Should there be restrictions on cruise ships in Ha Long Bay?

Maintaining balance and harmony between tourism development and preserving the landscape and environment of the World Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay is not an easy problem to solve.

The People's Committee of Quang Ninh province has just proposed not to limit the number, size, type of ships and operating areas of tourist boats in Ha Long Bay. This proposal immediately caused many different opinions.

More than 500 ships in operation

The restriction on the number of tourist boats in Ha Long Bay has been applied for nearly 10 years. According to the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province, although this policy has positive aspects - such as improving service quality, contributing to protecting the environment and landscape of the core heritage area according to UNESCO's recommendations - it has revealed many shortcomings.

One of the major shortcomings is the mechanism of "buying old ship quotas" to be able to build new ships to replace them. This leads to a situation where individuals and businesses who want to invest in new ships are forced to buy back old ship quotas at a high cost, creating barriers to improving and innovating the fleet.

The fleet of tourist boats in Ha Long Bay has more than 500 boats, and can welcome up to 25,000 passengers per day.

Many ship owners in Quang Ninh have even shifted their investment and applied for operating licenses in Lan Ha Bay in Hai Phong City - where there are no strict regulations on the number of ships. This situation not only causes Quang Ninh to lose investment resources but also leads to dispersion and lack of uniformity in tourism management.

Statistics from Quang Ninh province show that Ha Long Bay currently has more than 500 tourist boats operating, including both accommodation boats and day-trip boats. The policy of limiting the number of boats is also inconsistent with current legal regulations. Therefore, Quang Ninh province believes that it is necessary to change the approach. Accordingly, the number of boats will not be controlled but will be regulated according to the appropriate capacity in each area of ​​Ha Long Bay, especially the core heritage area.

To comply with regulations, the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee proposed not to issue documents restricting the number of tourist boats. Instead, the locality will only implement measures to regulate the number of boats operating in the core area of ​​Ha Long Bay in accordance with the capacity of tourist destinations.

In the proposal document, the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee also acknowledged that this measure still has some shortcomings. For example, managing and regulating ships operating according to tourist capacity at the locations will be more difficult; increasing pressure on the core heritage area when large-scale local tourist ships as well as ships from Bai Tu Long and Lan Ha bays come to operate. Not to mention, the situation of supply exceeding demand, leading to unhealthy competition and waste of resources may occur.

Concerns about impact on heritage

Immediately after the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee made the above proposal, the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association - representing more than 500 boats operating here - sent a document to the authorities, requesting to maintain the current fleet size.

According to the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, if the number of boats is not controlled, it will cause many serious consequences, directly affecting the quality of tourism, waterway traffic safety and the reputation of this world heritage.

"Ha Long Bay is a world natural heritage, so it needs to limit the load capacity of its water area, environment and infrastructure. Failure to control the number of ships will put pressure on ports, routes and tourist attractions that are already overloaded during the tourist season, affecting waterway traffic safety and the experience of tourists" - Head of the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association Tran Van Hong acknowledged.

The actual capacity of the Ha Long tourist fleet has far exceeded demand. The entire fleet can accommodate more than 25,000 passengers per day, but except for some peak days, the actual number of passengers only fluctuates around 15,000 people. Even in the low season, the fleet's operating capacity only reaches about 40%-50%. Therefore, for many years now, the price reduction race between tourist ships to compete has always taken place.

Not to mention, if in the near future, tourist ships from Lan Ha Bay are allowed to go to Ha Long Bay, the number of ships operating in this world natural heritage will be very large. This will affect the environment and landscape of Ha Long Bay, which UNESCO previously recommended not to increase the number of ships.

The Ha Long Tourist Boat Association believes that their proposal to keep the number of boats stable is not to limit business rights, but to prevent massive investment and service price dumping, causing instability in the tourism market here.

In the face of conflicting opinions, many people believe that Quang Ninh needs a comprehensive, cautious and balanced strategy when developing cruise ships in Ha Long Bay. The government needs to listen to the voices of the business community, those directly involved in the tourism industry and have a realistic view of the market to come up with appropriate policies. Quang Ninh needs to implement fleet management in a synchronous and flexible manner according to the capacity at each time, control the quality of vehicles, be transparent in granting operating licenses, combine technology to monitor the journey... to ensure sustainable tourism development.

Developing tourism in Ha Long needs to ensure harmony between economic growth and the responsibility of preserving natural heritage. Therefore, all local decisions and policies need to aim at sustainable and responsible development.

Over the past few years, Ha Long has witnessed a hotel investment fever that has caused the supply of accommodation rooms to far exceed demand, causing a huge waste of resources and leading to a price race that sometimes gets out of control. Many businesses are concerned that if the restrictions on the number and type of cruise ships in Ha Long Bay are removed, there is a risk that this wasteful situation will repeat itself.

"The resources and environment of Ha Long Bay are limited and this heritage needs to be strictly preserved. Tourism development requires a long-term, balanced and responsible strategy; we cannot let short-term growth affect the heritage bestowed by nature" - a representative of a tourism business expressed.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/co-nen-han-che-tau-du-lich-tren-vinh-ha-long-196250703205243346.htm