The development of Cai Rang floating market tourism in Can Tho city, Vietnam: From policy to practice

Nguyen Thi Huynh Phuong *

* Corresponding author (nthphuong@ctu.edu.vn)

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Received: 25 Oct 2015
Revised: 11 Feb 2016
Accepted: 30 Mar 2017
Published: 31 Mar 2017
DOI: 10.22144/ctu.jen.2017.006
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Nguyen, T. H. P. (2017). The development of Cai Rang floating market tourism in Can Tho city, Vietnam: From policy to practice. CTU Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development , (05), 47-58. https://doi.org/10.22144/ctu.jen.2017.006
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No. 05 (2017)

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Abstract

In recent years, floating market tourism has been regarded as a unique and attractive form of tourism in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. It combines eco-tourism together with cultural and community-based tourism to reach the ultimate goal of sustainable development. Floating markets can be looked upon as part of the river culture and eco-tourism of Vietnam rather than simply as a tourist attraction, as they play an important part in the river - based culture of Southeast Asia. There are approximately eleven floating markets in the Mekong Delta, yet Cai Rang attracts more visitors than those in the surrounding provinces. The reason might be due to the advantages the market possesses: geographical location, size, infrastructure and material, technical basis for tourism, services, and connection with other tourist attractions. Therefore, Can Tho city has increasingly received the interest from the government as seen through a number of documents for tourism development. This article aims to study, based on documentary, quantitative and qualitative research, the development of Cai Rang floating market tourism in Can Tho city. It is proposed that Vietnam’s policy on tourism has enabled favorable factors for the development of floating market in the Mekong Delta such as economic development plans, strategic orientations and specific objectives. Nevertheless, there is still a gap between policy and practice and this is a big challenge for the development of Cai Rang floating market tourism.
Keywords: Cai Rang floating market, Mekong Delta, tourism

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