Saigontourist reaches out to European cruise liners

      The HCMC-based Saigontourist Travel Service Company is reaching out to more cruise ship operators from Europe to further sharpen its cutting edge at a time when international arrivals in Vietnam are on the decline.
The country’s leading travel firm has managed to established new partnerships and is inviting new cruise ships from Europe to call in Vietnam, said Le Quang Thang, manager of the company’s Shorex & Port Agency Department.
He said that the company this year has cut new deals with three new European cruise liners, which are helping the company to maintain the number of cruise passengers in a difficult time for the travel industry.
Thang told the Daily on Tuesday that Saigontourist was catering to 350 German passengers from the Hanseatic cruise ship on a one-week trip taking in HCMC, Hue, Halong, Haiphong and Hanoi. The cruise ship left Vietnam yesterday.
The Hanseatic is just one of several European cruise ships contracted by the company this year to bring guests to Vietnam. Another Italian cruise ship named Costa Allegra has been continually dropping anchor in Vietnam as arranged by Saigontourist, and will bring around 4,800 foreign passengers this month and next.
“The total number of European cruise passengers catered to by Saigontourist is up 25% in the first five months of this year,” said Thang.
Saigontourist, Thang said, has welcomed an estimated 40,000 cruise passengers and crewmembers in January-May, the same as last year’s period.
“It’s a good result at a time of crisis like now owing to robust growth in the number of European cruise ship passengers,” he said and explained that many Asian cruise ships have suspended their trips to Vietnam because of the crisis.
“It means that international cruise liners are seeing Vietnam as a popular destination in the world’s cruising map,” Thang said.