170 foreign athletes set sail from Hong Kong with Nha Trang on the horizon

By Staff reporters   October 18, 2017 | 07:34 pm PT
The teams will dock in the Vietnamese resort town over the weekend before heading back.

The biennial boat race from Hong Kong to Nha Trang kicked off on Wednesday with 170 sailors vying to be the first to arrive in Vietnam’s central resort town over the weekend.

This year, 14 teams from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Italy, Russia and Singapore are taking part in the one-week race and the first crews are expected to reach Nha Trang on Friday.

The sailors will stay in town for two to three days before sailing back, the organizers said, as cited by Khanh Hoa Newspaper, the news website of the namesake province which is home to the resort town.

Organizers said the race has helped to promote coastal tourism in Nha Trang and opened investment opportunities for many athletes who are also business investors.

The race was launched in 2004 and is now in its seventh edition.

Nha Trang is one of the most popular destinations in Vietnam. Foreign visitors in the first eight months surged 166 percent from a year ago to more than 1.3 million, according to Khanh Hoa’s tourism department.

Most of them were from China and Russia.

 
 
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