Endowed about 1,000 km of rivers and canals functioning as inland waterway transportation routes, Ho Chi Minh City holds a strategic position in waterway tourism development. However, the development of this tourism sector is still well short of its potential because jetties and departure lounges are insufficient and substandard for tourism development.
According to statistics from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city of Vietnam welcomes more than 3 million foreign tourists. However, the waterway transportation service only serves just over 32,000 travellers. Thus, waterway tourist arrivals account for a very small percentage.
“Do it yourself”
Mr An Son Lam, Director of Indochina Sailboat Company, said he has run yachting service and a floating restaurant on the Saigon River for eight years. At first, he had one boat but now he operates up to ten boats, plus smaller feeder vessels. But, his company had to spend VND2 billion building pontoons and piers. Meanwhile, most sailboats of the company must have mooring sites to anchor, but it has no official sites for anchoring.
Sharing this view, Mr Hoang Cam Giang, Sales Deputy Manager of Individual Customer Department, Saigontourist Company, said the space restriction - anchoring harbours - is also a cause to ineffective waterway tour operations. “Among six routes opened this phase, after one month, one route to Phu My Hung Township ended operations because of the lack of piers. Mooring buoys in other destinations can serve small boats, he added.
Another hindrance to waterway tours is old bridges like Binh Loi, Long Phu, Rach Ong and Dan Xay. If the water falls, the depth is not enough for big ships to sail. If the water rises, the height of bridges is not enough for ships to pass. Therefore, tour operators can only organise small boats with less than 25 passengers. However, expenses per capita on small boats are higher than bigger ones. Therefore, waterway tours are not suitable for domestic individuals, but companies or foreigners.
Enough buoys
Mr La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said riverway tourism development is seen as a breakthrough in developing tourism products and generating attractive tourist destinations in Ho Chi Minh City. For that reason, competent agencies have worked out the “Ho Chi Minh City Riverway Tourism Development Strategy” for the 2013-2015 period, with orientations towards 2020. This strategy requires VND1,000 billion investment from the State Budget and VND10,000 billion from other sources.
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Riverway tourism development is seen as a breakthrough in developing tourism products and generating attractive tourist destinations in Ho Chi Minh City.
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The city expects visitor arrivals by waterway to increase 20 percent annually and revenues to grow 30 percent. By 2020, waterway tourism will become a key tourism product.
From now to 2015, the city will renovate and build 50 wharfs and piers, develop 65 tourist attractions connected with waterway routes, and build three community tourism sites in Cu Chi district, Can Gio district and District 9.
P.N
Vietnamese
