Travel enterprises arranging tours for international cruise passengers to Can Gio Biosphere Reserve in HCMC have got confused as the city police require foreigners to obtain permission before coming there, citing regulations on visits to border areas.

foreign tourist takes a kayak ride in Can Gio mangrove forest.

A tour operator said that foreign visitors to Can Gio Biosphere Reserve in the district of the same name must secure permission from authorities as the district is identified as a sea border area.

However, other companies operating tours to Can Gio for foreigners, especial cruise ship passengers, do not know that Can Gio Biosphere Reserve is classified as a sea border area, so they do not ask authorities for permission for their tours. The resulting outcome is they have been denied permission to bring foreign tourists to Can Gio.

Meanwhile, companies arranging tours to the destination said things had gone smoothly in the past and that competent agencies had not informed them that Can Gio is put under special management.

Cruise passengers usually buy tours one or two days ahead of their ships docking at local ports while some even book tours on arrival. Therefore, there is not enough time for tour operators to get permission.

Tours to Can Gio Biosphere Reserve have become attractive to international travelers, so the requirement may discourage them from buying tours. The mangrove forest is a destination for both local and foreign tourists, so the city should adopt a special mechanism to lure tourists, said a representative of a firm in HCMC.

International cruise passengers will pay a visa fee of US$5 each when they go ashore for a local tour.

Many cruise passengers, when arriving in HCMC and neighboring Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, have visited Can Gio Biosphere Reserve since 2011 as they are fond of discovering the mangrove forest.

Tours to Can Gio have been co-arranged by the management board of the biosphere reserve and tourism firms.

SGT