Vietnam's Hanoi to boost charm with trams in 2000
HANOI - Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, plans to
reintroduce trams to its winding streets next year in a tourism
project designed to enhance the charming old city's allure.
A Hanoi Tourism Department official said on Monday that city
authorities had approved a plan to build French-style tramcars
similar to ones that plied several streets for decades until the late
1980s.
``We will restore a part of Hanoi's tram network in the Old
Quarter. The trams will be used just for tourists, not as a means
of public transportation,'' the official told Reuters.
The trams should be running by October next year to mark
Hanoi's 990th birthday, the official said.
Hanoi, home to 2.5 million people, exudes charm, especially in
the Old Quarter, a warren of 36 twisting alleys named after the
product predominantly sold along each street.
Faded grey pagodas also dot the city's many picturesque lakes
and tree-lined boulevards boast an array of ochre-coloured
colonial buildings erected by the French.
The official said that as part of a dozen projects to help tourism,
one street in the Old Quarter would be closed to all transport
while shops on another would be revamped to highlight
Vietnamese cuisine.
Trams were once a popular means of transport, but as Hanoi
expanded after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 the old,
slow carriages were deemed inappropriate in crowded streets.
Officials have not given a clear breakdown on tourist arrivals so
far this year, but Vietnam overall attracted just under 600,000
tourists last year, down from 690,000 in 1997.
Reuters - November 1st, 1999.
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