The cruise ship would anchor in Nha Trang City during 20 days for the contest.

The coastal province of Khanh Hoa has okayed a proposal from Hoan Vu Joint Stock Company to rent the Jupiter cruise ship from Singapore to serve the Miss Universe contest, an official said.

Vice chairman of the province Le Xuan Than told the Daily that the cruise ship would anchor in Nha Trang City during 20 days for the contest.

The 57th annual Miss Universe Contest is scheduled to take place in the country in next month. Official activities of the contest will take place from June 20 to July 14 in the five tourism cities HCMC, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Halong Bay and Hanoi, while main activities will take place in the central coastal city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province.

He said that the 400-cabin cruise ship would not only provide rooms but also many tourism services such as restaurants, health spa, show lounge, and entertainment services to visitors.

That added that provincial authorities had been pondering prudently before making the decision because the ship had casino services that are not allowed in Vietnam.

According to the provincial department of culture, sport and tourism, Nha Trang has 400 hotels of over 8,850 rooms. Of them, around 1,350 are four to five-star rooms.

The tourism authority is afraid that the number of high-standard rooms will not be enough for a big number of international guests who will come to the city for the contest, so it has approved leasing the cruise ship to serve the demand.

The Jupiter cruise ship is managed by Singapore-based V.Ships (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd. In the last interview with the Daily, the company's managing director Chui Mun Yew Daniel said that it would soon start cruise service in Vietnam, taking in several destinations in the southern coast plus some other venues in neighboring countries.

( Copy SGT - VNN )