Hue receives 1st luxury cruise ship of 2024

After arriving on shore the visitors, mostly from the U.K., the U.S. and France visited a number of tourist attractions and tried foods from Hue and neighboring Da Nang and Quang Nam.

They were welcomed by provincial government leaders.

Nguyen Van Phuc, director of Department of Tourism of Thua Thien-Hue Province, said after being affected for a long time by Covid, international cruise services have begun to recover strongly.

Thua Thien-Hue Province leaders pose with foreign tourists getting off from Celebrity Solstice cruise ship, Jan. 7, 2024. Photo by Van An

This year Hue hopes to receive 32 cruise vessels with 60,000 visitors, he said.

Celebrity Solstice, one of the world’s largest cruise ships, is 314 meters long and capable of carrying 2,852 passengers.

Thousands of foreign tourists have been flocking to Vietnam on cruise ships in the new year, heralding a fruitful year for tourism.

Spectrum of the Seas, thought to be Asia's largest luxury cruise ship, arrived with 4,400 passengers in the popular resort city of Nha Trang last week.

Three European cruise ships brought another 5,000 tourists to Ha Long and Da Nang.

Vietnam received 12.6 million foreign visitors last year, or 70% of the pre-Covid figure.

This year it targets 18 million.