Da Nang’s waterways have the potential to develop tourism but have yet to be developed to its full potential. The main reason is thought to be that existing services on Da Nang’s inland waterways are quite monotonous, and there are no new tours and waterway routes to satisfy the increasing demand of tourists.

The city leaders conducting a survey on services on inland waterways in Hoa Vang District’s Tuy Loan Village

Head of the city’s Waterway Tourism Association Dang Hoa said, over the past month, services on the city’s inland waterways have seen low passenger numbers due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Hoa highlighted the importance of developing new attractive services on the city’s inland waterways to attract more visitors to the city.

“The focus should be on launching new waterway tours to the Da Nang Bay and the Son Tran Peninsula that will help tourists admire the immense grandeur and magnificence of the nature the city is blessed with” Mr Hoa said.

Mr Le Van Phu, the owner of the Phu Quy tourist boat, highlighted new inland waterway tourism tours in the daytime and nighttime to satisfy growing demand of visitors.

Mr Phu also underlined the significance of developing tours to the historical relic site K20 in Ngu Hanh Son District and Thai Lai Village in Hoa Vang District to encourage the use of the city’s waterways for tourism and enable it achieve its full potential.

Chairman of the municipal Travel Association Cao Tri Dung highlighted the significance of building more tourist boat piers and wharves to further the development of boat tours and make them more inviting to tourists.

Tourists on a tourist boat

According to Deputy Director of the city’s Tourism Department Nguyen Xuan Binh, there are now 29 tourist boats operating on the Han River. All of them are newly-built boats and meet the service standards for tourists.

In the time ahead, representatives from the tourism departments of Da Nang and Thua Thien Hue Province will conduct surveys on the tourism potential of the Hon Chao, Ma Da and Sung Co tourist sites in the two localities in order to create new tourism products and diversify tourism services on their inland waterways.

Besides, importance will be attached to upgrading the former Han River Port, and converting the former Song Thu Port into a secondary port connecting with the Nguyen Van Troi pedestrian bridge and public parks at its eastern and western ends.

Most recently, the Da Nang Department of Tourism has already released a code of conduct applicable to transport and tourist boat service providers in a bid to enhance the efficiency and professionalism of inland waterway transportation services. 

By NHAT HA - Translated by M.DUNG