Nearly 6,000 foreign travelers on board two five-star cruise ships have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province from Friday to Sunday for their tours across Vietnam, helping boost the tourism industry’s growth during the last months of this year, a local travel operator reported.      

Among the total, more than 2,800 international travelers arrived aboard the Quantum of the Seas cruise ship at Phu My Port in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province on Saturday, starting their journey to explore the province and its neighbor Ho Chi Minh City, according to Vietnam’s leading tour operator Saigontourist.

As per their schedule, most guests will enjoy a range of activities, such as exploring Vietnamese coffee culture, savoring local dishes, sightseeing in the countryside by bicycle, and participating in cuisine training sessions.

These activities have been designed specially by Saigontourist for European, American, and Australian tourists with high spending levels.

Quantum of the Seas, operated by U.S.-based Royal Caribbean International, is one of the world’s largest passenger ships, which provides travelers with excellent tourism experiences using integrated modern technology, a Saigontourist representative said.

Earlier on Friday, the travel firm also welcomed over 3,000 international tourists on board the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship, run by U.S.-based Celebrity Cruises, at Chan May Port in Hue City, the capital of central Thua Thien-Hue Province.

After these travelers enjoyed culture, heritage, and landscape tours from Hue to Da Nang City, and Hoi An City of Quang Nam Province, the ship will carry them to Phu My Port on Sunday for a special exploration journey from Ba Ria-Vung Tau to Ho Chi Minh City and several localities in the Mekong Delta region.

“The fact that nearly 6,000 international tourists have arrived in Vietnam within two days will give a fresh impetus to the growth of the tourism sector in the remaining months of this year,” the representative commented.

Vietnam, a popular stop for many large international cruise ships, aims to develop a sustainable cruise tourism network in the future, according to the travel firm.

As planned, destinations across the Southeast Asian country will continue to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors, including passengers from luxury cruise lines, during Vietnam’s annual sea tourism season, which typically runs from October to April-May of the following year, the firm noted.

The tourism sector has set a target of attracting 17-18 million international travelers in 2024, a significant increase from the 12.6 million who visited last year, according to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

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