The below prices are in Viet Nam Dong (VND).
My Dinh Bus Station to Hai Gon District in Ha Long City = 65,000 (ticket) x 2 = 130,000
Taxi = 25,000
Seafood Hotpot Dinner on Tran Hung Dao with 2 Bia Ha Noi= 230,000
1 night Hotel = 150,000
Lunch = 50,000
Elevator = 10,000
Overnight Ha Long Bay Boat = 1,600,000
- but could have gotten it for 960,000 according to some of the passengers we met
Bus from Cat Ba port to center of town= 10,000 x 2 = 20,000
Beer = 16,000 x 2 = 32,000
Hydrofoil = 120,000 x 2 = 240,000
Crab Dinner at a restaurant in Cat Ba = 430,000
Bus from Hai Phong to HN = 45,000 x 2 = 90,000
TOTAL = 3,007,000 VND ($188 USD)
That’s what a friend and I paid, total, on our impromptu trip to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba island. He flew in from Kuming where he just finished volunteering on a medical mission. With only three days in Ha Noi, we decided to go to Ha Long Bay. I had already been there once, but it was one of the places on his list of things to do. I was looking forward to the trip because we were just going to wing it, and I really like doing that. No plans; just go.
I cover our trip in more detail in a previous post (but this one was actually written first, just not published until now). Feel free to skip back to read about the adventure. Here, I’ll tell you about my conversation with the crew late at night that was quite revealing about how tourism on Ha Long Bay is run, the real price for tickets, who gets the short end of the stick, and why prices are so high on the boats. Below is everything I found out from our trip in May 2008. Prices, markets, and the tourism industry may have changed since then. Let’s hope so, ’cause it pretty much sucks the way it is.
Who runs the Ha Long Bay tours?
There are 9 companies/tour operators that run the tours in Ha Long Bay. This means that they provide tours of the bay. More specifically, they run the pier where all the boats dock to pick up passengers. The actual “running” of the tour- is contracted to independent ship captains. A tour guide, that works with one of the companies, does accompany the group though. Due to a pretty tight grip on the pier, the only way boats are allowed to dock and pick up passengers is if they play by the owning groups’ rules. If you act up, you get blacklisted and aren’t allowed to dock. If you do dock, you probably won’t get passengers. Still, they should be getting a hefty pay right? The answer’s not even, “Not exactly”.
How much is a ticket?
The price that you’ll pay tour operators varies. It all depends on how much money they want to make and how far down the line the ticket has gone before it’s sold. Let’s bring the 9 companies in for an example, but we’ll call them 9C for short. So 9C runs and operates the pier and tours. They advertise and bring in tourists. Anyone can sell tickets for them. Many hotels in Ha Noi run their own tour guides, which may include tours to Ha Noi. They buy tickets from 9C or larger distributors at a set price, then pass that on to you. Foot patrol agents essentially do the same thing. Whatever price it is, you can almost be sure that a fee has been added for them as well. I’ve found that the range of ticket prices is from $30 to $100 USD for a one night stay on a boat. This includes a tour of one of the caves, and kayaking if you want. What’s the real price? 150,000 VND per person. This is the price that the boats have to pay to 9C if they dock and pick up passengers on their pier. How do you arrange this without getting kicked from the pier? It’s a risk that captains really don’t want to take.
If they make so much money, why the further inflation on the boats?
Like I said, they don’t make a lot of money. The majority of that goes to 9C and other agents able to sell tickets. The boat owner and crew just pick up passengers, give them a tour and take them back to the pier. So how much do they get paid? The captain gets 800,000 VND. The person directly under him, usually the cook, gets 600,000 VND. Other staff may get 400,000 VND or less. This is a monthly salary, not “per trip”. What the captain and crew do get is the cost of maintenance, food, and fuel to keep the ship running and tourists fed. All of this comes out of the captain’s pocket. 9C has limited liability agreements with the boat owners. Anything that happens on the boats is the responsibility of the captain and crew. Anything that needs to be paid for to operate the boat is the responsibility of the owner. 9C just sells the tickets. For this reason, prices of drinks, snacks, and food on the boats are high. They have to be high, otherwise they’d be out of a livelihood.
Why not just start your own tour group?
Even with the difficulties in running the ship, they love their job. They love the sea. For some, this is all they know how to do. Then why not start their own tour group? I asked the captain this question as well as, “Why not tell your passengers the truth about the prices?” To the first question, he responded that the lack of English was a huge obstacle for many of the ship owners. How could they compete and seek out customers if many tourists spoke English and they didn’t? To the question about informing passengers of why they charged so much on the boats, he said this: “Who’s going to believe me? They’re going to believe what they want to believe- that I’m just out to make money from a ‘bunch of tourists’.” This is a belief that many tourists do have, regardless of where you go- especially, in Viet Nam. There is a distrust between buyer and seller. Even the Vietnamese consumers and tourists distrust the people they buy things from.
How many nights do they just lay there gazing at the stars?
Who got the short end of the stick is pretty clear. It took me awhile to sleep that night. Even under the blanket of stars and with a cool breeze, I couldn’t sleep. The truth of their struggles didn’t sit well with me. As usual, my mind was running through possible solutions to make the work for the contracted ships not only fair, but financially worthwhile. Many have families to support. They love their jobs, but I could tell that they hated admitting the difficulties they faced because there was little they could do to change things.
Loose ends to consider
The below are a list of questions/topics to consider, but it’s getting way too late for me to address right now. I need sleep.
- Can you really be mad at 9C for running a business?
- Who is responsible for tourism in Ha Long Bay?
- What do other boat owners and crew think about the situation? Is this a one-boat occurrence?
- Who is responsible for cleaning up Ha Long Bay, environmentally speaking?
