Patrick Moran is a friend who resides in Ho Chi Minh City. He is a fascinating gentleman: a well travelled successful entrepreneur who has chosen Vietnam as his place of retirement. During my tenure as Team Leader of the ADB funded Mekong Tourism Development Project (MTDP) I often asked for his input on our projects in Tien Giang and An Giang Provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Below are some of his very logical thoughts on tourism development in South Vietnam and along the Mekong River in general.
By Patrick Moran
We need a coordinating committee. Rector of An Giang. ADB Rep. Volunteer marketing consultant. Chairman People’s Committee. Boss of tourism dept. (?!) Private sector Rep. (Mr.Man ?). This would need the occasional ”esprit de corps” meeting but could largely operate by email dependent on translations and everyone responding to the brainstorming. Agreement, disagreement, comments, ideas.
We need a facilitator. Chairman People’s Committee with a meaningful clear publicity statement. “Our function is to facilitate, co-ordinate & promote – NOT to obstruct.”
The key is RETURNS. Egypt has that problem – let alone the Mekong Delta. The key is RESORTS. Not expensive isolated private resorts. PLACES which are in themselves a resort. There are thousands of them in the global market. A co-operative mixture of local authority, large scale private enterprise, SMEs and miniscule businesses. They all have a tourism focal point which is invariably a riverside promenade, a seaside promenade, a marina, or all three. Local returns for weekends and short holidays. Long distance returns for side trips. These tourist focal points need facilities and activities which at this stage can be divided into 3 categories : 1/ We will do this now. 2/ We will do this later. 3/ We will never do this. Find out what the competition is offering. Research. An Giang University via commercial consulates in Saigon and Business Groups – what do their members want? Etc.
Merely to indicate what I mean, a list of typical facilities, just as they come to mind, no particular order, mostly seen elsewhere :
1/ Variety restaurants. Top range, mid range, lower range. A food hall like Cairns and Singapore. 2/ Variety bars. Inside. Outside. Piano bar. Disco. 3/ Swimming pool or lagoon like Cairns with lessons. 4/ Sailing club with school. 5/ Water skiing club with school. 6/ Bridge club with school. 7/ Boats for hire. (Sailing, rowing, kayaks.) 8/ Boat trips. 9/ Travel agent for side trips. 10/ Handicraft shops. 11/ Pool tables. 12/ Table tennis tables. 13/ Tennis courts. 14/ Golf course. ( A long story why not a personal favourite.) 15/ Aquarium. 16/ Zoo. 17/ Apartments to rent. 18/ Department store. 19/ Houseboats to buy and rent with moorings. (The classic solution for second homes in places with old fashioned property rights.) 20/ Transport. 21/ A casino. 22/ Cinema. 23/ Cultural theatre. (Water puppets?) 24/ Yoga plus other cultural activity classes. 24/ All gathered together in one, then several, tourist promenade focal points. 25/ Micro-credit. 26/ Brainstorming.
What is offered by travel agents in Saigon for the Mekong Delta now? Research their publicity. What else would make people come back? This type of project always suffers from what we call the “Chicken and egg problem.” No egg, no chicken. No chicken, no egg. A major activity in these places is “Watching the world go by”! No facilities, no world. No world, no facilities. Thousands and thousands of places have resolved that problem. How? Ask them.
I like this idea: “No egg, no chicken. No chiken, no egg.” Actually, Vietnam has it all like the rest of the world, even better, both eggs and chickens. However, it seems we we’re assuming the circle of “There are eggs, there will be chickens and there are chickens there will be eggs.” in a too natural and simple way. We may need to try harder and be smarter in raising chickens to lay more eggs and protecting those eggs to hatch well. All for the sake of a better future.
Hi Peter. I met you once at a PATA Vietnam conference in Da Lat in 2006. I am very interested in Mekong Delta tourism Destination Mgt and Development topic. If possible, I would like to contact you and Mr. Patrick Moran for exchange ideas. Thanks.