Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island. Situated in the Gulf of Thailand, the island is part of Kien Giang province. The district of Phu Quoc includes the island proper and 21 smaller islets. Phu Quoc is called a “Tourist Heaven”. Under the government’s scheme, by 2020 Phu Quoc will be a sea ecological tourism centre, attracting 2-3 million visitors a year.
However, this “heaven” is losing its value through the exploitation and disfigurement of its natural assets.
In the name of tourism projects, many businesses have been destroying the natural landscapes of Phu Quoc. They are exploiting sand on the coast, causing coastal erosion, and menacing the scenery with concrete works.
In the Dinh Cau area, to expand its beach to serve tourists, the Phu Quoc Tourism JS Company exploited Con village in Duong Dong Town, which was famous for its beautiful, natural beach.
The firm sucked sand from the coast near Con village, causing a landslide, threatening Con villagers. Chairman of Duong Dong town Duong Minh Hung said that around 140m of coast has collapsed, endangering 17 houses.
However, of greater concern, the beautiful beach of Con village has been ruined. After two months of sucking sand from the beach, a “gulf” was created at the site which had been a nice beach in the past.
In Hang Yen, An Thoi town, a company named Gold Star destroyed the protective forest, sucked sand and built a dike to enlarge its beach.
Phu Quoc’s beach is being cut into small pieces by tourism projects.
Tourism companies are also trying to build high-rise buildings and hotels on the coast with weird designs, obscuring the view of the Phu Quoc sea.
Around 4km of coast from Duong Dong town to Cua Lap has been the “victim” of concrete. The Huong Bien Hotel built a stone dike of over 1m in height and nearly 500m length along the coast, breaking up the wonderful beach in front of the Dinh Cau area.
The Sai Gon-Phu Quoc Hotel also built some concrete works on the most beautiful beach in Phu Quoc. Many concrete architectural works cover a large area of land on the island.
Many construction works on Phu Quoc are copied from foreign ones, and look very strange, such as the Ngan Sao tourism site. On 300sq.m of beach, the investor built imitations of famous works in the world, like the sea lion of Singapore, the Opera House in Sydney, Australia as well as a Dutch windmill.
