THIS IS A FUNNY SAYING BY MR. PHAN DANG TOAN - SECRETARY OF THE SA PA TOWN PARTY PARTY SHARING ABOUT THE AREAS THAT LOCAL LEADERS ARE IN CHARGE OF AND RESPONSIBLE FOR, IN ORDER TO HAVE A GREEN, CLEAN, AND BEAUTIFUL SA PA. THE 3 HIGHEST LEADERS OF SAPA TOWN (LAO CAI), INCLUDING THE SECRETARY, PERMANENT DEPUTY SECRETARY AND CHAIRMAN OF THE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE, ARE ASSIGNED TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE 3 HOTTEST ISSUES OF THE LOCAL TOURISM: TRAFFIC CONFUSION, WASTE AND BEGGING.
PV: Hello! Do you and the leaders of Sa Pa feel bothered that the people and even local officials are now used to calling you that?
Mr. Phan Dang Toan: No, of course. At first, we just called him for fun. Then we gradually got used to it. Now, every time we hear that "beautiful name", we feel more responsible and try harder with the assigned tasks. Because I am the Head of the Traffic Congestion Prevention Committee in the inner city area, the primary task is for a clear and safe Sa Pa, so I am called the Secretary on the Street. Mr. Thao A Sinh - Permanent Deputy Secretary is the Head of the Committee against soliciting, stalking, and begging, so he is called the Deputy Secretary of Begging. And Mr. To Ngoc Lien - Chairman of the People's Committee is the Head of the Steering Committee for Clean Sa Pa, so he is called the Chairman of Trash Picking.
PV: It is known that recently, Sa Pa leaders have proactively sought out famous localities such as Da Nang, Hue, Da Lat... to learn how to do tourism . What was your experience and what lessons did you learn?
Mr. Phan Dang Toan: It is true that we have organized experience learning sessions. Through consultation, we see that Sa Pa's natural conditions are very strong but have not been fully exploited. Besides, we also see that the team providing accommodation and restaurant services in Sa Pa has approached a professional level. The cuisine is rich, we can meet the needs of both European and Asian guests. The local cuisine is also very good.
However, the biggest disadvantage of Sa Pa is the poor traffic participation; taxi and tram teams in other localities can introduce themselves as tour guides when getting on the car, but in Sa Pa they do not.
After discussion, we assigned the Department of Culture and the Tourism Association to organize training courses for taxi and electric car drivers. Hopefully, they will be able to participate in introducing and guiding tourists to Sa Pa in a natural and proficient manner. The awareness of Sa Pa people is basically quite good. However, there are still some cases of overcharging and especially soliciting, stalking, and begging, although it has decreased, it is still easy to encounter. The scenery of Sa Pa is very beautiful. But besides the stone church and the pyramid on the top of Fansipan, there is still a lack of iconic architecture. In the near future, Sa Pa will build a tourist park. There will be statues with the typical style of the Northwest mountains and forests such as a couple playing the flute, a Pieu scarf, farming props of the highlanders... It will definitely become an interesting check-in place for tourists.
PV: What do you think about Sa Pa's problems?
Mr. Phan Dang Toan: I am not afraid to admit that Sa Pa is still messy and not as expected. During the day, the houses are messy and do not follow any architectural style. At night, it is like a hotpot of mixed lights. The lights from billboards, restaurants, street lights, etc. are all bright. It must be said that there is an overload of light. Traffic still has some congestion points; parking is not orderly. The government has launched a campaign to propagate and handle many issues, but it is still not thorough. There are many reasons, but deep down, it is because the central area is too small, the roads are narrow, there are many vehicles, and tourists gather at fixed times. Therefore, in addition to the efforts of the Party Committee and the government, Sa Pa still hopes that people and tourists will have more awareness of traffic participation.
Stone Church - the most famous architectural symbol of Sa Pa. Photo: Xuan Quynh.
I cite this example so that everyone can understand and share with Sa Pa. In 2003, Sa Pa only welcomed more than 70,000 visitors; 10 years later, in 2013, the number was nearly 800,000. At this time, due to the lack of accommodation, tourists even had to sleep overnight in classrooms.
By 2019 (before the pandemic), the number skyrocketed to 3.2 million, while the central area of Sa Pa remained the same, very small. Everything developed too hot, too fast, leading to the chaos as mentioned above. And to restore everything to order takes time, and that is also our responsibility. PV: What measures has Sa Pa taken to minimize this situation, sir? Mr. Phan Dang Toan: We also refer to the model of European countries. They have many small and narrow cities but the traffic planning is very scientific , the people's awareness is high, so it always looks airy, very worth learning. From there, Sa Pa is determined to deploy static parking lots. In the long term, all bus stations will be moved outside. Sa Pa has planned 3 parking spots. One spot will receive vehicles from Lao Cai city. One pick-up point from the lower district and one point from Lai Chau combined with the parking lot of Fansipan Cable Car Company, all three directions to Sa Pa have parking lots. From there, the number of vehicles entering the town will be dispersed. By the weekend, vehicles with more than 16 seats are not allowed to enter the inner city. Currently, Sa Pa has identified 19 points at risk of congestion. At all 19 points, we have sent functional forces to participate in guiding and contributing to preventing congestion. In addition, traffic diversion plans have also initially shown effectiveness. Regarding the situation of stalking, soliciting, and begging, recently, after a long effort in propaganda, Sa Pa has begun to implement tougher measures such as administrative fines. The subjects of fines are adults who take advantage of children to sell goods on the street or beg. Most recently, Ms. Lu Thi May, born in 1995, residing in San 2 village, Hoang Lien commune, was fined up to 22 million VND for forcing her two young children to peddle and beg on the streets of Sa Pa. Currently, Ms. May has paid nearly half of the fine. This measure is not intended to collect fines, but to remind people that if they continue to re-offend, they may be subject to criminal penalties, and has begun to have very positive effects. With the above efforts, tourists will see a different face of Sa Pa. Much more positive.
PV: 3.2 million visitors is a particularly impressive number. Have you ever thought about screening the target audience, directing Sa Pa to a high-end tourist area, to "get the most bang for your buck"?
Mr. Phan Dang Toan: Because it is a national tourist area, Sa Pa does not set out the target audience. We understand that Sa Pa belongs to all people, to serve all people. Anyone who comes, from ordinary people to the upper class, Sa Pa will open its heart to all hospitality. In 2020, Sa Pa even accepted to sacrifice revenue by removing 2 toll collection points located at Muong Hoa and Ta Phin. One is to make it easier for people to access village tourism services, the other is the desire to develop community tourism. Of course, along with the country's economic development, people's needs will also be higher, the number of middle-class and high-class guests will also increase. Therefore, also from 2020, Sa Pa's policy when granting resort and hotel projects is to set the standard from 4 stars or higher. In 1 night, currently, Sa Pa can accommodate 40,000 people. The target is to maintain a stable number of visitors from 3.2 million to 3.5 million visitors per year by 2025. After that, when some other resort projects are completed, another 15,000 accommodations can be added.
PV: There are opinions that Sa Pa is increasingly losing its wildness, leading to some tourists choosing Ha Giang to explore nature instead of Sa Pa. What do you think about this opinion?
Mr. Phan Dang Toan: In fact, Sa Pa still has many wild places with beautiful scenery that tourists may not know about. In the suburban area, there have been many tourism development projects in the spirit of preserving nature to serve tourists who love to explore. These places are all very beautiful. And if tourists choose Ha Giang instead of Sa Pa for any reason, we would like to congratulate your province. They are all our people and our country. I am very happy. Reporter: Yes, thank you!
Sa Pa is often in a state of traffic overload. In addition, the situation of soliciting and begging still exists, which is tarnishing the image of Sa Pa.
Laodong.vn
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