Foreign cruise ships throng to Vietnam
12:29 04/03/2009

      It is profitable period for Vietnamese tourism with a large number of international cruise vessels docking in the country.

The latest to arrive was the five-star Princess Sapphire which docked Wednesday in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, south of Ho Chi Minh City, with 3,000 tourists.

The visitors traveled to HCMC to explore the thriving southern metro and scour for souvenirs and other items.

They are thought to have spent hundreds of millions of dong (VND100 million= US$6,250) in the single day they were in the city.

HCMC tourism companies said they had received foreign tourists in droves recently with other luxury vessels like the Spirit of Adventure, Costa Marina, and Nautica touching down in the city.

Apart from the vessels visiting Vietnam regularly, there are also plans for new vessels to arrive in tourist ports like HCMC, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Ha Long Bay.

Cassancha Mani, Princess Sapphire’s tour manager, said Vietnam should focus on setting up modern tourism facilities in HCMC, Nha Trang, Danang and other places, saying this would be a crucial factor in attracting tourists.

Source: Tuoi Tre – Translated by An Dien

Source : thanhniennews.com