A modern passenger terminal will be built on Phu Quoc Island, a tourist
destination in the south to accommodate luxury cruise liners, radio The
Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reported.
Phu Quoc Island is a stopover
of the 19 cruise ships departing from Singapore and traversing Thailand,
Vietnam and other countries in North East Asia.
Without a port terminal, Phu Quoc receives small cruise ships bringing less than 1,000 passengers and crewmembers.
Recently
Saigontourist, a leading travel operator in Vietnam, implemented a
pilot scheme to bring 516 passengers and a 370-member crew aboard
five-star Europe 2 ashore.
However, Europe 2 had to anchor off
the coast and small boats were used to transport passengers to the
island, causing inconvenience and security problems.
The Vietnam
Maritime Administration is completing its review of detailed planning
documents for the Phu Quoc Passenger Terminal for submission to the
Ministry of Transport for approval in August 2014.
The terminal will be built at an estimated 1,257 billion VND with the first phase alone costing 400 billion VND.
The
terminal is designed to receive luxury ships carrying 5,000-6,000
passengers such as Allure of the Seas, and Mariner of the Seas.
The
sheer size and magnitude of the project requires a careful and
comprehensive review, said Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of Portcoast
Consultant Corporation, which is hired to provide consultancy for
planning.
At a recent working with the Ministry of Transport,
Vice Chairman of the Kien Giang provincial People’s Committee Nguyen
Thanh Nghi vowed to allocate land for the project.
It is forecast
that the number of international sea travellers to Phu Quoc is likely
to reach 105,000-190,000 each year by 2020, and even to 350,000-550,000
by 2030.-VNA