Cruise tourist boom calling on Vietnam this year
13:34 04/03/2009

      Vietnam is expected to see a sharp increase of foreign cruise tourist arrivals in 2007, promising a good year for the local tourism industry.

According to Cruiseonly and Cruisenonstop, the two biggest cruise liners in the United States, international cruise vessels will make at least 37 visits, bringing some 600,000 to one million tourists to Vietnam in the 2007-2008 marine tourism season.

The two cruise liners said most of the tickets for cruise tours, whose prices range from US$500 to thousands of dollars, had been sold out.

The cruise tourists are scheduled to travel to Vietnam through many itineraries, of which the shortest will be a four-day trip departing from Hong Kong or Singapore and the longest will take 45 days and depart from Egypt or the United Arab Emirates.

The cruise vessel visits are scheduled to take place in nine months of the year except the three consecutive months from July due to fear of possible storms or typhoons on the East Sea.

Vietnam is becoming an extremely popular destination, with the largest number of ports suggested by cruise tourists for their vessels to dock in during their voyages to the Far East region.

Among the proposed sites for docking are Saigon Port in southern Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Long Bay in northern Quang Ninh province, and central port of Da Nang, followed by other tourist ports like Nha Trang, Hai Phong, Vung Tau and Hue.

Schedules

According to Cruiseonly, in January the luxury cruise vessels - Nautica, Silver Whisper and Seabourne Spirit will take five trips bringing international tourists from Singapore and Hong Kong to HCMC, Ha Long, Hai Phong, Hanoi, Hue and Da Nang.

These cruise ships in February will make five additional trips to HCMC, Nha Trang, Ha Long and Hanoi.

The next month, besides Nautica and Seabourne Spirit the country will welcome three other cruise vessels  - Statendam, Silver Cloud and Seven Seas Voyager.

In April the luxury cruise ship Crystal Voyager is scheduled to dock in Chan May Port in central Thua Thien-Hue province.

In October the Seven Seas Voyager and Sapphire Princess will dock in Ha Long, Chan May, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, and HCMC.

In December the five-star Sapphire Princess will take two more visits to central beach town of Nha Trang and southern cities of HCMC and Vung Tau.

In addition, in the first four months of 2008, there will be at least 14 trips made by cruise vessels like Rhapsody of the Seas, Nautica, Seven Seas Voyager to Vietnam’s famous destinations like Hai Phong, Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Nha Trang, Vung Tau and HCMC.

Vietnam – safe destination

According to a recent poll made by a Thanh Nien correspondent among foreign cruise tourists in the central cities of Da Nang and Hue, most of the conducted visitors said they were surprised with the changes in Vietnam after decades of war.

The visitors said they had a chance to enjoy beautiful landscapes, visit many historical and cultural relics and meet friendly people during their visits to many parts of Vietnam.

In addition, they said, the warm climate in the tropical country helped them, particularly the elderly people, feel better after long days on the sea.

“No earthquakes, no tsunamis, no frosts and no terrorism. Vietnam is a peaceful and friendly country. We will bring this impression back home,” some German and French tourists said.

Reported by Dang Ngoc Khoa – Translated by Thu Thuy

Source : thanhniennews.com