Ho Chi Minh City has a beautiful river landscape, suitable for tourism development.
Many expectations
The waterway system in Ho Chi Minh City has a total length of 975km, reaching an average density of 0,181km/1.000 people, equaling 73% of that of the Mekong Delta. The whole city currently has 92 inland waterways with a length of 598,7km and 5 national inland waterways, with a length of more than 100km.
In order to take advantage of this advantage and promote its own potential, since 2013, the Department of Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City has cooperated with the parties to invest in renovating the wharf and deploying many tourism and water transport routes. , including 4 outstanding short routes (under 10km).
The first route goes to Binh Quoi (Thanh Da, Binh Thanh district). This is a fully invested route on the Saigon River with berths: Cau Mong - Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi, Bach Dang, Tan Cang, Thao Dien, Binh Quoi 1, Binh Quoi 2, attracting many tourists.
Water taxi from Bach Dang wharf to Binh Quoi - Thanh Da - Thu Duc attracts many tourists.
The second is the tourist route to District 7 that also attracts many businesses, because the system of piers and marinas is quite complete and the natural scenery on both sides is attractive. The third is the inner-city tourist route on Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal with 25 vehicles with a capacity of 7-40 people, the average traffic at each end of the wharf is 1.000 turns/month...
The fourth is the route to Cu Chi with a wharf system connecting tourist areas that are quite complete with the main destination being the Cu Chi Tunnels Historic Site, eco-tourism areas along the Saigon River. and combine to visit some more spots in Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, currently attracting up to 3.000 visitors/month…
Ho Chi Minh City also exploits many waterway tourist routes to the Southeast, to the Mekong Delta and to Cambodia.
“The tourist route more than 60km from Ho Chi Minh City to the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Can Tho and connecting the Chau Doc - An Giang route to travel through Cambodia ... also attracts many visitors. center," said Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa.
There's still a lot of work to do
However, after a period of implementation, both tourism and water transport in Ho Chi Minh City have not developed as expected. The main reason is that the number of river routes suitable for these types of development is not much; yards, lack of means; Infrastructure for tourism and waterway transport is not convenient. Some routes operate "moderately".
Workers pick up trash to clean Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal. This is a beautiful canal that flows through the city, but it is also prone to water and garbage pollution.
Vu Khac Dung, a tourist from Da Nang, shared with reporters when he had just finished his journey on a water taxi from Bach Dang Wharf (District 1) to some points along the Saigon River in Thu Duc City: “I chose to go in the late afternoon, but the rest of the day is very sunny. The vast river landscape is also nice, but the piers to some wharfs are too simple, the activities and products for tourists are not rich."
And Ms. Vuong Ngoc Nhi, a tourist from Da Lat, commented: "I attended a sightseeing tour, eating on Nhieu Loc canal. Looking down from the shore, the boat lights up on the water very beautifully, but when getting off the boat running on the canal, the scenery of the two banks repeats. Sometimes, the smell of the canal rises, it is not very comfortable to go."
Similarly, Tran Thu, a tourist from Hanoi, said: “A cruise on the Saigon River with closed dining rooms for air conditioning is no different from many restaurants on the street. The nose cavity and terrace deck are small and narrow, not enough room for all visitors to go out and watch the river at night.
Some beautiful canals in Ho Chi Minh City run dry at low tide, affecting traffic development and waterway tourism.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism also said that the "entanglement" points that make water tourism have not developed as expected are due to the lack of parking spots. Bach Dang Wharf (District 1) and a number of wharves in District 4 are about to close, leaving many businesses without a place to welcome guests, so they change their business. Water sources in some canals are polluted; some other canals run dry at low tide; many static bridges are not low… have inhibited the development of this type.
Statistics show that the city currently has 71 inland wharfs serving passenger transport, but most of them are temporary and small, not meeting demand. In the last 5 years, the total investment in construction of waterway transport structures only accounted for 4,3% of the road investment (about 1.200 billion VND).
Ho Chi Minh City is expected to attract a lot of investment resources, develop traffic and water tourism in the river city.
The Department of Transport and Communications has submitted to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City a development plan and investment attraction for 3 inter-regional routes serving inland waterway transport combined with tourism development, including routes linking the Saigon River. , Dong Nai River; linking the Saigon River with a number of main canals in the city; linking the Saigon River with canals to the Mekong Delta. The total investment capital of these rivers is nearly 6.400 billion VND.
“Under the new specific mechanism approved by the National Assembly, Ho Chi Minh City can attract investment in the form of public-private partnership (PPP). We expect that when there is a better mechanism, more businesses will participate in investment in developing traffic, waterway tourism, exploiting the unique potential of Ho Chi Minh City", Deputy Director of the Department of Transport. – Transport Ho Chi Minh City Bui Hoa An said.
