(VOVworld) – National Tourism Year 2016 – Phu Quoc – the Mekong Delta, themed “Discovering the Southern Land”, came to an end on Sunday on Phu Quoc island, Kien Giang province. 

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (second left) passed the flag of National Tourism Year 2017 to representatives of Lao Cai province. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn)

The year-long event, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Kien Giang Provincial People’s Committee, was part of a series of national and global events held in Mekong Delta cities and provinces and other localities nationwide to introduce Vietnam’s tangible and intangible cultural values, people, and beautiful regional landscape.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam says the National Tourism Year 2016 raised revenues from tourism activity 18.6 percent and helped the number of international tourist arrivals to surge 26 percent. He hailed local investors for investing in large-scale, high-quality tourism projects emulating international standards.

The Deputy PM expressed his hope that National Tourism Year 2017, themed “Northwest Colors” and hosted by Lao Cai province, will continue to propel Vietnam’s tourism sector forward.