screen of Nan Trong and Nan Ngoai islands. Administratively, Phu Quoc has two archipelagos, namely An Thoi and Tho Chau with 23 islands, two urban towns of Duong Dong and An Thoi, and seven communes, with Tho Chau lying the farthest, about 198 kilometres from Rach Gia City. The flora on the island is abundant and the Phu Quoc National Park is renowned for flora and fauna.
Once talking about Phu Quoc, we cannot forget Phu Quoc fish sauce and pepper, two world-known commodities. Apart from the two backbone commodities, local dwellers also live on fishing activities. Recently, with the rise of tourism activities, a part of local residents have shifted to providing tourist services such as restaurants and hotels.
Today, the traffic system on the island is being quickly developed. The connection to the mainland is now available both by airway and seaway. Thus, visitors can access the island easily. It takes 40 minutes to reach the island from Ho Chi Minh City by air while boat travel takes eight hours from Ha Tien to Phu Quoc.
The Government of Vietnam and Kien Giang province are mobilising capital sources to build airport, roads and other infrastructure items on the island. In the near term, the Phu Quoc International Airport (covering an area of over 900 hectares), a natural key project expected to create a momentum for the socioeconomic development of Phu Quoc and the Mekong Delta region and serve national security and defence tasks will be built. Once completed, the Phu Quoc International Airport will serve medium and long-range flights, linking the island district with other localities nationwide and all over the world. By 2020, the island district is expected to serve 2.65 million tourists. This is the first international airport in Vietnam to use all capital from corporate investors.
In late August, the Southern Urbana and Rural Planning Sub-institute of the Urban and Rural Planning Architecture Institute under the Ministry of Construction reported the adjustments to the master plan for the construction of Phu Quoc Island until 2030 to the Party Council and the People’s Committee of Kien Giang province. According to the report, Phu Quoc will be divided into different sections: the national forest area, 29,200 hectares; the protective forest area, 6,400 hectares, the agricultural land, 7,600 hectares; the tourist site, 3,700 hectares; three urban zones, 3,000 hectares; and the traffic system, 1,600 hectares. The population is 530,000. The island will have 13 places for tourism development, focusing coast or nearing urban zones and airport. There will be many beautiful beaches for tourists such as Cua Can, Vung Bau, Bai Dai, Rach Tram, Rach Vem, Ong Lang and Bai Thom. These tourist sites will have hotels, resorts, commercial zones, shopping malls and five golf courses of international quality and sporting zones.
At present, Phu Quoc is very attractive to tourists. The number of international arrivals to Vietnam dropped more than 17 per cent year on year in the first eight months of 2009, while the international arrivals to Phu Quoc rose 15 per cent. In the first eight months, visitor arrivals to the island climbed to 162,850, up 27.12 per cent from the corresponding period of 2008.
Hoa Tranh
Vietnamese
