Vietnam urged to better develop sea tourism

The report presented by a Singaporean working group calls for comprehensive solutions to cope with problems such as seaport infrastructure, port management and travel agencies.

The report, which shows views of cruise ship businesses, the Singapore Tourism Board, the Singapore Cruise Centre and cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean International, is an outcome of two fact-finding trips by the group to local seaports and coastal destinations in 2009 and 2010 at the invitation of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

The report highlights Vietnam’s long coastline as a huge potential to attract visitors on yachts and cruise ships. For instance, for cruise tourists, the World Heritage-listed Ha Long Bay is a must-see destination.

From there, tourists can continue their journey southward along the Vietnamese coastline to see islands such as those offshore Nha Trang City or even along the Saigon River.

However, multiple high fees are discouraging cruise tourism. There are now no regulations on yacht visits, so local port authorities often collect various fees from yachts that make port calls in Vietnam.

This explains why foreign yachts often avoid cruising to Vietnam. The country has lost lots of opportunities because yacht owners often spend a lot when they arrive in a country thanks to their deep pockets, the report says.

The Singaporean experts thus urged clear-cut regulations on fees, taxes and licenses at all ports so that more yachts and cruise ships can travel along Vietnam’s coastline.

The experts said the Government and related agencies also needed to coordinate to develop plans for coastal tourism development.

A unit should be established to take charge of supervising provincial-level plans to avoid overlaps in development plans.

For example, when HCMC build more bridges to connect both banks of the downstream Saigon River in the future, big cruise ships cannot make their way through beneath the bridges.

The difficult passage of ships under the Phu My Bridge in HCMC and the cable car system in Nha Trang are also mentioned in the report.

In particular, the Phu My Bridge makes it impossible for cruise ships with a height of above 37.75 m to travel up the Saigon River to the city’s downtown area while the cable car system in Nha Trang prevents ships from entering Nha Trang Port.

One of the biggest obstacles for local cruise tourism development is the lack of specialized ports for large cruise ships. This forces cruise ships to use commercial ports.

However, the Singaporean experts conceded that the current tough economic conditions did make it difficult for Vietnam to develop specialized ports as huge amounts of capital would be needed.

The experts suggested using commercial ports for tourism purposes by developing basic facilities such as piers, restrooms and car parks.

HCMC is a gateway for cruise tourists to the southern region, especially Vung Tau City.

The experts also highly valued the development potentials of Phu Quoc Island and asked Phu Quoc to maintain its cultural identity rather than compete with other tourism islands like Phuket, Bali and Koh Samui.

An Thoi Port south of Phu Quoc Island is considered the most appropriate port to serve cruise ships.

Areas surrounding the port should be developed into a fishing village with markets, seafood restaurants and souvenir shops, and into eco-tourism destinations.