Solutions to Thoroughly Exploit Traditional Cultural Values of Markets in Tourism Activities :A Case Study of the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam

Traditional markets are now designed by travel companies as one of the shopping destinations in the tour program. By studying traditional markets in the Mekong Delta, we found that, the traditional markets are one of the most interesting cultural features that contain both material and spiritual cultural values. In fact, markets are not only place where visitors could experience shopping but also there are still many aspects of the cultural life in the traditional markets in the region which the tourism industry has not explored thoroughly. Applying some research methods of speciality cultural tourism, we have proposed some solutions of planning traditional markets and management solutions to the formation of travel experience to provide new cultural tourism products, contributing to diversify tourism activities of this region. In addition, the research results might be considered as a scientific basis for the exploitation of tourism activities in the traditional markets in other regions of Vietnam.