The People's Committee of Hoi An City ( Quang Nam ) has just issued a plan to strengthen the management of tour guide activities in Hoi An ancient town. Accordingly, from May 15, visitors must buy tickets at ticket counters before entering the ancient town. Tickets will still maintain the current price (VND 120,000/ticket for international visitors, VND 80,000/ticket for domestic visitors). Ticket sales are from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the summer and until 9:00 p.m. in the winter.
Tourists visit Hoi An ancient town
To control toll collection, there will be two separate entrances on the main roads leading to the old town, for locals and tourists. Hoi An will also add and expand the space of the "Street for pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles" project for Phan Chu Trinh street. The pedestrian and non-motorized vehicle street will also be implemented continuously from 9am to 9:30pm every day in the summer and until 9pm in the winter (instead of stopping in the current 11am to 3pm frame).
Hoi An City Chairman: 'Collecting ticket fees is to ensure fairness for all tourists'
NO "BLOCK THE RIVER, BAN THE MARKET"?
Speaking to Thanh Nien reporter, Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh, Vice Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee, said that since 1995, the plan to issue general entrance tickets for the entire "core area" of Hoi An ancient town (area 1) has been changed and improved many times. This plan is highly appreciated by UNESCO Asia - Pacific , considering it a "model with many advantages" because it manages the ticket source, avoids negativity at the relic site, and controls the number of visitors. With the price of 120,000 VND/ticket for international visitors and 80,000 VND/ticket for domestic visitors, each visitor has a common ticket box to visit the landscape of the ancient town, visit and experience the lifestyle of Hoi An people with daily activities, folk games, watch traditional art performances on every street corner from 7am to 10pm... Visitors can also choose for themselves destinations of many types of relics in 22 typical attractions. For foreign visitors, the ticket box can choose from 6 locations, for Vietnamese visitors, it is 3 locations.
Hoi An plans to charge 120,000 VND/ticket for international visitors and 80,000 VND/ticket for domestic visitors.
In addition, Hoi An City also has some incentives such as tourists traveling in groups organized by travel agencies and tourism businesses have a discount mechanism. Some other "exceptional" incentives: Tourists who have a tour program and stay in Hoi An for a few days, the entrance ticket will not only be limited to 24 hours but will be valid for the entire stay.
According to Mr. Lanh, the entrance ticket is not actually for the entire Hoi An ancient town, but is limited to area 1 of the ancient town, the "core area" of 4 km2 with a dense density of architectural and artistic relics, religious and civil works. "The complex of architectural relics of Hoi An ancient town is considered a "living museum" of architecture and urban lifestyle. Therefore, all issues of behavior with the ancient town over the past decades have been placed in a comprehensive vision and considered very carefully in all areas," Mr. Lanh affirmed.
Travel blogger Dinh Hang: 'Charging entrance fees to Hoi An will turn tourists away'
In fact, the number of visitors to Hoi An ancient town who do not buy tickets has caused this heritage site to be overloaded. Among them, many tourists just "ride horses to see the flowers" and then joke around, litter, and cause disorder. "Ticket control is to retain the proper flow of visitors for a friendly destination, to make Hoi An tourism more systematic, fair, and equal to all visitors," Mr. Lanh shared.
According to statistics, after the Covid-19 pandemic, from March 2022 until now, Hoi An tourism has recovered very quickly, at times even "collapsed". Data recorded from parking lots in 2022 shows that the total number of visitors to the old town is more than 1 million, but only 300,000 visitors bought tickets.
Although the local authorities explained that the ticket purchase only applies to area 1, this plan still creates many conflicting information streams. On social networking sites, some people support this because they think it is a "tool" to control the current overload situation, but others disagree because they think the benefits do not outweigh the disadvantages, "excessive exploitation".
Nguyen Huy Hoan (32 years old, a tourist from Hanoi) said that forcing tourists to buy tickets to enter the old town is to create fairness for all tourists, but no one will want to go to Hoi An ancient town to eat a sandwich in the morning, drink a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and walk around the streets in the evening to see lanterns and ancient houses without having to buy tickets three times. "If Hoi An City forces all tourists to buy tickets to enter the old town, they will lose more than they gain, and the number of tourists coming to Hoi An will gradually decrease," said Hoan.
ISSUING "OLD TOWN ID CARD" TO PEOPLE
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu (58 years old, in Cam Thanh commune, Hoi An city) supports the policy of having to buy tickets, but is still worried about disruptions. "So, does anyone who wants to visit a sick relative, attend a funeral... also have to pay for a ticket?", Ms. Thu asked.
Mr. Tran Van Khoa, CEO of Jack Tran Tours Co., Ltd., proposed applying facial recognition technology. When people arrive at the ticket check point, an automatic scanner will be able to identify who is a Hoi An resident and who is a tourist.
In response to concerns from many people, a representative of Hoi An City's leadership said that there will be a plan for two traffic lanes at the ticket check point before entering the ancient town. Previously, tourists and locals all traveled together, so it was difficult to control tickets, causing inconvenience to visitors and unsafety. Now, it will be divided into two lanes, one for locals and one for tourists. Locals can come and go freely, no one checks, and they do not have to buy tickets; the tourist lane will have to be checked. "From now until May 15, the city will do it step by step. First, gather the contents to meet with travel agencies, listen to their opinions. After that, Hoi An will meet with locals to get their opinions, so they can give advice and give more advice to the government because the locals are the owners of the heritage," said Mr. Lanh.
But how to distinguish between people in the old town, people with "legitimate reasons", and tourists? According to the leader of Hoi An City, if they are people in Hoi An old town, the ticket inspector will know. For people from other localities who come but have not bought tickets, the ticket inspector will ask where they are going and what their purpose is; if they are just sightseeing, they will be reminded to buy tickets to serve them better. As for visitors, workers, researchers, etc., they can enter and exit normally, without being required to buy tickets. "To distinguish between people in the old town and tourists, the locality will soon scan codes and issue old town ID cards (separate cards) to people," Mr. Lanh added.
Mr. Nguyen Son Thuy, Vice President of Quang Nam Tourism Association, said that the current fee is not commensurate with the value of a heritage. In many other places, the entrance fee is even higher and most international visitors support and are willing to contribute to the heritage. Regarding the plan to require buying tickets when visiting Hoi An ancient town, Mr. Thuy said that the problem is how Hoi An City will respond and organize the fee collection to ensure fairness; especially to be open and transparent so that visitors can see how the money they contribute has returned to the work of preserving the relic.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province, said that the Department has not yet received a plan to strengthen the management of tour guide activities in Hoi An ancient town. However, regarding the collection of fees, charges, entrance tickets... and the management, preservation, restoration and promotion of the values of Hoi An ancient town, Quang Nam province has delegated authority to Hoi An city. "Ticket sales must be carried out in accordance with current legal regulations," said Mr. Hong.
Fee collection at Sam Mountain National Tourist Area also met with backlash
Sam Mountain National Tourist Area (Chau Doc City, An Giang) has an area of nearly 1,487 hectares, is a famous spiritual tourist area with Ba Chua Xu Temple of Sam Mountain, Thoai Ngoc Hau Tomb... Every year, this place welcomes about 4 million tourists, is a large source of revenue for the locality and a driving force in the economic development strategy of An Giang province.
Since 2006, visitors to the Sam Mountain National Tourist Area and the Sam Mountain Lady Temple to make pilgrimages and worship must buy entrance tickets at a price of 20,000 VND/person/ticket.
Currently, the organization of toll collection and the location of toll stations are implemented by the National Tourist Area Management Board of Sam Mountain. However, the 3 toll stations of this unit are all located on the 3 main routes to the Temple of the Lady of the Land, despite the fact that up to now, there have been hundreds of households, businesses and thousands of families living and working around Sam Mountain. When people react that they only pass through the National Tourist Area of Sam Mountain to visit relatives or visit relatives around Sam Mountain, the staff of the National Tourist Area Management Board of Sam Mountain often show annoyance.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tai (39 years old, 16-seat car driver), who drove tourists from Cai Lay District (Tien Giang) to the shrine of Ba Chua Xu Nui Sam, said: "The main purpose of going to Chau Doc is to burn incense for her to pray, but to enter the shrine, we have to pay 20,000 VND/person. I think it would be better to remove the fee." Mr. Nguyen Trung Nhan (living in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) expressed his opinion: "The way to set up barriers to block toll collection vehicles is both offensive and inconvenient, because the driver has to get out of the car to buy a ticket, and as soon as he pays, another employee standing at the ticket counter tears up the newly purchased ticket to check!".
Dr. Ngo Quang Lang, former Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of An Giang Province, Vice President of the An Giang Provincial Historical Science Association, said that the Ba Chua Xu Temple on Sam Mountain is a famous spiritual pilgrimage site with folk mother worship rituals, and since it is a folk belief, it is necessary to create the best conditions for people to come here. Collecting entrance fees from all passersby is a form of "fishing for fish" that needs to be reconsidered.
On December 20, 2022, the Standing Committee of the An Giang Provincial Party Committee announced the conclusion on the plan to collect entrance fees at the Sam Mountain National Tourist Area. Accordingly, the Provincial Party Committee assigned the An Giang Provincial People's Committee to coordinate with Chau Doc City to arrange a scientific toll station, minimizing the impact on people's travel activities. The An Giang Provincial People's Committee has issued a document requesting the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to preside with departments and branches on the development of a Project on management and use of entrance fee revenue sources at the Sam Mountain National Tourist Area to advise the province to submit to the An Giang Provincial People's Council.
Tran Ngoc
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