Khanh Hoa Tourism Department said that this year there will be 43 ships choosing Nha Trang Bay as a berthing point to bring tourists ashore for sightseeing, exploring the city of Nha Trang. These are all high-class, luxurious cruise ships, mostly with Bahamian, Maltes, Marshall Island, Ukrainian, French, Italian nationalities… Among them are many large ships, serving thousands of tourists at the same time, such as Spectrum of The Seas, Quantum of the Seas with a capacity of 4,000 passengers…
INTRODUCING NEW PRODUCTS
Currently, tourism businesses and units of Khanh Hoa Tourism have designed many tours and sightseeing programs to serve tourists. With city tours, in addition to familiar destinations such as Po Nagar Tower, Long Son Pagoda, Dam Market…, visitors are also taken to high-rise hotels to admire Nha Trang city from above, visit Truong Son Craft Village to learn about traditional handicrafts, enjoy ethnic musical performances…
In addition to familiar tours such as City Tour, Cyclo Tour, Island Tour, Cycling to explore the rural areas around Nha Trang…, cruise travel agencies also expand tours to Dien Khanh district with the focus on Memento Tourism Area in Dien Hoa commune…
According to the observation of travel agencies, tourists from Europe, America… are very excited when visiting traditional crafts, listening to ethnic musical performances at Truong Son Craft Village. Many tourists are also enthusiastic about playing traditional folk games, learning how to play musical instruments. Some cruise ship groups also visit the Oceanography Museum to learn about the sea, the sovereignty of Vietnam over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos through the topic “Presence on the East Sea”…
Mr. Bui Minh Thang, Phuong Thang Tourism and Commerce Services Co., Ltd. – specializing in serving tours for international cruise passengers, said that in January and February 2024, the company expected to welcome 12 cruise ships. “It can be said that cruise tourism is recovering strongly after 2 years of the pandemic, both in Ha Long, Hue, Da Nang, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa,” Mr. Thang said. “Nha Trang has the advantage of being a port located right in the city, so travel is very convenient compared to some other places.”
Mr. Bui Minh Thang evaluated that currently, shipping companies are focusing on building new cruise ships. This creates a competitive environment, thereby reducing the price of cruise tours to meet the needs of middle-class customers. Previously, the price of a cruise tour was about 3,000 USD, but now it is only about 2,000 USD. Previously, the main customers were from Europe, America, Australia, but now many Asian countries are participating.
This is a golden opportunity to develop tourism and boost the local economy with accompanying services. “On average, each visitor to Nha Trang spends about 100 USD per day excluding other expenses. Some guests spend hundreds to thousands of USD when buying pearls,” Mr. Thang said.
EXPLOITING POTENTIALS AND ADVANTAGES
On February 21, Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, Director of Khanh Hoa Tourism Department, said that many large ships coming to Nha Trang in the first two months of the year is a positive signal, towards a new year full of optimism for international tourism to Khanh Hoa and marine tourism in Vietnam in general.
Khanh Hoa identifies that in the future, cruise passengers are one of the main and important customer sources of the province’s tourism industry. The provincial tourism industry has directed tourism units to promote communication and improve the quality of human resources; encourage localities and businesses to build characteristic products, develop ecological tourism, community-based tourism combined with exploring and experiencing local culture to serve international visitors, including cruise tourists.
“The survey of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) shows that cruise tourism has a turnover value higher than 40% compared to air or road tourism. This is also the reason why cruise tourism is preferred by developed countries around the world,” Ms. Le Thanh said. “In Vietnam, the Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy for the period 2020 – 2030 identifies coastal and island tourism as a priority. Vietnam has favorable geographical location on the maritime transportation line of the region, owns a coastline of 3,260km, more than 4,000 islands…, which are conditions for becoming the cruise tourism center of Asia.”
To welcome and better serve international cruise passengers in 2024, Khanh Hoa province will have a suitable investment strategy, from port infrastructure, services, tourist attractions, to tourism products… At the same time, the locality suggests the need for a separate visa mechanism for waterway entry, and at the same time plans potential investment areas, building large international ports, thereby linking regions to organize attractive service products for longer stays.
Currently, according to representatives of international travel companies such as Saigontourist Nha Trang branch, Phuong Thang Tourism and Commerce Services Co., Ltd., Tictours International Travel Co…, large tourist attractions are all competing in welcoming this high-class customer stream because in addition to direct benefits, it also has a great significance in promoting communication and promotion. Therefore, Khanh Hoa needs to renovate the port infrastructure early to facilitate the arrival of ships and increase competitiveness for Nha Trang tourism in the coming years.
