As a World Natural Heritage and the country's top destination, Ha Long Bay always receives special attention from Quang Ninh province to ensure safety for tourists.
In particular, after the unexpected incidents, the province has been implementing a series of synchronous measures, from increasing patrols, upgrading technology to perfecting processes to restore and strengthen tourists' trust.
Strengthening monitoring and improving response capacity at sea
In the first 7 months of 2025, Quang Ninh tourism industry welcomed more than 14.6 million visitors, including more than 2.6 million international visitors. Ha Long Bay tourism alone accounted for about 20% of the total number of visitors to the province.
With this impressive number, ensuring absolute safety for tourists on the bay becomes a central and continuous task of the government and functional agencies.
Quang Ninh has increased patrol and control forces on Ha Long Bay.
Since early August 2025, the Provincial Military Command has deployed a medical ship and two mobile boats to patrol the bay 24 hours a day. This force not only monitors security and order but is also ready to respond to emergency situations, ensuring the safety of tourists day and night.
Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Son, Deputy Commander of the Quang Ninh Provincial Military Command, informed that the purpose of increasing patrol boats and checkpoints is to ensure safety for tourist boats visiting the bay, hoping to bring the best experience to visitors. The unit arranges each shift to be of 6-8 people, including an information team and a medical team.
The medical ship is also equipped with 4 stretchers, oxygen tanks, fire extinguishers, etc. to be ready to participate in search and rescue operations in Ha Long Bay when sudden, unexpected situations arise.
Authorities have stepped up inspections of safety conditions at ports. Many working groups have been deployed to patrol the waterways, in coordination with port authorities.
The Department of Construction conducts surprise inspections of compliance with regulations on ensuring water traffic safety on tourist boats, when these vehicles are anchored at tourist attractions waiting for tourists.
The Inland Waterways Port Authority also maintains its personnel, regularly organizes surprise patrols and inspections, especially at night at ports, wharves and ship anchorage areas. This work is to ensure that ship owners and captains always strictly comply with regulations on watchkeeping and shift duty to promptly handle unusual situations such as storms and explosions. Any vehicle that does not meet safety requirements will have its license suspended.
Applying modern technology to management
To improve the ability to warn and respond to incidents at sea, Quang Ninh is promoting the application of modern technology. Recently, the province has coordinated with the Institute of Earth Sciences (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) to research and deploy the installation of an early warning system for meteorological phenomena such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning at key locations in both Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay.
This system will be synchronously connected with the ship management system, helping authorities and ship owners grasp weather information quickly and accurately to proactively respond.
Notably, all nearly 500 cruise ships operating in Ha Long Bay, including overnight ships, are required to install automatic identification and communication equipment (AIS).
According to the National Technical Regulation QCVN 72:2025/BGTVT, AIS equipment is only required for passenger ships with more than 50 people, but now ships with less than 50 seats also voluntarily commit to install it. This system allows authorities to closely monitor the route, position, and speed of each ship, ensuring that no vehicle operates outside the prescribed channels and routes.
In addition, other safety devices such as VHF and GPS are also fully equipped, helping connection and rescue take place quickly and effectively.
According to the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, by August 11, over 80% of tourist boats had installed the above two devices, striving to complete the installation of 100% of boats by August 15.
Mr. Tran Hai Nam, owner of the Dragon Viet ship (48 seats) operating in Ha Long Bay, shared that his ship and many other tourist ships in the bay have completed the installation of VHF transceivers and marine positioning equipment integrated with the automatic identification system (AIS) since August 10.
Mr. Nam said that the installation of the equipment is very necessary and convenient to operate. On the other hand, if the equipment is not installed, the ship will not be given permission to operate in the bay. AIS and VHF equipment helps to quickly connect with the port authority, receive timely warnings, and facilitate monitoring. Currently, patrol and control ships in the bay run continuously, so crew members and tourists are very secure.
To ensure the safety of tourists, the number and identity of tourists are strictly controlled by the ships. The departure order will be issued by the Port Authority after checking the actual number of passengers on board. The ship owners, captains and crew members of the cruise ships operating in Ha Long Bay have been trained to improve their skills in using safety equipment.
Periodic inspections are strictly carried out, the ship owner also checks and replaces old rescue equipment such as life jackets, fire extinguishers, etc. In particular, the awareness and responsibility of crew members and functional forces are raised, always putting the safety of tourists first.
Quang Ninh province has also comprehensively reviewed and completed the process of operating tourist boats. Operating regulations have been tightened, attaching responsibilities to port owners, ship owners, captains and crew members. Hotline numbers are publicly posted at ports, wharves and on ships so that tourists can directly report to authorities when discovering any shortcomings.
At the conference to review tourism activities in the first 7 months of 2025, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee Pham Duc An emphasized that the province will continue to promote tourism in a sustainable manner. The province focuses on building tourism infrastructure and requires businesses to create in-depth tourism products.
The province will prioritize resources to soon deploy and operate an early warning system for thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning in key areas such as Ha Long Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay, and coastal areas, to ensure absolute safety for tourists and socio-economic activities./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/quang-ninh-khoi-phuc-niem-tin-cua-du-khach-sau-su-co-lat-tau-o-vinh-ha-long-post1054982.vnp
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