Ho Chi Minh City strives to help waterway tourism flourish

On the afternoon of December 4, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism held a conference to deploy the plan to develop the city's waterway tourism products for the period 2023 - 2025. The program is part of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Week 2023 series.

At the conference, experts and businesses... together contributed ideas to develop more waterway tourism products in the coming time.

The conference to deploy the plan to develop waterway tourism products in Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2023-2025 took place on the afternoon of December 4.

Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that Ho Chi Minh City owns nearly 1,000 km of waterways with a canal system connecting with neighboring provinces such as Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Long An, Tien Giang, Ba Ria - Vung Tau and connecting with the Mekong Delta.

In the inner city area, Ho Chi Minh City has over 100 waterway routes and about 135 resources. Waterway tourism is a diverse and attractive tourism picture.

According to Ms. Hieu, the plan is that by 2025, Ho Chi Minh City will operate on all Saigon River routes connecting with Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tien Giang, Long An, Ben Tre provinces and inner-city routes. Thereby, the number of visitors in 2023 and 2024 will reach 500,000/year, revenue of 300 billion VND/year and increase by about 10% in the following years.

"By 2025, we strive to make waterway tourism one of the types of tourism and tourism products that will make a difference for Ho Chi Minh City," Ms. Hieu hopes.

Ms. Hieu added that Ho Chi Minh City is calling for strong investment in infrastructure, technology, wharves, ship mooring yards and arrangement and planning of wharves in the general planning development of Ho Chi Minh City in the period of 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2025.

Ho Chi Minh City River Festival contributes to developing typical tourism products in the city. Diversifying events and festivals to serve people and tourists. Photo by Chi Hung

Tourists enjoy sightseeing on the Saigon River and taking photos of the moment. Photo by Chi Hung

The city's tourism industry strives to have a total of 200 canoes, 100 ships, boats and yachts of all kinds serving tourists by 2025.

According to the Department of Tourism, the city currently has 17 waterway tourism products, of which the regular waterway tourism product group includes 7 routes and the new waterway tourism product group includes 10 routes.

Of the 17 routes, there are four mid-range waterway tourism routes departing from Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Duong and Dong Nai with routes passing through golf courses with the aim of serving golf tourism.

According to Mr. Dang Ngo Qua Hai, Deputy Head of the Waterway Traffic Management Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, the city is currently operating waterway passenger transport routes such as Bach Dang - Linh Dong, Bach Dang - Binh Duong, Bach Dang - Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

The Department is gradually building connection points to connect with the Mekong Delta provinces, especially with Tien Giang province.

"The Department of Transport will work together to soon call for investors and speed up the construction progress of this route," said Mr. Hai.

With its inherent advantages, Ho Chi Minh City will soon open three more waterway passenger transport routes combined with tourism to Binh Duong, Con Dao and Tien Giang. Photo by Chi Hung

Mr. Nguyen Tran Huu Thang, General Secretary of Thu Duc City Yacht Club, commented that preserving and sustainably developing the Saigon River is an urgent issue that is of interest to the tourism and transportation sectors. It is expected that in the near future, the Saigon River will be bustling with trade and connections.

According to Mr. Thang, the Green Water Taxi project plan is to be developed in cities with rivers, creating a network of water taxis and developing a mobile application to automatically call Green Water Taxi.

Green Water Taxi, powered by electricity and solar energy, will help reduce road traffic, reduce pollution and create a new means of transportation for local and foreign residents and tourists.

In order to develop tourism along the entire route, striving to make waterway tourism one of the types of tourism and tourism products that create a difference by 2025, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has issued a document requesting departments, districts and Thu Duc City to implement the contents of the thematic conference on developing passenger transport, combining waterway tourism in the city.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/tphcm-no-luc-giup-du-lich-duong-thuy-khoi-sac-192231204210002854.htm