Two groups of travel companies from Cambodia and Thailand started Thursday a study trip in the Vietnamese southern province of Kien Giang to prepare for the launch of a new package through three countries by sea travel.

The Thai delegation includes tour organizers from Trat, Chanthaburi, Chonburi, and Rayong, while travel firms from Kep, KoKong, Sihanouk, and KamPot are in the Cambodian group.

They will spend three days visiting the provincial town of Ha Tien, the capital city of Rach Gia and the province’s Phu Quoc Island to inspect the service and accommodation facilities there.

With help from Vietnamese travel companies, the foreign tour organizers will also study the tourist attractions on Phu Quoc Island, a famed resort island, nearly 400km west of Ho Chi Minh City.

The trip is to serve the launch of a new tour package through the three countries with a stop on Phu Quoc Island.

It takes only 1 hour and 15 minutes to travel from Phu Quoc Island to Cambodia by high-speed boat, from which tourists can take a 20 minute bus ride to downtown Kampot Province, according to an itinerary posted on a Vietnamese website that sells boat tickets for the route.

After reaching Cambodia via boat, tourists can also visit the capital city of Phnom Penh through a two-hour drive, according to the website.

Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development, a member of Vietnam’s leading realty developer, Vingroup, announced earlier this week that it is seeking permission from the Ministry of Transport and the Kien Giang administration to develop a passenger port on Phu Quoc Island.

The company said it will cover all of the investment costs for the port, estimated at VND1.25 trillion (US$58.83 million), which is intended to lure more international passengers to Phu Quoc.

Phu Quoc is the largest island in the Southeast Asian country, measuring 589.23 km² in area, according to the website of the district.

Its population reached 93,000 people in 2010 with a density of 158 people per km², the website says.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to develop Phu Quoc into a special administrative-economic region administered by the central government by 2020, the website adds.

Kien Giang now eyes the arrival of 1-1.2 million visitors to the island in 2015, and 2-3 million tourists in 2020, with gross revenue amounting to US$771 million by then.

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