Ha Long Bay tourists had an unpleasant week after a governmental decision resulted in many cruise operators forbidding passengers from standing on sightseeing decks.
According to VnExpress, on June 6, the Ha Long People's Committee required cruise operators to prevent visitors from standing or sitting on certain portions of the boat.
As you might imagine, this did not go over well with tourists who had paid top dollar for a view of the bay.
“We paid to hire a boat for sightseeing but we could only sit inside where it was hot and crowded,” Hanoian tourist Nguyen Thu Ha told DTI.
The governmental announcement came after a cruise boat capsized on Da Nang's Han River last week, sending 56 people into the water and killing two children and one adult.
Following the new regulation, cruise ship operators believed they would be penalized for allowing tourists onto their vessels' sightseeing decks. Uncertain of the actual regulation, companies blocked off top deck access with ropes and wooden boards.
According to one crew member who spoke with DTI, companies feared their activities would be suspended between 10 days and six months if they failed to comply with the governmental request.
The following week, however, government officials clarified the request, insisting that they had not intended to block tourists from sightseeing decks but rather from “the cover over the ship”, writes VnExpress.
“After a boat capsized in Da Nang, the captains and crew have been more cautious, exercising the ban of mounting ship decks on their own,” Vu Van Hop, chief of office for the Quang Ninh People's Committee, told the news outlet. “If the ships see fit, they can let clients climb, if not, they will impose restrictions.”
Ha Long officials have asked Quang Ninh's Department of Transport to clarify the new regulations on Ha Long ships.
Elsewhere in the country, officials have also cracked down on specific types of vessels, reports Tuoi Tre, forbidding re-modified fishing boats from transporting tourists and stipulating that all passengers must wear life jackets.
[Photo via Flickr user M]
