Number of cruise ship tourists to Vietnam sees strong recovery

The volume of international visitors coming to Vietnam by sea in March rose by over 2.8 times compared to the previous month, according statistics of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

A series of cruise ships docked at the ports in Nha Trang, Da Nang, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh City and Quang Ninh in the period. Most tourists came from Europe and Asia.

Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship, one of the world's top ten most luxurious, docked at Tan Cang-Cai Mep port in the central province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau February 26-27. The vessel carried more than 3,800 passengers, with most that entered Vietnam this time hailing from the US, the UK, Australia, and Singapore. This was the 7th international cruise ship and the one that carried the largest number of tourists to make landfall in Ba Ria-Vung Tau so far this year.

In early March, the resort city of Nha Trang in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa received the Silver Muse, a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship, which carried 333 foreign passengers. Most of the passengers are from Germany, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Thailand, and China.

The provincial Department of Tourism said the recovering number of visitors to the locality by sea from many countries offers a good opportunity for Khanh Hoa to promote its tourism to international holidaymakers, especially those from Europe.

According to Vietnam's tourism development strategy in 2020, with a vision to 2030, the country is giving priority to developing sea and island tourism.

Famous coastal tourist destinations across the country such as Ha Long - Cat Ba, Son Tra - Hoi An, Nha Trang - Cam Ranh, Phan Thiet - Mui Ne, and Phu Quoc boast great potential to compete with coastal tourist destinations in the region and Asia in attracting foreign cruise ships.

Vietnam’s tourism sector earned an estimated 132.7 trillion VND (over 5.65 billion USD) in revenue in the first quarter of 2023.

The country served 2.7 million foreign visitors in the period. The RoK ranked first in the number of tourists to Vietnam, followed by the US, Thailand, and China./.

VNA