Ha Long Bay is one of the favorite destinations of tourists. Effective management and improvement of the quality of tourist fleets visiting and staying in Ha Long Bay is an important factor, not only bringing complete experiences, welcoming domestic and international tourists to come and return, but also effectively promoting the value of the World Heritage - Natural Wonder associated with sustainable tourism development.
Spacious, modern and convenient is the common feeling of many tourists when using the cruise ship service to visit Ha Long Bay today. Equipment such as fans, air conditioners, wifi, screens, sound, lighting, and security camera systems are equipped and invested by most ship owners to best serve the needs of tourists.
Ha Long City People's Committee has actively coordinated with departments, branches and sectors to improve the quality of the tourist fleet operating on Ha Long Bay. Tourist ships wishing to operate on the bay must ensure that the fire prevention and fighting systems; GPS, journey monitoring cameras, oil and water separation systems operate well while transporting tourists... All members on board are trained to improve their professional skills in tourism, customer care as well as skills in handling fire and explosion situations, rescue, and salvage... Mr. Dang Dinh Bien, Manager of the Dragon Legend overnight ship (Dong Duong Cruise Joint Stock Company) said: Before each departure, the ship's crew members must carefully check the equipment and machinery to ensure safety and environmental conditions. This is a mandatory requirement before welcoming overnight guests on the bay. All 16 ships of the unit are equipped with oil and water separation equipment and domestic wastewater treatment, meeting strict criteria for protecting the environment of the Heritage Bay.
Improving the quality of the tourist fleet in Ha Long Bay through the incentive mechanism to replace wooden-hulled boats with steel-hulled boats to reduce the number of vehicles, increase carrying capacity, improve fire prevention and fighting criteria and protect the environment has been actively implemented. Up to now, about 40 new vehicles have been built to replace them according to the province's new policy. It is expected that in 2025-2026, all wooden-hulled tourist boats in the bay will be replaced by new boats with modern, safe and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment, fire prevention and fighting systems.
Along with ensuring the safety of tourists, the fleets also strengthen coordination in implementing models of joint operations, contributing to environmental protection and safety and order in the bay area. Accordingly, the model of "Combined Ship Team" was established to pick up individual passengers to ensure that tourists buy train tickets as well as use services at the listed price, avoiding touts and competition for customers... In addition, the model of "Coordination to ensure security and order in tourist transport activities on the Ha Long Bay route", "Self-management of fire safety" is also effectively maintained by the fleets, not allowing complicated situations of social order and safety to arise, affecting the image of Ha Long tourism.
In particular, since September 2019, Ha Long Bay has said no to single-use plastic products. Visitors are not allowed to bring single-use plastic products (plastic water bottles, plastic bags, etc.) onto passenger vehicles and service points on the bay. The fleet's operations are increasingly becoming more organized, aiming to build a safe and modern fleet, contributing to enhancing the image of cruise ships and the reputation of Ha Long tourism.
Currently, there are more than 400 licensed tourist boats operating in Ha Long Bay, of which about 100 are overnight boats. In the first 5 months of this year, Ha Long Bay welcomed about 890,000 visitors, with an estimated revenue of 268 billion VND. To ensure the safety of tourists visiting the bay during peak times, units have increased inspection and supervision of the fleets. Mr. Tran Van Hong, Deputy Head of the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, said: Functional agencies regularly assess the quality of tourist boats; resolutely stop the operation of unqualified boats, or boats that have expired their operating period in the bay; encourage businesses to invest in improving safety factors and synchronizing equipment for vehicles. 100% of tourist boats are equipped with waste collection equipment, domestic wastewater and oil-water separation equipment before discharging into the environment. If there is any negative feedback from tourists regarding service attitude or service quality, the Association will remind and coordinate with the authorities to have sanctions to avoid bad images for tourists and also to make Ha Long tourism activities more and more professional.
With synchronous solutions, the active and serious participation of authorities and cruise ship business owners, the quality of the fleet's operations is constantly being improved, becoming a beautiful mark in the Ha Long tourism journey of domestic and foreign tourists.
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