HCM City yacht society in the offering

The HCMC Tourism Association plans to establish a yacht society some time this year for yacht owners and business executives in the industry to meet to discuss ways to develop local river cruise tourism.
Nguyen Huu Tho, chairman of the association, told the Daily on Tuesday that 30 association members had put their names down to join the tentative society. They are yacht owners, and businessmen who provide yacht and yacht-related services on the Saigon River.
“Those members have an advantage of developing river tourism by building wharfs, setting up logistic services, and attracting guests. We are teaming up for the development of the city’s river tours,” Tho said on the sidelines of a meeting held to celebrate the 35th year of Saigontourist Holding Company where he is serving as general director.
He said the association expected to present the yacht society next month and that the city now had more than 30 tourist boats and yachts. Businesses will bring in around 10 new modern yachts and tourist boats late this year, with each worth millions of U.S. dollars.
“The city holds great potentials in river cruise tourism. We will have enough yachts and tourist boats for its development and support from the city government will be needed to build wharfs and develop services,” Tho said.
Companies, he said, can arrange river tours within the city or even expand them to neighboring provinces such as Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, as well as the Mekong Delta region and Cambodia’s Siem Reap and SihanoukVille.
The problem, however, is the lack of a real tourist wharf with full logistic services for cruise tourism, he noted.
“There will be many businesses engaging in the service if the city has a scheme to develop relevant services. Our company can build five to ten tourist boats for river tours and develop services for tourists, yachts and tourist boats,” Tho said.
He said partners from Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and China had explored the prospects for the service and that they had expressed interest in bringing in yachts and tourists if the city had modern wharfs.
In a related development, the city government has okayed the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s draft action plan for river tour development this year.
The department is responsible for planning routes and discussing details with the relevant departments and tour operators before submitting the plan to the city government for approval.
The tourism department said it would undertake a survey next month along with the city government people and businesses to find appropriate routes and work out plans for developing river tour services.