Hoi An plans to charge entrance fees to the ancient town, what do travel businesses think?

Authorities plan to divide the main roads into the Old Quarter into two paths. One path is for locals and one path is for tourists. Up to now, Hoi An has only collected separate fees at special relic sites…

Illustration photo.

On April 3, the People's Committee of Hoi An City (Quang Nam Province) issued a Plan to strengthen the management of Hoi An Ancient Town Tour Guide activities. Accordingly, from May 15, Hoi An will apply the mandatory requirement to buy tickets before entering Hoi An Ancient Town for all domestic and foreign tourists. The ticket price is 80,000 VND/ticket for domestic visitors and 120,000 VND/ticket for international visitors. The time for selling tickets to visit the Ancient Town is from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily in the summer, and until 9:00 p.m. in the winter. According to the explanation of Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee Nguyen Van Son, the revenue from entrance tickets serves the preservation, restoration, and renovation of relics, infrastructure improvement in the old town, organization of tourism events, as well as support for people in the restoration and renovation of houses... At the same time, Mr. Son confirmed that this is just a proposed plan and all are only in the draft. To implement, the city's agencies and departments must also meet with travel agencies, especially consulting the opinions of residents living in the old town. Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh, Vice Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee, said that the collection of entrance fees has been done by Hoi An ancient town for a long time and has been adjusted many times. Mr. Lanh said that in essence, this policy is not new, even every time the story of tightening and adjusting tickets and fees is mentioned, it always receives strong reactions. However, the trend of applying fees, "using relics to nurture relics" is something that needs to be done to keep Hoi An better. "For a long time, there has been a phenomenon where many travel agencies, although selling tours to customers with entrance fees included in the total cost, when customers arrive, let them "wander around" without buying tickets. From here, customers are not allowed to visit, their rights are disadvantaged, creating inequality between those who buy tickets and those who do not pay," said Mr. Lanh. Mr. Lanh believes that when tightening the ticket purchase, Hoi An will do a better job of taking care of and beautifying the ancient town to "please visitors and satisfy visitors", not because of tickets that they lose their image.

Up to now, Hoi An has only collected separate fees at special relic sites.

However, according to representatives of travel agencies, the problem is how Hoi An will respond, how to organize the fee collection to ensure fairness for everyone, and choose the right time and method. Tourism expert, Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, member of the Tourism Advisory Board, said that the story of the entrance fee collection of Hoi An as well as many other destinations in Vietnam today needs to be comprehensively considered in many factors. "If the entrance fee is collected, will the number of visitors decrease? If the number of visitors decreases, how much will the revenue from spending, shopping, and eating and drinking decrease compared to the revenue from ticket sales? Hoi An city leaders must calculate whether the fee collection is more profitable or more costly and take responsibility for that calculation," Dr. Luong Hoai Nam warned. Agreeing, Mr. Phan Dinh Hue, Director of Vietcircle Tourism Company, affirmed that Hoi An's zoning of the entire city to collect entrance fees from visitors is unreasonable. Hoi An is not only a tourist destination but also plays the role of an urban area. This place not only serves tourists but also serves many other needs such as eating, shopping, visiting relatives or simply walking on the street. For such needs, charging fees causes barriers and inconveniences. "Old Town San Diego is also a famous tourist destination known as the best destination in America, but they do not sell entrance tickets. Only some very special places in the city sell entrance tickets. In return, they sell services. Attractions are just factors that stimulate visitors to come, while tourism must aim for revenue through additional services, from restaurants, hotels, shopping...", Mr. Phan Dinh Hue cited.

Mr. Nguyen Van My, Chairman of Lua Viet Tours, also expressed his concern: “Hoi An also has tourist attractions, if tourists want to visit these special relics, they must buy tickets and pay fees, which is correct. However, if tourists want to enter the old town just to eat Cao Lau or have Ao Dai made, but “force” them to buy tickets, it is a bit unreasonable. Up to now, we have not collected entrance fees to the old town, although we lose some revenue, tourists will shop, eat, and spend more than the ticket price. At the same time, we benefit several times more from the friendly feelings of tourists”. Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat, General Director of AZA Travel, suggested that Hoi An should have a reasonable policy for tourists who do not want to visit the relics. Many people just want to go to Hoi An to eat a bowl of noodles and drink a cup of coffee, so charging a flat price of 80,000 VND may not be reasonable. On the other hand, many guests stay at hotels outside the old town but still come to visit every day. The city should also offer "multi-entry combo" ticket packages with limited time of use.

Revenue from entrance tickets is used to preserve, restore and renovate relics, improve infrastructure in the old quarter, and organize tourist events...

Up to now, Hoi An has been applying entrance fees to visitors entering area 1, which is a strictly protected "red" complex with more than 1,107 ancient relics. On average, about 15,000 people enter and exit the old town every day. However, statistics show that only 40% of people passing through the checkpoints go to the ticket counter, mainly international visitors. According to many travel agencies, tightening entrance fees is the right thing to do to be fair to everyone. Because preserving and operating tourism in the old town requires a lot of money, those who come to Hoi An must be responsible for restoring the heritage. The problem now is to collect the right subjects, implement it reasonably, and calculate the appropriate fee collection method. In addition, representatives of businesses said that there should be no distinction in ticket prices between Vietnamese and foreign tourists, creating a bad image for Vietnamese tourism. Hoi An also needs to apply technology to control tickets, instead of doing it manually as it has been for a long time. In particular, it is necessary to be open and transparent so that visitors can see how their money has been used to preserve the relics. If it can be done, visitors will support it. Ms. Truong Thi Ngoc Cam, Director of the Center for Culture - Sports and Radio and Television of Hoi An City, said: "Hoi An always accepts criticism and contributions from everyone. During the process, there will be adjustments and additions to suit the actual conditions, not being conservative and rigid. We will definitely be flexible, receptive, and research appropriately."

Previously, the city of Venice (Italy) has also proposed charging tourist fees many times. According to CNN, the city government plans to charge visitors from 3 Euros to 10 Euros per person from January 2023. The fee varies depending on the peak or low season. The fee is applied to visitors who visit during the day, while overnight visitors are exempted from the entrance fee. However, the purpose of Venice authorities is to control the overtourism situation here. Before the pandemic, Venice was one of the most overtouristed destinations in the world, regularly receiving a "huge" number of visitors at all times of the year.

Vneconomy