Vietnam's Hoi An on post-september 11 tourism push
HANOI - Tourist arrivals in the popular Vietnamese destination of Hoi
An dropped by half after the September 11 terror attacks in the United
States, but the number of visitors rallied to new heights in October, the
latest figures show. Hoi An received about 209,500 visitors last year, an
increase of 28.3 percent. These figures mean that there were three
visitors for every one Hoi An resident.
The shock of September 11 has passed and demand for travel has
revived. However, in the newly hostile and violent post-September 11
world, tourists want to travel to safe and friendly places. Hoi An, in the
central Quang Nam province, is such a place.
Hoi An has been open to domestic and international visitors for more
than 15 years. Millions of people have come to the town for relaxation
and sightseeing, especially since it was recognized as a world heritage
site in 1999. Dozens of festivals, cultural weeks, and national and
international conferences have been held in Hoi An without any problems
with safety, theft, or the dignity of visitors. This is because Hoi An
residents are renowned for their kind-hearted approach to life, their
hospitality, and their readiness to help anyone. These characteristics have
become the basis for a clean, safe and friendly social environment for
everyone, especially visitors from afar who have created jobs and
prosperity for the town.
Local tourist managers are trying to reduce troubles for visitors. The
litany of hassles for tourists - having to buy goods and services of low
quality or at high prices due with the collusion of dealers and
intermediaries; being harassed by hucksters, shoe-polishing boys and
cyclo drivers; sidewalks or road-beds being utilized for business; and
regulations on the use of sound, lighting and business hours being ignored
- are all things managers are trying to change.
The municipal authorities have organized an urban conduct monitoring
team specializing in overseeing social order and the tourist environment in
the ancient town, and inspecting cyclo drivers and business
intermediaries. Members of this team are always present in the streets
and at sightseeing venues to deal with visitors' complaints. "We have also
dealt with disputes between visitors and hotels and service establishments
submitted to the municipal chairman for settlement. We have even shut
down a hotel for a month for treating visitors unfairly," said a local
tourism manager.
In Hoi An, visitors are also allowed to participate in handicraft
production. Steve Brown, an American visitor coming to Hoi An on the
cruise ship Norwegian Wind, said he was moved to discover the rural
Vietnamese way of living and working through manual work. He said he
believes that the Vietnamese love peace, beauty and humanity.
Hoi An was the first city in Vietnam to permit local residents to start up
home-stay businesses a few years ago to ease the burden on the small
number of hotels in town. Of course, only good families with beautiful
houses are allowed to receive foreign guests. Foreign visitors love to stay
in 100-year-old wooden houses, listening to the sounds of wooden
sabots in a quiet street or the cries of vendors on a tranquil night. For
those who come from industrialized countries and are accustomed to
crowded streets and air-conditioned rooms, a night stay in an ancient
wooden house in Hoi An is an unforgettable memory.
In early December, Hoi An celebrated the second anniversary of its
world heritage recognition. The small town is endowed with a unique
cultural history that international visitors are free to discover by
themselves. The Vietnamese hope that, for foreign tourists, it will not be
enough to visit Hoi An without integrating into its interesting lifestyle and
simple but hospitable people.
Asia Times - February 20, 2002.
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