Da Nang, the chief port of central Vietnam, has become the first in the country to allow visiting cruise ships to keep their casinos open after docking. International liners have traditionally shuttered onboard gambling after arrival in the country. But in mid-January, the Da Nang Tourism Department’s deputy director Tran Chi Cuong said he had found “no rules that require foreign ships to close certain services when docking in Vietnam,” and the restrictions would therefore be lifted. The ultimate goal, he said, was to encourage more cruise lines to put his city on their itineraries.
According to local media, the change came about following lobbying from Asia’s largest cruise operator Genting. Executives of the company’s Hong Kong-based subsidiary Star Cruises had apparently been meeting with officials from Da Nang and Quang Ninh Province (famous for Ha Long Bay), as well as officers from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Da Nang expects to receive 110 vessels from the company this year, against a 27.5% increase in overall foreign arrivals by sea in 2015. Given burgeoning growth in Asia’s cruise industry, the numbers are sure to continue growing.
Vietnam now only allows foreign passport holders to enter its eight land-based casinos. Keeping onboard gambling open will not change the prohibition on locals, because Vietnamese law views international cruise ships as foreign territory. To get on board, Vietnamese citizens will therefore have to undergo immigration procedures, as they would if they went to casinos in Cambodia.
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