Vu The Binh, Head of the Travel Agency, said the number of international and domestic visitors to the Mekong Delta is very modest. Even Korean and Japanese visitors, who account for the highest numbers of foreign tourists to Vietnam, don't know about the advantages of this region yet.

Binh said the Mekong Delta needs diversity of tourism products to attract a variety of tourists. At present, 13 Mekong Delta provinces offer similar tours of orchards and waterways.

Travel firms in the delta are now working as to travel companies in Hanoi, HCM City and other provinces. According to companies providing international travel services, the number of foreign visitors to the Mekong Delta makes up around 15% of the total and over 95% of them are brought to the region by travel firms in Hanoi and HCM City.

There are just 18 travel companies in the Mekong Delta, of 629 travel firms in Vietnam. Can Tho is the biggest city in the delta and the tourism center, but has only one company supplying international travel services. Six Mekong Delta provinces don't have any international travel companies, including Long An, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang.

Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Can Tho City branch said the tourism sector of this delta must immediately do the following: design unique tourism products, train qualified tourism staff and design more trendy and exciting tours.

Applying the Internet towards developing tourism is a must, say experts. The Mekong Delta has no websites promoting local tourism.

This year, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) will assist the Mekong Delta in training tourism human resources.

The theme of this year's National Tourism Year is Mekong - Can Tho.