The inbound number of cruise ship tourists to Vietnam is increasing as a result of additional luxury tour itineraries.

HCM City-based tourism company, Saigontourist, said it plans to receive 8,050 tourists on the luxury cruse ships of the Costa Allegra, SuperStar Virgo and SuperStar Aquarius between June 4 and 19.

On June 4 alone, the State-owned tour operator welcomed more than 520 foreign visitors, mostly German nationals from the Malaysian liner, Star Cruise, in Nha Trang. The central coastal provincial port exemplifies the surge in cruise ships touring the eastern coast of the country, as 8,500 foreign passengers have piled off liners to visit the town so far this year.

Head of Saigontourist’s Sea Tourism Department Le Quang Thang said that he expects another 4,000 passengers from Super Star Virgo on June 5 and 2,800 Australian and Singaporean tourists from SuperStar Aquarius on June 16.

The Italian cruise liner, Costa Allegra has also registered to tour Vietnam's HCM City and Da Nang city for 10 days every month beginning November this year.

In the first five months of the year, Saigontourist received 51,769 foreign tourists with the number of sea passengers rising 300 percent over last year.