The Traditional Craft Village Tourism Festival of Hanoi and the Red River Delta let down many visitors because of poor preparation, both by the organisers and the participants.
The booth of Asia Pacific Travel Company
The festival, which kicked off in Hanoi on October 8, and runs until October 12, includes 300 booths from 139 trade villages, airline companies, tourism agencies and hotels from across the capital and other provinces in the delta region. The festival is serving as a venue for artisans, tourism enterprises and air travel companies to introduce their products and services.
Vietnam Tourism Association also launched a stimulus package in order to boost the Vietnamese tourism industry during this autumn-winter season, and for the future.
Booth of Haiphong Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism displays toys
However, after the grand opening, many booths closed because owners left quickly, while others have not yet arrived, e.g. the Hanoi Tourist Service Company and Asia Pacific Travel Company. Booths of many hotels were also cleaned out on the second day.
Many booths are empty by the second day Even with the remaining booths, visitors can hardly find any useful information promoting tourism.
The booth of Quang Ninh Province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, sells mineral water and silver accessories, while the booth of Haiphong Province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism displays toys instead of leaflets about beauty spots and accompanying services for tourists.
Impromptu parking services take advantage of the circumstances
The ones who are earning the most are probably the impromptu parking services set up near Quan Ngua Stadium. Parking fees there have been increased to ten times the normal level– VND20,000 (USD0.96)— while parking lots further away will take VND10,000. Visitors have to accept the fee because they are told the free parking lot–one of the arranged facilities– is already full.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
