QUẢNG NINH — Tourists passing through Tuần Châu international port in northern Quảng Ninh Province will be charged VNĐ40,000 (US$1.8) for a two-way ticket and VNĐ20,000 ($0.9) for a one-way ticket from May 28.

The fees were approved by the provincial People’s Committee on Tuesday following a proposal made by the Âu Lạc Limited Company – managing unit of the port – in October last year in an effort to recover investment capital.

Capital recovery is necessary since the port was built entirely by the private enterprise, according to Đào Anh Tuấn, managing director of the company. 

Fee waivers and discounts will be applied to children shorter than 1.2 metres or under 7 years old, people with disabilities, and citizens who enjoy cultural preferential policies, in accordance with the Government’s regulations.

The Quảng Ninh People’s Committee has requested that the fees be published in local mass media and at the port for 20 consecutive days before they are officially applied.

Apart from recovering investment capital, fee collection will also support port operations, said port director Phạm Thanh Tùng. 

Some 500 tourist boats anchor at the port every day, generating a revenue of VNĐ1.3 million ($57) per boat per month, which is insufficient to pay for hundreds of port staff members and maintaining its operations, he said. 

Part of the revenue from port fees will be reinvested to serve tourists, he said.

Some 60,000 tourists passed through the port to visit Hạ Long Bay from April 30 to May 1, Tùng added.

They ran out of available boats on April 30 due to a dramatic rise in the number of tourists, he said.

The Tuần Châu international port started operation in late 2015. With a total area of some 200ha and 100km of anchoring space, it is capable of containing some 2,200 tourist boats. Improvements at an international standard are being made at the port and are in different stages of a co-ordinated plan. — VNS