Ha Long Bay boat owners slam harsher regulations

Tourist boat owners in the northern province of Quang Ninh face huge financial losses under the provincial People's Committee's decision to put stricter controls on tourist boats.

Decision 716 was issued in March this year after a boat sank, drowning 12 passengers in Ha Long Bay in February.
The decision, which became effective last month, aims to strengthen management and safety of tourist boats on the Bay.
It stipulates regulations on working conditions and technical standards of the boats.
Ha Long Tourist Boats Union chairman Dao Manh Luong said most boat owners hailed the province's leaders for their prompt and necessary decision in the interests of tourism development in Ha Long and the demands from international tourists.
However, Luong said the regulations as they stood could be applied to ships being built but they were too strict for boats that had been in use for a while.
Under the decision, wooden tourist boats were allowed to operate for six to eight years and up to a further two years if they were upgraded.
If boat owners spent VND10 billion (US$476,000) to buy their boats they could not recover their capital in seven years, Luong said.
For instance, he said, the Phuong Tin 10 Ship of the Ha Long Tourism Development Company was upgraded at the beginning of this year at a cost of VND6 billion ($285,000) after nearly six years of use.
But Bui Ba Tien, the ship owner, had told him the boat could operate for only another year and a half under the new regulations, not long enough to recoup the outlay.
"It'll be a big loss," Luong said.
At present about 500 boats operate on Ha Long Bay, 150 of which are permitted to stay on the bay over night. If the decision was applied, more than 70 boats would have to cease operating by the end of the year because they had been in use for seven years," Luong said.
Provincial People's Committee deputy chairwoman Nhu Thi Hong Lien said the committee would meet later this month with ship owners and representatives of tourism companies to discuss the decision with a view to setting reasonable deadlines for tourist boats.