2025 is forecasted to be a promising year for cruise tourism with an impressive increase in the number of visitors to the city. In order to effectively exploit the potential source of visitors from this market segment, the Da Nang tourism industry has promoted synchronous solutions for order and safety at pick-up and drop-off points, along with diversified tourism promotion strategies.

The Tien Sa Port welcomes many cruise ships, carrying thousands of passengers to Da Nang. Photo: HA THU

According to records, since the beginning of 2025, the Tien Sa port has welcomed many cruise ships carrying tens of thousands of passengers to Da Nang, including many luxury ones.

Specifically, in January, the Noordam cruise ship brought nearly 2,000 European and American tourists to the Tien Sa port. The Noordam cruise ship is one of four ships in the Vista Class of Holland American Line, with a length of 285.29m and 11 floors serving 924 rooms, providing visitors with a classy experience with restaurants, spas, swimming pools and rich entertainment activities.

In February, the Adora Cruise ship brought 2,400 tourists from Guangzhou port (China) to the Da Nang port. The Adora Cruise is the largest cruise line in China, owning a ship with a capacity of 5,600 passengers, equivalent to the world's largest cruise lines such as Costa and Royal Caribean... In March, the Adora Mediterranea ship carrying 2,200 Chinese tourists arrived at the Tien Sa port.

In 2024, the Da Nang cruise tourism recorded impressive growth with 35 cruises and 42,500 passengers (2.3 times higher than in 2023). 2025 is expected to thrive even more. The Tien Sa port is estimated to welcome about 76 cruise ship arrivals with a total of more than 70,000 passengers, an increase of 64% from the year earlier, promising a successful year for the Da Nang cruise tourism.

The number of ships continuously docking at the Tien Sa Port, Da Nang shows that cruise tourism is recovering and growing rapidly. This is a continuous effort exerted by the city’s administration as well as travel agencies in improving infrastructure and adding more tourism products to better serve tourists.

Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Tourism Tan Van Vuong said that to ensure that international tourists visiting the city by cruise ship have the best experiences, the tourism industry has coordinated with agencies and cruise ship operating businesses to deploy many synchronous solutions on security, order, arranging pick-up and drop-off locations for tourists at the Tien Sa Port and the APEC Park, along with organising welcomes, presenting flowers, souvenirs and experience vouchers to the cruise ship passengers.

At the same time, the city’s tourism industry has also renewed many products, provided publications and answered questions about Da Nang tourism for free, thereby promoting the image of friendly and hospitable Vietnamese tourism to international friends.

According to the World Tourism Organisation's forecast, cruise tourism by 2030 will tend to develop strongly in the Asian region. Notably, this type of tourism brings in about 40% more revenue than air or road tourism.

However, currently, due to the short stopover time in Da Nang, tourists spend time visiting famous destinations such as the Marble Mountains Scenic Area, the Linh Ung Son Tra Pagoda, the Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture, the My Khe Beach and exploring the city by cyclo; exploring the Sun World Ba Na Hills - Da Nang and Hoi An (Quang Nam Province). Therefore, according to many opinions, to become an ideal destination for international super yachts, Da Nang needs to invest in infrastructure, services and have a reasonable visa policy...

According to Mr. Cao Tri Dung, the Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association, the characteristics of cruise tourists are that their stay is not long and they often look for cultural experiences and shopping.

To meet the increasing trend of cruise ship passengers, the city needs to soon have a project to develop more wharves for cruise ships; attract large investors, build entertainment and high-end shopping centres, attract large brands to stimulate tourists' spending and have a visa policy to extend their stay on shore to increase spending in the city.

Reporting by HA THU - Translating by ANH THU, PTRA