Possessing
a dense river and canal network and modern wharf system, but HCM City still
cannot develop its waterway tourism.
The Committee for Researching and Developing
Tourism Products under the HCM City Tourism Association has said the city must
not waste the big advantages and that it is discussing the measures to develop
waterway tourism in the city.
Nguyen Thi Khanh, Deputy Chair of the
association, said that there are a lot of gardens growing flowers, ornamental
trees and traditional craft villages along the Saigon River and other rivers of
the same system, which could be used as tourism destinations. However, Khanh
said, in order to turn the potentials into reality, the city needs to make
heavy investment in services, waterway tourism infrastructure, vehicles and
labor force.
She has stressed that, if the problems can be
settled, the successful cooperation between the gardens’ owners and travel
firms to develop waterway tourism in HCM City is absolutely within reach
In fact, according to the HCM City Department
for Culture, Sports and Tourism, the city’s authorities have been paying the
special attention to develop waterway tourism since 2008 in order to create new
products to attract travelers. However, the development plan has been stuck due
to the barriers in the stations, fleets, and sight-seeing points.
At present, HCM City is developing the
waterway tourism route which departs at the Bach Dang station in district 1,
while the Ham Long Craftsmen Village in district 2 is the final destination.
However, the route still cannot attract many travelers.
The city is considering opening a new route to
Can Gio district, the destination which is believed to bring great potentials
to the city’s tourism with the perfect ecosystem in the mangrove areas
(currently the biosphere reserves of the world).
The ideas of providing the services of
kayaking or traveling with express cruise have been put forward and applauded
by experts, who believe that the services would help attract a lot of
travelers.
The HCM City People’s Committee has decided to
set up three stops for tourists in Tam Thon Hiep Commune, the subdivision No 2
and the small section No 19 in Can Gio district.
Khanh said that travel firms have joined
forces with the HCM City Department for Agriculture and Rural Development to
survey the gardens and the craft villages along the rivers.
“The gardens and craft villages can serve travelers
very well. The only thing that needs to be done now is to build roads to the
gardens and design more services,” Khanh said.
As planned, after the latest survey conducted by
the tourism association, the list of the gardens capable to develop into the
destinations for waterway tourism would be submitted to the city’s authorities
for approval.
Not only trying to develop waterway tourism in
the city, HCM City is also considering joining forces with Binh Duong province
to set up the routes from Bach Dang station to Cu Chi tunnel and Thu Dau Mot
district in Binh Duong.
HCM City’s authorities have been making hectic
preparations for the plan to develop water way tourism. The HCM City Tourism Association
has established the yacht club which has gathered 20 members, who are the
owners of yachts and the enterprises who provide yacht services.
Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Chair of the HCM City
People’s Committee, has emphasized that tourism is one of the nine service
sectors that HCM City focuses to develop in order to create an added value
growth rate of 12 percent per annum and more.
The city is striving to obtain 60 trillion dong
in revenue from tourism, and receive four million foreign tourists.
C. V
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment