Vietnam expects more cruise tourists in upcoming years  Cruise tourism is believed to be the growing tendency in the upcoming years. Meanwhile, people now tend to buy goods through online channels. These would bring the great opportunities to the Vietnamese tourism industry. The speaker panel at the recent workshop on the potentials of the Asian tourism industry agreed that the cruise tourism in Asia, including Vietnam, which has developed in recent years, would continue developing more strongly in the upcoming years. It was estimated that 1.7 million people in the world traveled in cruises in 2011. But the number of cruise travelers to Asia was still modest.  However, experts have predicted that about 25 percent of the world’s travelers would come to the region by 2020. Vietnam, in Asia, is believed to be an attractive destination with many world’s heritages, thousands of kilometers of coastline and warm weather. Tran Trong Kien, General Director of Thien Minh Group, has confirmed that the demand has been growing very well, saying that he expects a 25 percent growth rate in the next five years.  Kien has revealed that the group has been equipped with 10 ships to carry passengers at the Ha Long Bay. However, he still fears that the fleet may not satisfy the high demand in the next few years. ASEAN Tourism in late September 2012 at the Cruise Shipping Asia – Pacific trade fair at that time also said in the press release that the cruise tourism was booming in South East Asia.  The big cruises of Costa Cruises like Costa Deliziosa, or Royal Caribbean cruises, or Voyager of Seas have decided to choose Singapore as the main port for stays. They have also considered docking at Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Penang and Malacca in Malaysia, Bangkok, Phuket and Koh Samui in Thailand, Bali and Komodo in Indonesia, HCM City, Da Nang and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. Phan Xuan Anh, President of Viet Excursions, said the US and European cruise firms have strengthened their ads for the new destinations in Asia, including Vietnam. Therefore, Anh said the number of cruise tourists has been increasing rapidly. Viet Excursions, for example, has seen the orders from November 2012 to April 2013 increasing by 50 percent in comparison with the same period of the previous year, the highest growth rate of the firm so far. Jeannie Lim from the Singaporean tourism agency said that the Singapore, which has also realized the tendency, has set up a cruise tourism center to develop the cruise tourism.  She also said that cruise tourists always target many different destinations; therefore, regional countries should join forces to attract international tourists. Kien from Thien Minh has noted that travelers now tend to learn about trips and book tours online. A survey of Thien Minh has found that in Vietnam, 10 percent of bookings is made online, but the figure is expected to increase to 20-30 percent in the next 2-3 years. “The online booking has increased sharply since 2012, and I strongly believe that the tendency would be growing,” Kien said. Craig Douglas from VinaCapital has noted that travelers nowadays tend to book tours later than they did in the past. Especially, in Asia, travelers only book tours several days before the departure time, or just several days before the holidays.  TBKTSG