As Lao Dong Newspaper has reported, for many months now, cruise ship owners in Ha Long Bay have sent official dispatches to relevant agencies regarding the situation of different types of cruise ships, including: overnight cruise ships in the bay, day cruise ships, and restaurant ships encroaching on each other.
Previously, each type of ship often operated in its own field, based on the approval decision when building the ship.
After many petitions and official dispatches on this issue from the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, ship owners and authorities, on the morning of December 23, the Department of Transport of Quang Ninh province chaired a meeting to listen to the opinions of all parties in order to find a harmonious solution.
Most opinions of ship owners, especially famous ships, restaurant ships and Ha Long Tourist Ship Association still hold the view that each type of ship should return to its proper operating position, so as to at least not encroach on each other's territory.
In case the overnight ships do not pick up overnight passengers, but only pick up daytime tourists, they either run to route 3 or 4, not to route 1 and 2 which are often overloaded, or if they still go to route 1 and 2, the ship must pay the exact number of overnight passengers when switching to daytime operations.
Because, currently, some overnight ships only have a few or more than 10 rooms - equivalent to a few dozen overnight guests, but when switching to receiving daytime guests, they can receive hundreds of guests at the same time.
Faced with differing opinions, a representative of the Department of Transport of Quang Ninh province proposed to assign this issue to the People's Committee of Ha Long City to preside over and coordinate with the Ha Long Bay Management Board to consider the specific actual situation on tourist routes on Ha Long Bay to propose a solution to submit to the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province.
Previously, in July 2024, the People's Committee of Ha Long City sent an official dispatch to the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province regarding this issue, in which it recommended that cruise ships that have transported tourists (not staying overnight) are not allowed to participate in the cruise ship's tourist routes on routes 1 and 2 of Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay.
According to the explanation of the People's Committee of Ha Long City, from the beginning of 2024 until now, many owners of accommodation vessels have converted their business model to receiving tourists (without overnight accommodation), leading to overloading of tourist attractions on routes 1 and 2 of Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay; directly affecting the itinerary of sightseeing vessels and the interests of sightseeing vessel owners who regularly operate in the above area.
There are currently over 500 cruise ships in Ha Long Bay, including over 330 hourly ships, 170 accommodation ships and about 4-5 restaurant ships. Previously, each type of ship focused on its own customer segment, but recently there has been a situation of overlapping operations.
