"Sticking" to collect fees in Hoi An ancient town: Don't be busy looking for "shrimp" to lose "shrimp"

The fee to visit Hoi An ancient town is not a new story because this locality has collected 120.000 VND/international visitor/ticket and 80.000 VND/domestic visitor/ticket since 2012.

However, the story suddenly "heated" after the city announced that there will be a plan to separate the way for tourists and locals from May 15 to "tighten" the collection of "loose" fees. last time.

So is this fee really reasonable and with many countries around the world as well as other provinces and cities that currently own heritage, what can Hoi An learn?

The "mirrors" for Hoi An

Venice (Italy) is a world famous destination. This city government has repeatedly proposed to charge visitors, most recently it is expected that from January 1 it will collect 2023-3 Euros/person (about 10 VND-77.000 VND), depending on the peak or low season. . Fees are applicable for day-trippers and free for overnight stays.

The purpose of government Venice When applying the solution to collect entrance fees, it is to control the overcrowding of tourists. Because before the COVID-19 pandemic, this was one of the world's leading "hot spots" that was always overloaded with "huge" visitors at all times of the year. Tourists from 5 continents flock to, present throughout the narrow streets, causing locals to tend to leave their homeland.

Tourists ride a gondola in Venice, Italy. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Overcrowding, pollution of the tourist environment of Venice causes UNESCO has spoken out about possibly stripping the city of its World Heritage status. Faced with that pressure, the local government was forced to plan to reduce the number of tourists flocking to increasingly crowded. And the immediate solution they chose was to charge an entrance fee.

However, at the beginning of this year, this policy has not been applied by Venice and the specific time for implementation has not been determined.

The purpose of Hoi An's fee collection is similar. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Son, Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee, it is to "control tour groups and people who come to Hoi An to visit."

“For a long time, Hoi An space has been overloaded, foreign tourists buying tickets to visit are greatly affected. They think it's not fair because many people enter the old town like them but do not have to buy tickets. And it is because of this large number of visitors that hinders visitors from enjoying the landscape of Hoi An .. ” explained Mr. Son.

“In fact, this implementation is only to divide the flow and reorganize reasonably, avoiding the situation that visitors, people entering transactions and trading go the same way, leading to a chaotic, unscientific situation. Mr. Son explained further.

What is the fee and how?

In essence, the collection of fees, according to representatives of some travel agencies, is necessary. There are even proposals that should increase the entrance fee at the relic sites in the heritage complex to have more funding for the purposes of conservation, embellishment, restoration as well as investment in cultural activities. arts and culture, festival events, construction of new tourism products, tourism infrastructure, environmental sanitation ... as the policy of the locality.

However, how to collect fees and how to collect fees is a problem that managers need to consider and calculate carefully.

Regarding the fee, according to the general assessment of travel businesses, the price of sightseeing tickets is World Heritage Hoi An, according to the announcement, is low, if compared in terms of scale.

For example, with the world heritage sites in the country such as: Phong Nha-Ke Bang cave system collects 150.000 VND/ticket with Phong Nha cave and Thien Duong cave 250.000 VND/ticket; Ha Long Bay 290.000 VND/ticket; Trang An scenic complex 250.000 VND/ticket or Hue Citadel (200.000 VND/ticket)…

Compared to heritage sites in the region such as Taj Hamal, India (about 300.000 VND/ticket), Angkor Wat, Cambodia (equivalent to 900.000 VND/ticket), the ticket price to visit Hoi An is also at the lowest.

However, the price comparison problem in this case is not convincing.

Disagreeing with the above price comparison, a domestic tourism expert said that Phong Nha-Ke Bang, Ha Long Bay, Trang An, Citadel, or Angkor Wat ... are all separate sightseeing complexes. In particular, there are no local people living.

Meanwhile, visitors to Hoi An not only visit but also use many services such as dining, accommodation, boating, shopping...

International guests visit the film set Kong: Skull Island in Trang An, Ninh Binh before this area is dismantled. (Photo: Mai Mai/Vietnam+)

There is a witty opinion that, “So I am a resort tourist in the periphery of the old town, every day I only need to go to the center of Hoi An to enjoy local specialties or shop. Isn't it because of a bowl of Cao Lau that every time you enter, you have to buy a ticket to visit?

Therefore, the method of collecting tickets to the ancient city in the style of: buying tickets is not appropriate. The collection of entrance fees in Hoi An needs to take into account the attractive factor here is the rich daily life that blends old and new, the traditional uniqueness of cuisine, fashion, and culture through each culture. Street layout, through the voice, laughter and communication of people in Hoi An…

Don't get caught up in "shrimp" to avoid losing "shrimp"

Regarding the fact that the Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee mentioned "it is necessary to ensure fairness in ticketing activities." Many people agree and think that it is necessary to remove the distinction between foreign and Vietnamese tourists, so as not to cause offensive feelings for tourists in general.

Tourists visit the old town. (Photo: Mai Mai/Vietnam+)

According to Dr. Nuno F. Ribeiro, Senior Vice President of Tourism and Hospitality Management, RMIT University Vietnam, statistics in 2019, domestic Vietnamese tourists spent 9,6 billion USD, international tourists to Vietnam spend 12 billion USD; the average spending of each domestic visitor is 61 USD and foreign visitor spends 673 USD. Thus, international visitors spend on average 11 times more than domestic visitors.

This is the key for the tourism industry to set the goal for this period is how to open the door to welcome foreign tourists back after more than 3 years of the C\OVID-19 pandemic raging.

Going back to Hoi An's toll collection, some experts say that at this time, when the world is not interested in coming to Vietnam, why do we stretch more "strings" with unnecessary fees? Accordingly, the sustainable way is to keep attracting guests to your home, inviting them to enjoy delicious dishes with a thoughtful, professional welcome... they will be willing to one way or another "pocket your wallet."

On the other hand, although the spending level of domestic tourists is much lower than that of foreign visitors, this is a potential and sustainable number of visitors if they know how to attract them.

HP, a tourist who has been to Hoi An many times shared: “In the past, I also liked to go to Hoi An because it was quiet, rare, and the people were hospitable. But now it's busy, noisy, crowded... That's it, nothing new, just hanging around... The number of people and service providers has increased, but professionalism is not available, many essential services that tourists need are lacking.. "

According to Ms. N.D - a "Hoi An addict" who has many times just "run to eat a bowl of Cao Lau" every year: "Hoi An attracts many people not to visit, but to come to visit. there, breathing the air there, walking the familiar streets between the small alleys between the houses with tiled roofs…”

“The feeling of sitting by the river, holding a thin rice paper cake, scooping up a plate of mussels with tiny mussels like a button on her shirt… and watching the petals of flower petals drifting on the Hoai River, carrying the sweets. memories, nostalgia and even small wishes… it's very beautiful and only available in Hoi An,” shared Ms. N.D.

International tourists shop in Hoi An. (Photo: Mai Mai/Vietnam+)

For people like N.Đ., it may not be a waste of an entrance fee to "buy" the emotions "only Hoi An can have," but that fee, like the other threaded barie, will certainly reduce it. go a lot ready to "run back ..." as still there.

Like a witty simile of HP tourists about Hoi An's toll policy: "People let go of 'shrimp' to catch 'shrimp', I keep looking for 'shrimp' to escape 'shrimp, crab, fish, Crab'…”