Unique tour design

Attracting people and tourists

After a recent dinner on a cruise along the Saigon River with his family, Nguyen Vu (34 years old, living in Binh Thanh District) "made an appointment" with his colleagues to continue the experience. "The boat departs from District 1 at 7:30 p.m., guests have about 2 hours to have dinner and enjoy music. From the cruise, we can watch the sparkling lights of the city at night and enjoy the cool, fresh space on the Saigon River without being too crowded or noisy," he commented.

He said that the prices of dishes and cruise tickets are higher than those of restaurants along the river, but in return, customers have many new experiences. "The boat returns to shore early and many sections of the river have no scenery, which makes customers not really feel satisfied," he said.

Mr. Vu Minh Tan (50 years old, a tourist from Nha Trang) also commented: "After a day of jostling on the busy, noisy streets, having dinner on a restaurant boat running along the Saigon River is an interesting experience, very cool, peaceful, I took many pictures with the symbols of the City".

Not only restaurant boats, many groups of young people also invite each other to take the waterbus during the day or at night for only 15,000 VND to check-in and sightsee. Because of this "student" price and the continuous boat schedule from Bach Dang Waterway Station, the service is chosen by many people.

TP.HCM đánh thức tiềm năng du lịch sông nước: Thiết kế tour độc đáo - Ảnh 1. — Ho Chi Minh City aims to develop waterway tourism products into one of the tourism products that create a difference.

Mr. Tran Quang Duy, CEO of Penguin Travel Service Company, said that in the past, when mentioning Ho Chi Minh City, people only thought of highlights such as Notre Dame Cathedral, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum... Therefore, when offering a new and unique travel experience such as a river tour, it attracted attention, especially from international visitors.

"Tourists really like to experience dinner tours, dining on the Saigon River, admiring the magical beauty of the Saigon River at night. In addition, international visitors are also interested in other tour products such as Nhieu Loc Canal, traditional tours of Cu Chi, Can Gio. Visitors really need unique experiences that bring a new, unique and attractive feeling," Mr. Duy commented.

Diverse waterway tours

Ms. Tran Thi Bao Thu, Director of Marketing and Communications Department, Vietluxtour Travel, said that the company initially opened river tours to serve the inbound market, but gradually domestic tourists also favored this type of tour and often chose the tour for weekend entertainment activities for family groups.

"If this type of product is diversified, it will attract not only international and domestic tourists but also local people," Ms. Thu commented.

With 4 main rivers flowing through the area: Saigon, Dong Nai, Long Tau and Soai Rap, Ho Chi Minh City has a waterway network connecting neighboring provinces such as Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, Long An, Tien Giang, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and the Mekong Delta. Therefore, the city can both exploit waterway transportation and has great potential to develop this relatively new type of waterway tourism.

According to the draft Plan for developing waterway tourism products in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2023 - 2025, the city strives to have a total of 200 canoes, 100 ships, boats and yachts of all kinds by 2025.

To achieve the above goal, the city's tourism industry focuses on improving and enhancing existing waterway tourism products such as: Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe inner-city tourism route; Binh Quoi route, Cu Chi and Can Gio tourism routes (departing from Bach Dang Wharf)... At the same time, focusing on developing new waterway tourism routes in the city and connecting to the Southeast and Western provinces or to Cambodia.

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