HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam’s sea tourism sector has reported annualgrowth of only 2 percent to 3 percent, while other Asian countries havewitnessed robust growth in cruise tourism in recent years.

In 2018, Saigontourist Travel Service Co provided services to about 474,000cruise travellers, up by 12 percent compared with 2017.

In the first two months of this year, the company welcomed big groups of cruisetravelers including 3,500 Chinese visitors from Hong Kong who came on the WorldDream Cruise Ship, and more than 11,500 travellers from Hong Kong, the US, UKand France on board cruise ships such as the Celebrity Constellation, CelebrityMillennium and World Dream.

Saigontourist Travel Service Co took the cruise travellers to visit famoustourist sites across Vietnam.

According to the manager of a travel service company headquartered in HCM City,most cruise travelers are from middle-class families that have few occasions tospend their money on cruise ships. Each of them spends an average of 100 USD duringtheir 10-hour trip ashore.

However, the souvenir shops and business centres at the places these cruisetravelers visited were not attractive to them, the manager said.

[Video: Da Nang eyes cruise tourism development]

Authorities are concerned about the lack of wharves in Vietnam and HCM City inparticular for cruise ships, which have to dock at cargo piers that serve cargoships.

The country now has only one harbour for cruise ships, which was built andopened in the northern province of Quang Ninh in late 2018.

Ha Bich Lien, advisor at Royal Caribbean Cruises Tld, noted that HCM City isthe major destination for cruise travelers to Vietnam, though cruise ships haveto dock at Phu My Port in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, which is busy receivingcontainer ships.

In the first three months of the year, Phu My Port is expected to welcome 12cruise trips, bringing in about 36,000 visitors.

Lien said the lack of ports for large ships to dock prevents more cruisepassengers from coming to HCM City. The city has thus missed a chance toattract high-spending cruise passengers, mostly from Europe, who spend anaverage of 100 USD a day, she added.

The city’s authorities should quickly resolve this problem, she said.

According to a spokesman for the HCM City Department of Tourism, while awaitingconstruction of a port for cruise ships in the city, these ships will continueto dock at ports in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. Passengers from the cruiseships are then transported to HCM City by bus.

With such services provided to cruise passengers, HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Taulose a lot of money because they are not earning big profits from theseservices, according to Phan Xuan Anh, an advisor from Tan Hong Travel Co.-VNS/VNA