The Con Dao island, off the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, is poised to become a magnet for tourists and investors since being listed among Lonely Planet’s Top 10 places to visit in Asia in 2016.

The island is situated off the south-east coast of Vietnam, comprised of 16 islets. It has a total land area of ​​about 75 square kilometres.

Con Dao has great potential for tourism development, with 200 kilometres of coastline and dozens of beautiful beaches, pure blue water, and colourful coral reefs. “The island’s appeal encompasses coral gardens that offer Vietnam’s best diving, rewarding hikes in wildlife-rich tropical forests, and a coastline studded with gorgeous white-sand coves,” Lonely Planet has written.

In addition, Con Dao is rife with historical and cultural sites. The island used to house a notorious prison under the French colonial rule. The island is now home to the site of the historic prison, thousands of graves of revolutionary soldiers, a national park, festivals, and other cultural heritage sites.

Nguyen Thanh Chinh, Chairman of the Con Dao People’s Committee, said that Con Dao welcomed over 440,000 tourists between 2010 and 2015, of whom 87,000 were foreigners, with an average increase of 21.1 per cent per annum. Tourism turnover reached VND1.37 trillion ($61.44 million), an average rise of 45 per cent per year.

To serve the rising tourist number, many resorts have been developed on the island, such as Six Senses Con Dao, Con Dao Residences, Con Dao Resort, Viet Nga Resort, and Saigon-Con Dao Hotel.

Under the master plan to develop Con Dao into a tourism hotspot by 2030, the island will become an ecological, cultural, and historical tourist destination of regional and international stature.

By 2030, the plan aims to attract more than 300,000 tourists annually, of whom international tourists should account for 20 per cent. To fulfil this target, the local authorities will focus on attracting domestic tourists from big cities, and foreign tourists from Japan, China, Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The tourism sector in Con Dao has so far only focused on ocean trips, prison visits, shopping at local markets, and cycling around the islets. The local leaders intend to diversify these offerings with more ecotourism, beach resorts, and natural and cultural heritage sites. They are also planning to organise tours connecting the main island to nearby sites, in conjunction with tours linking Con Dao to other cities and provinces nationwide.

Con Dao is now striving to develop its infrastructure, reservoirs, drainage systems, and electricity networks. To attract more investment capital, in 2013 the government approved preferential measures for Con Dao. The corporate income tax rate  for businesses on the island was reduced to 10 per cent, while the personal income tax rate was slashed by 50 per cent, and value added tax was completely cut for basic investment and construction.

Chinh told VIR that Con Dao was pushing the progress of implementing the tourism sector development master plan. The island is seeking more capital to build the road in the northern island centre, proposing to resume flights from Vung Tau city to Con Dao and vice versa, and increase the number of flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao.

My Tran