The five-star cruise ship will visit Thua Thien-Hue with most passengers coming from China by laissez-passers, said Ngo Hoa, vice chairman of the province.

At the same time, other localities such as Da Nang and Quang Ninh will welcome a number of voyages from the same five-star cruise ship departing from Hainan Island, China.

“Since this is the first time Star Cruises has run its scheduled routes to Hue with such a great number of travelers, we will definitely apply some priorities for Saigontourist Travel Service Co., which has arranged for the presence of Star Cruises,” noted Hoa.

The number of customers that Star Cruises will carry to Hue is more than the total number of visitors to the locality by sea in the first nine months of the year, which was 19,300 tourists, up 13.6% year-on-year.

According to Hoa, the local authority and Saigontourist will meet on October 18 to work out incentives for the latter as well as mapping out more attractive tourism programs in the locality.

Apart from the 30,000 Star Cruises visitors, Chan May Port is expected to welcome 10-15 international cruises with 350-400 visitors each time under the arrangement of Tan Hong Tourism Co., Ltd.

Thus, Thua Thien-Hue is petitioning the Government for the construction of a second quay at Chan May Port.

Star Cruises formerly had scheduled routes to Vietnam.

Source: The Saigon times