Da Nang has seen many positive changes in its river tourism since it was launched in 2009.  However, many local river tourism businesses are finding it very hard to access bank loans to build national standard tourist boats, train professional tour guides, and send their staff on boat driving courses.

By late 2012, in an effort to develop this type of tourism, the city’s authorities issued even more preferential policies for local river tourism businesses.  Accordingly, these businesses will receive loans from the Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam Bank for Social Policy, and the local Development and Investment Fund.   In addition, they will also be given funding for their insurance premiums.  Meanwhile, staff will enjoy free training courses on river tourism services.  30 million VND will be given from the city’s budget to those who want to convert their fishing boats into tourist boats.  The local authorities will also allow local river businesses to advertise their services at local tourist wharfs and in the mass media.  In addition, the businesses will be exempt from fees for using boat piers and anchorages for boats along the Han River.  However, they have not yet enjoyed the benefits from the above-mentioned preferential policies

River tourism boats

Two local tourist boats were damaged by the 11^th storm of last year.  Their owner, Mr Tran Van Minh, said that his boats were salvaged and repaired at a cost of over 270 million VND.  However, he received only 3 million VND from the city’s budget in mid April to mitigate the storm damage to his boats.  He added that he still finds it very difficult to access bank loans to build new boats.

According to the city’s regulations, local tourism companies which have been operating for over 2 years can receive loans to develop their businesses.  As a result, the Hoang Long Yen Company, which was established only a year ago, is not eligible for credit although it is operating effectively.  Many local businesses like this are in need of loans to improve their facilities and services.

Da Nang now has 12 river tourist boats, but the majority of them have been converted from low-capacity fishing vessels.  As a result, these boats are unsuitable for carrying a large number of passengers and they cannot operate well in bad weather.  All the owners of these boats want the local authorities to allow them to receive preferential loans to develop a professional fleet of boats to meet the increasing passenger demand.  This will help the city to attract more visitors, as well as make this type of tourism a special feature of the city’s tourism in the near future, which is one of the key targets set by the local tourism sector to implement the “Year for Businesses 2014” programme.