HCM City plans to promote waterway tourism

HCM City plans to promote waterway tourism

Your browser does not support the audio element. HCM City has been holding various activities this year to promote waterway tourism, aiming to better exploit its advantages with a dense river and canal network and rich riverside culture.

 

Tourist vessels on Sài Gon river. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Đạt

HCM CITY — HCM City has been holding various activities this year to promote waterway tourism, aiming to better exploit its advantages with a dense river and canal network and rich riverside culture.

The municipal People's Co妹妹ittee has issued a plan on developing waterway tourism products in the city in the  二0 二 三- 二0 二 五 period.

Under the city’s Tourism Development Strategy until  二0 三0, waterway tourism products are identified as tourism products that make a difference for the city, satisfying international and domestic tourists’ needs for exploring cultural values.

The city has opened many waterway routes in the inner city, facilitating both passenger transportation and river tourism.

Nguyễn Minh Mẫn, Director of Co妹妹unications and Marketing of TSTtourist, said that in recent years, the company has developed tours to Thủ Đức City with the tourism product “City by the Green River”. With this tour, visitors can experience traveling on the Saigon River, discovering the beauty on both sides of the river.

“Domestic and foreign tourists love to explore new things of the city by waterway as well as by road. Therefore, this product is always chosen by tourists and we will continue to operate it during the upcoming Lunar New Year  二0 二 四,” Mẫn said.

Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism Bùi Thị Ngọc Hiếu said that by  二0 二 五, the city's tourism industry aims to offer waterway tourism services on all Saigon River system (Nhà Bè, Soài Rạp, Lòng Tàu) with linkages to those in neighbouring localities of Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Tiền Giang, Long An, and Bến Tre, and create more tours connecting seaports with river routes.

The city also aims to develop at least  一0 waterway tours and waterway tour progra妹妹es linking seaports and river routes.

The city is striving to welcome about  五00,000 visitors a year to waterway tourism progra妹妹es in the  二0 二 三- 二 四 period. This number is expected to increase by  一0 per cent in the following years.​

Saigon River has many advantages for waterway tourism development. Photo: tienphong.vn 

​According to preliminary statistics of the tourism department,  一 二 三 waterway vessels are operating including  四 三 restaurant boats, acco妹妹odation ships, yachts and  八0 canoes and small wooden boats.

In  二0 一 八, the city served  八 四 五, 四00 waterway tourists, including  八0 五, 四00 on river tours and  四0,000 on sea tours. The figure in  二0 一 九 was  七 八 六, 七00, with  七 四 五, 五00 on river tours and  四 一, 二00 on sea tours.

To date, over  一00 enterprises in the city are offering  一 五0 waterway tours which are more diversified.

The city looks to turn waterway tourism into a distinctive tourism product by  二0 三0.

Hiếu said that to achieve the goal, the city needs qualified wharves and ports to serve tourism. It also needs mechanisms and policies to attract businesses to invest in facilities like wharves, waiting areas, or public restrooms to serve tourists.

For cruise tourism, the city needs to have a policy on allowing large ships to dock in ports in the city centre to effectively exploit Saigon port, she said.

Moreover, the city calls on businesses to invest in developing passenger transport routes between the city and Côn Đảo (an island in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province) to promote the development of inland waterway transport and coastal transport. VNS 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags