Southern metro cruise tourism up 140 percent

Star-cruise

Ho Chi Minh City has so far this year received a total of 12,000 tourists aboard cruise ships, putting the southern tourism destination far ahead of last year’s numbers.

The southern hub welcomed Italian cruise ship Costa Allergra, which docked at the Nha Rong port on Saturday with 1,200 visitors from Italy, Germany and France.

The visitors were scheduled to tour several sites in Vietnam, including HCMC and My Tho city in the south, and Nha Trang, Danang, Hoi An and Hue in central region.

This is Costa Allergra’s third visit bringing European tourists to Vietnam under a cooperation program with SaigonTourist, Vietnam’s largest tourist company.

SaigonTourist alone received 7,000 cruise tourists in the first five months of this year, triple the same period last year.

The company June 22 welcomed the SuperStar Gemini, owned by Australia’s Star Cruises, which brought 750 visitors for arranged tours to HCMC and My Tho, the capital of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

Reported by Tr. Binh, Cam Nhi – Translated by Thu Thuy