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The municipal People’s Committee has issued a plan for the development of waterway tourism products in the 2023-25 period.
The city’s waterway tourism has great natural advantages for strong development thanks to its system of rivers and canals with scenic views. Waterway tours are considered as one of the city’s new tourism products that are expected to provide new, attractive experiences to visitors.
Under the plan, the city plans to launch waterway tourism products in all inland routes on all rivers in the city, and inter-provincial routes connecting with the neighboring provinces of Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tien Giang, Long An and Ben Tre.
By 2025, it aims to develop at least 10 waterway tours and waterway tour programs linking seaports and river routes.
The city is striving to welcome about 500,000 visitors a year to waterway tourism programs in the 2023-24 period. This number is expected to increase by 10% in the following years.
The number of international cruise ship tourists arriving in the city will be 100,000 in 2023 and 2024, and rise 12-15% in the following years.
In the 2023-24 period, the city’s cruise industry is expected to hit VND500 billion per year in revenue, and increase by 12% in the following years.
The municipal People’s Committee has also asked relevant agencies to focus on improving the quality of waterway tourism products, including river tours.
The city seeks to develop waterway tourism to become a typical tourism product, contributing to the diversification of the city’s tourism products.
It is striving to have hundreds of water transport craft by 2025, including 200 canoes and 100 boats, ships, cruise ships and others.
It will improve voice-over translation systems to provide tourists with information about waterway tourism routes, and identify the historical and cultural values of rivers and canals across the city.
The municipal administration has urged relevant units to use geographic information system (GIS) technology for building detailed maps of waterway tourism routes and destinations on the routes.
It will build more wharves and launch new waterway tourism products and programs, boost cruise tourism, and develop tourism and entertainment services along the river bank and on river cruise ships.
Its first-ever river festival was organized from Aug. 4 to 6 with a series of cultural and entertainment activities related to the city’s waterways for locals and tourists.
The festival aimed to preserve and promote the city’s culture and history as a culturally rich riverside urban area, and make use of its waterways to boost the economy and tourism.
It is expected to become a highlight of the city’s tourism in the future.
Saigon River hosts outdoor art show, Aug. 6, 2023. Video by VnExpress
