Boasting many rivers stretching from rural to urban areas, Da Nang has great potential for promoting the development of inland waterway tourism. Taking the advantages of the city’s tourism industry is in collaboration with functional local bodies to make positive changes for new inland waterway tourism breakthroughs in the coming time.

At weekends, there are a large number of passengers onboard tourists boats to watch the dragon’s head breathing fire and squirting water at the eastern end of the Rong (Dragon) Bridge.

According to the latest figures released by the municipal Department of Tourism, there are now 17 tourist boats operating on the Han River-Tran Thi Ly Bridge route and 6 others travelling on the Han River-Hon Chao route.

In particular, following instructions from the municipal administration, from 1 January onwards, under 50-seater tourist boats will be banned from operating on the Han River-Tran Thi Ly Bridge route.

Permission from the municipal authorities was given for boat tour operators to build 26 new tourist boats whose accommodation capacity and designs are in line with the city’s standards. 17 of them have been already put into use to date.

Mr Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Director of Omega Tours company, who has experienced river-based tourism products in many countries worldwide, highly praised the allure of the iconic Han River. He, however, pointed out some shortcomings in the performance of inland waterway tourism.

In reality, the city is still facing a shortage of tourist boat piers and wharves, attractive waterway tourism products, luxury ships serving high-end passengers. He suggested that new 5-star river cruisers should be developed to offer sightseeing tours up and down the Han River giving passengers the chance to enjoy the beauty of the city’s bridges at night and overnight premium tours to the Da Nang Bay.

As one of the enterprises with vessels operating on the Han River - Tran Thi Ly Bridge, Mr Chau Anh Dung, a managerial official from the city-based Bao Duy Shipbuilding JSC said, in recent times, the number of passengers taking sightseeing boat tours on the Han River is quite high. It, however, only gives passengers the chance to admire beautiful bridges spanning the Han River at night, and to watch the dragon’s head breathe firing and squirting water at the eastern end of the Rong (Dragon) Bridge at weekends. In a bid to catch more their attention, the Bao Duy company-operated boasts now offer a wide range of entertainment services, including musical performances, drinking and eating, and Cham Apsara dancing performances.

As for his constructive recommendations, Mr Dung highlighted the significance of developing public utilities and services along the both banks of the Han River so that passengers can take photos, go shopping, and experience memorable travel moments, instead of just going sightseeing as currently.

The municipal government has asked the city’s Department of Tourism to develop more tourist sites and products on inland waterway transportation routes during the 2019-2021 period.

The focus should be on diversifying services being offered on tourist boats, enhancing professional skills of boat skippers and crew members, diversifying inland waterway tours, thereby promoting cultural and historical values for the sake of tourism development, create job opportunities for locals.