Joint venture to offer double-decker bus, airport transport services in Vietnam

The Transport Ministry has agreed in principle to allow Hai Van, a transport joint venture between a Vietnamese firm and a Singaporean company, to offer the services on a trial basis in five years in Hanoi, Quang Nam, Da Nang, Thua Thien Hue, Lam Dong, Kien Giang and Ho Chi Minh City, daily newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) reported on Tuesday.

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The operation of double-decker buses is expected to boost tourism development in cities, meeting up with the goal of bringing tourism to be Vietnam's key economic sector. Vietnam aims to earn a total of 400 trillion Vietnamese dong (17.6 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue from welcoming international tourists and domestic travellers in 2016, said the General Statistics Office.
According to some local experts, the fact that the ministry has so far permitted only one firm to launch the services may lead to business monopoly.
Vietnam transported 317 million passengers in January, up 7.7 percent against January 2016, said the country's General Statistics Office.
Specifically, its road transport sector served 297.6 million passengers, up 7.7 percent.