Soon to say goodbye to overnight Halong Bay Cruise

According to authorities in the northern province of Quang Ninh, staying overnight on Bai Tu Long and Halong Bay Cruises will soon be excluded from any travellers' Vietnam Tour Packages.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="960"] The decision to ban overnight cruising in Halong Bay would cause great losses for travel agencies.[/caption]

In the near future, only daytime travel will be allowed in the sea.

The move is part of a local program that also intends to replace wooden boats with metal boats over the next five years.

The authorities expected that the program will help enhance tourism service quality and safety. Currently, 553 tourist ships operate across the two bays, 202 of which dock overnight.

In 2015, Bai Tu Long and Halong Bay welcomed about 2.5 million tourists. The fleet can serve a maximum of 10 million passengers, meaning there are too many ships.

Quang Ninh recently issued a temporary regulation that allows wooden ships to operate in the bays for a maximum of 15 years, as opposed to the regulated 25 years.

Source: Thanh Nien News