VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s target of welcoming 300,000 international cruise passengers this year, as once seen in the golden year of 2002, has been far beyond reach as actual arrivals will likely fall 30% year on year to only 150,000, an official said.

The sharp fall is attributed to a drop of up to 50% in the number of cruise passengers from China, as visitors from this market last year surged to 150,000 compared to the total number of 224,000.

Vu The Binh, head of the department, told the Daily on Wednesday that most Chinese cruise passengers visited the country via the sea route in the northern region, especially via Quang Ninh Province. The sharp fall therefore hit northern travel firms hard, he said.

The travel department, however, still pins high hopes on arrivals from China, and will seek to lure guests from many other cities in the neighboring country, including Hainan Island, Fuchien and Shanghai, Binh said.

“We and some travel companies made a working trip to Hainan Island last month for developing the route between the island and Hạ Long and opening other new routes to the country,” he said.

Officials of the national tourism department last month also came to Singapore to meet the Singapore Tourism Board and a Singapore cruise company. During the trip, the Singapore partners pledged to help Vietnam develop the industry by sharing experiences in operating cruise terminals.

Pham Quang Hung, director of the International Cooperation Department, told the Daily that no terminals in Vietnam were designed to cater to the needs of cruise ships although the country needs to prepare for the cruise development.

Hung said the Singaporean consultants would make a fact-finding trip to Vietnam in February or March.

“First, they will make a survey to find suitable locations for such terminals,” he said and explained that after the trip the two sides could make a deal for developing the industry.

Hung said the national tourism department would work with those companies with the potential to build cruise terminals and submit the scheme to the Government.

“We think that the country’s tourism needs terminals in Quang Ninh, Danang and HCMC,” he said.

The idea to build major terminals for cruise ships has been suggested in many meetings but no further headway has been made.

Binh from the Travel Department, who also joined the Singapore trip, said that the two sides discussed cooperation to develop a circle route from Hong Kong to Singapore and Vietnam.

“The Singapore partner also wants cooperation because Vietnam is situated between North and South Asia, and near two cruise hubs of the region namely Singapore and Hong Kong,” he said.

Vietnam welcomed nearly 300,000 cruise passengers in 2002 but after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 the number has fallen strongly. Last year Vietnam welcomed around 224,400 passengers, just 1% more than in 2006.

(Source: SGT)