Seminar talks cruise tourism development

Published: 16:49 Monday - June 10, 2013

Over 100 representatives from the tourism sector met in Khanh Hoa province on June 9 discussing how Vietnam can become a more attractive destination for foreign cruise tourists.

The seminar, themed “Developing cruise tourism,” was organized by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) in conjunction with the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa province.

VNAT Director General Nguyen Van Tuan highlighted Vietnam’s important position on the East Sea transport line as a considerable advantage for the country to develop cruise tourism.

According to VNAT statistics, Vietnam welcomed over 285,000 cruise travellers in 2012, six times more than in 2011. In the first five months of this year, the number was already 51 percent higher than in the same period last year.

However, the number of tourists remains unstable, sometimes dropped drastically since 1999, due to the global economic downturn and Vietnam’s poorly-designed programmes to attract travel agencies and tourists.

A representative from the Singapore Tourism Board said that cruise tourism is becoming increasingly popular in Asia and Vietnam and other coastal ASEAN countries should capitalize. 25 new ships are revealed to be built in the continent, increasing the capacity in the cruise tourism sector by 15 percent before 2017.

The representative suggested Vietnam should promptly invest in upgrading its infrastructure, technology and human resources, while also implementing reforms to customs procedures.

Participants at the seminar also discussed how the country could diversify the activities it offers tourists and enhance its image internationally to potential visitors. They exchanged their experience and proposed establishing a market resource network for cruise travellers.

VNA/VOV online