Arranged by the Ha Noi-based Viet Nam China International Travel Service Corporation, MSC Lirica cruise ship berthed at Da Nang’s Tien Sa Port on Monday morning.  The ship brought the first 2,000 international cruise ship passengers to the city on New Year's Day, all of whom are Chinese nationals.  

The municipal Tourism Department’s Director, Mr Ngo Quang Vinh (centre), warmly welcoming the first foreign cruise ship passengers

Some representatives of the municipal Department of Tourism presented flowers and tourism publications to welcome the first international cruise ship passengers to set foot in the city.

As scheduled, the ship left the city for other destinations in the morning of the same day.

By late this month, this cruise ship will have brought a total of 16,000 international passengers to the city, mainly Chinese ones, from over its 8 arrivals in the city.

Also on Monday morning, a welcome ceremony for the first 220 international air passengers to set foot in Da Nang on New Year’s Day, took place at the city’s International Airport.

The foreign first footers, the majority of whom are from South Korea, arrived on a direct Vietjet Air-operated flight VJ881 from Seoul.

Three of the first air passengers setting foot in the city received free-of-charge return tickets from Vietjet Air

Amongst the foreign air passengers, Mr Jeon Moo Jin from South Korea, was deeply touched by the warm welcome given by representatives from the city authorities.  He remarked that, during his 5-day stay in the city, he will take the opportunity to explore the beauty of the land, people and culture of the city, and vowed that he would visit this beautiful seaside city in the near future.

According to the latest figures released by the city’s Tourism Department, a total of about 6.6 million visitors arrived in the city in 2017, up 19% against the previous year and 4.8% higher than last year’s target.

The city earned 19.403 trillion VND in revenue from tourism last year, surpassing the year’s estimates set by the city by 4.9%.

In particular, the number of air passengers to the city last year climbed by 74,4% against the same period of the pervious year to 1,580,300.  By the end of last year, there had been a total of 15 scheduled and 14 charter direct international air routes connecting Da Nang with other destinations worldwide.

In addition, the city saw 78 cruise ship dockings at the Tien Sa Port, bringing a total of around 120,000 tourist passengers, a 46% rise year on year.

Mr Tran Chi Cuong, the municipal Tourism Department’s Vice Director, affirmed that the local tourism sector is expected to gain more breakthroughs this year, thereby securing the city’s position as a safe, friendly and civilised destination for visitors from both home and abroad.