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 per cent year on year to only 150,000, state media has said.
The sharp fall is attributed to a drop of up to 50 per cent 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, said the Travel Department of the National Administration of Tourism, adding that in this year, just nearly 70,000 Chinese travelers are expected.
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, Vu The Binh, head of the department 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 Halong and opening other new routes to the country," he also said.
Officials of the national tourism department last month also came to Singapore to meet the Singapore Tourism Board and a Singapore cruise company to seek cooperation. It is also making plan on cruise tourism development and will submit the scheme to the Government.
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 per cent more than in 2006. (SGT, VietNamNet)
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