During this year’s cruise ship season from January to May, Da Nang is expecting to welcome more than 100,000 passengers from over 100 cruise ships, which is a near 3-fold increase on the previous season.

Over the first 2 months of this year, the city has been busy receiving many international cruise ships, allowing their passengers to discover the beauty of Viet Nam’s coastal cities.  Most notably, these cruise ships have included the Henna, the SuperStar Gemini, and the Costa Victoria which visit Da Nang every week.

During the peak tourism season from January to March, the city is likely to welcome up to 5 cruise ships per week, each carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 passengers.

Providing information for foreign cruise ship passengers

Almost all the cruise ship passengers stay in Da Nang only for the day.  As a result, their spending in the city is only between 30 and 50 USD per person per day.

It is thought that the main reason is that the city’s tourism souvenirs are not diversified or attractive enough.  In addition, local souvenir shops are too small, so they cannot provide enough space for hundreds of shoppers at the same time. 

The city tours by cyclo have only attracted a small number of middle-class tourists, whilst they do not attract the higher classes.

The municipal People's Committee Chairman, Mr Van Huu Chien, said that tourism is one of the city’s spearhead economic sectors.  Top priority should be given to promoting the development of new types of luxury tourism to advertise the city's image to even more international friends.