60 international cruise ships with a total of some 80,000 passengers aboard have registered to dock at Ha Long International Port in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh this year, VNA citied the provincial Department of Tourism.

Renowned names include Mein Schiff 6 & 5, Celebrity Solstice, Noordam, MSC Spendida, and Westerdam.

Earlier, Portuguese-flagged cruise liner Vasco Da Gama carrying 650 German tourists, and Celebrity Solstice of Malta nationality with 3,000 European and American passengers made port call in the locality on the last day of 2023 to welcome New Year’s Eve.

Other two cruise ships, Zhao Shang Yi Dun from China and Westerdam from the Netherlands, brought nearly 2,200 Chinese, European, and American visitors to Ha Long city on January 4.

Cruise tourism has been on a good recovery. Photo: VNA

Those marked the post-pandemic recovery of the cruise tourism sector.

The cruise tourism season usually starts in October and ends in April. In the last three months of 2023, Quang Ninh welcomed 23 cruise liners with 23,000 tourists.

Meanwhile, 13 cruise ships carrying nearly 20,000 foreign passengers on board have registered to add Ha Long as a port of call in January this year. Notably, Celebrity Solstice has marked its return in Ha Long for the eighth time since October, and Zhao Shang Yi Dun the eighth time since November 2023.

The international cruise liners will diversify tourist resources in Quang Ninh province and Vietnam as a whole, especially in low travel season.

Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Tourism Nguyen Huyen Anh said the office has joined hands with others to facilitate immigration procedures and offer the best services to foreign visitors.

With a view to luring more cruise tourists, Quang Ninh will roll out new products such as an exhibition space that spotlights the culture of Dao Thanh Y ethnic minority group in Uong Bi city, Ha Long City Tour, and a tour to discover coal mining sites.

Besides, the department has ordered relevant quarters to pay due attention to developing tourism infrastructure, expanding market, introducing local immigration policy, while launching new offerings to lengthen visitors’ stay and increase their spending.

Endowed with natural advantages for marine tourism, Quang Ninh boasts a coastline of over 250 kilometres and more than 2,000 islands of various sizes that account for two-thirds of the total in Vietnam.

In particular, Ha Long Bay, literally “the bay of descending dragons”, is recognised as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO twice, in 1994 for its globally outstanding aesthetic merit and in 2000 for its geological - geomorphological value.

Quang Ninh aims to turn tourism into a spearhead and sustainable economic sector and attract at least 25.5 - 26 million visitors, including about 8.6 - 9 million foreigners, by 2030.

It targets between 16 million and 17.5 million tourist arrivals by 2024 and 2025, including at least 3 million and 4.5 million international guests, respectively.

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