“Hoi An will not apply mechanical administrative management measures that cause discomfort to tourists and residents”

(QNO) - On the afternoon of April 10, speaking with Quang Nam Newspaper, Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee - Nguyen Van Son said that in the coming days, the city government will continue to study methods to manage activities of visiting the ancient town in a suitable and effective manner. The general spirit is that all plans must aim to preserve and promote the good image and cultural values of the ancient town in particular and Hoi An in general.

Mr. Nguyen Van Son - Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee. Photo: QT

According to Mr. Son, the overload situation is a very urgent problem, requiring Hoi An to research appropriate management solutions.

In the immediate future, the city will strengthen management of tourist groups organized by travel agencies. For a long time, many travel agencies have brought tourists to visit but not bought tickets, resulting in an annual loss of about 60%.

In fact, there are travel agencies that include the cost of purchasing tickets in the tour price, but avoid buying tickets, and there are also agencies that do not include the cost of purchasing tickets in the tour price to compete unfairly. This is unacceptable. Therefore, management measures will be strengthened, but in a flexible and adaptable manner; in the long term, it is certain that travel agencies that deliberately avoid buying tickets for tourists must be dealt with more firmly.

The number of tourists coming to Hoi An is quite crowded.

Regarding the issued plan (Plan 610), Mr. Nguyen Van Son added that it is only a framework plan, and Hoi An will calculate and consider many aspects before implementing each measure. The most important thing is to reduce the load on the old town. In addition to strengthening the management of sightseeing activities for group visitors, Hoi An will study the gradual reduction of some activities in the old town, while adding other tourism products to areas outside the old town to attract visitors.

Hoi An's biggest priority is to reduce the load on the old town. According to UNESCO's recommendations, if the number of people entering the old town is too large, it will cause the relics and infrastructure to deteriorate, leading to a decrease in the value of the heritage, causing long-term harm. On the other hand, it will make Hoi An's tourism products bland and less attractive because if there are too many people entering, no matter how hard we try, we cannot ensure the quality of service. The policy of strengthening ticket control is also to ensure fairness for tourists who buy tickets and for legitimate travel agencies.

“We will study the best measures to ensure the requirements of strengthening the management of travel agencies to preserve and promote the good image of "kind and gentle people" of Hoi An, while at the same time avoiding anything that could affect the lives of people in the heritage site.

The city will not apply administrative management measures in a mechanical manner, causing inconvenience to tourists and locals everywhere when coming to Hoi An. Revenue from ticket sales will continue to be reinvested in heritage and serve to upgrade the quality of Hoi An's tourism products," Mr. Nguyen Van Son affirmed.

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