Tourists to Hue encounter rainy day

Safety first

Near the end of September, some tourists shared memorable memories of traveling to Hue during a stormy day. Thanh Huy (a tourist from Hanoi) shared: "On the first day of arriving in Hue, I could not leave the hotel because it was pouring rain and the streets were flooded in many places. Because I had already booked many services, I could not cancel the trip." The original plan was greatly affected by the unusual natural disaster, but due to objective reasons and prioritizing safety, he only considered this a memorable memory. "Tourism units still have support policies. No one wants storms, so I happily accepted it and changed to suitable experiences," Huy shared.

In fact, there are still tourists who “defy” the weather, preferring adventurous experiences, especially independent travelers. Some tourists have pre-booked services and cannot postpone or cancel, so they still “try” to experience. This is potentially risky, because in fact, in recent times, there have been many incidents that have occurred to tourists at some domestic tourist destinations due to the dangers of natural disasters, even though the authorities had previously issued warnings.

A representative of the Department of Tourism said that the rainy and stormy season affecting localities in Vietnam, especially the Central region, also coincides with the beginning of the peak season for international visitors. In addition, many domestic tourists have arranged their travel time or booked tours in advance at this time. Tourists come to Hue in two forms: traveling on tours organized by travel agencies and traveling independently. For tourists traveling on tours, travel agencies and businesses always have plans to ensure safety. Meanwhile, for tourists traveling independently, their schedules and plans cannot be controlled. One of the biggest concerns is that some independent tourists still seek out tourist destinations such as beaches, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, waterfalls, forests and mountains. Even in bad weather conditions, there are potential risks of flooding, flash floods, landslides, etc.

Flexible and proactive support for tourists

Director of the Department of Tourism Tran Thi Hoai Tram said that before the rainy season, especially before the storm, the heavy rains forecast to affect Hue, the Department of Tourism often sends an official dispatch requesting tourism service businesses to proactively focus on prevention, control and response. The top priority is to ensure the safety of life and property of tourists as well as the unit. The Department also organizes on-call, ready to receive, coordinate and support with units and tourists.

The issue is the proactiveness of tourism units and businesses. In addition to proactively discussing with customers to change schedules, tour routes and build tourism products to adapt to the rainy and stormy season, units must not be subjective and ignore warnings from authorities. In particular, there needs to be coordination and flexibility in policies to serve and support tourists.

Ms. Chau Thi Thanh Huyen, a tourist from Hanoi, said: “The reason why tourists accept the risk of traveling in stormy weather conditions is because they have already booked a service but cannot cancel or postpone it. Tourism agencies and hotels need to have flexible and appropriate policies, create favorable conditions to support customers to reschedule or have some mechanism to ensure better benefits for customers.”

According to Ms. Duong Thi Cong Ly, Vice President of the City Tourism Association, tourism activities and tourist services cannot be interrupted during the rainy and stormy season, but the tourism industry and the business community must have contingency plans to ensure the dual goal of both developing tourism and ensuring the safety of visitors. To satisfy visitors, the handling of tours and routes during rainy and stormy times must also be really delicate. Depending on the weather, travel agencies discuss and agree with visitors to adjust schedules and experiences or reasonable plans. In case visitors do not agree, there should be appropriate support policies for visitors.

But no matter how flexible the plan is, the most important thing is to tighten control to effectively protect tourists.

Article and photos: HUU PHUC

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/du-lich/chu-dong-bao-ve-du-khach-158693.html