International visitors to Hue

Don't let Hue get a bad name

Meeting Nha Uyen, a tourist and also a tiktoker from Ho Chi Minh City who traveled to Hue, she enthusiastically talked about her experiences in 3 days in Hue with many impressions. The only thing that made the female tourist sad was that she stopped at a cheap cafe, but the owner was unclear about the price. “Everything in Hue is great, from the landscape, heritage, culture, people, cuisine... There was only one small problem at the cafe in Thuy Xuan ward. At first, they were very happy. Seeing the cheap cafe, I didn't think a glass of sugarcane juice would cost up to 30,000 VND, because every cafe in Hue is very cheap. What made me sad was that instead of explaining gently, they quickly turned their backs when I questioned the price. In other places, that might be normal, but in Hue, I didn't think this would happen.”

Nha Uyen's closing sentence made me sad. Having met thousands of tourists with hundreds of stories, most of them gave praise to Hue. The reason why tourists compare Hue with other localities is because in their minds and research, Hue is a destination that has affirmed its brand as civilized, friendly, safe, and rich in identity.

Compared to the previous period, thanks to the synchronous solutions and support of the government, departments, and localities, especially the implementation of the coordination regulations to ensure security and order in the tourism sector of the police and tourism sectors, many unnecessary problems in the tourism environment have been limited. However, the "grains of sand" in the tourism environment still exist, causing Hue to have a "bad reputation".

In 2024, the story of a hair washing and massage business in Phu Hoi ward, Thuan Hoa district, showing signs of price gouging for tourists; or the case of a water shop near King Tu Duc's tomb being reported by customers for charging too high prices, with the price list placed in a hidden corner, are bad news for Hue tourism. Or the incidents that happened near Thien Mu pagoda about tofu vendors competing for customers are ugly images. Although that situation is not common and when discovered, the government and functional agencies quickly intervened to handle it, but when the information spread online, Hue more or less lost points in the eyes of tourists. A tourist in Hanoi sincerely shared with me: "Doing 10 good things is hard for anyone to remember, but just 1 bad thing makes many people know and lingers in their minds. That is something that Hue tourism, even though it has a brand, needs to be careful about."

As soon as the customer parked his car at the parking lot near the Imperial Citadel, the vendors came to invite him to buy hats.

Tighten management

In 2025, Hue will host the National Tourism Year, with many programs and activities held throughout the year. It is predicted that Hue will "explode" in the number of visitors and experiences. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for ensuring security and order in the tourism sector, and for problems and behaviors that affect the tourism environment.

Mr. Nguyen Thai Hoa, Chief Inspector of the Department of Tourism, said that in addition to regular inspection plans, the Department Inspectorate also develops and implements surprise inspections to ensure the tourism environment and tourism activities and services during holidays, events and activities. The subjects of inspection include tourist accommodation establishments, tourism services, travel agencies in the area; tour guides; tourism environment at tourist attractions. Strengthen inspection, rectification, prevention and avoidance of touts, street vendors, stalking and begging tourists; issues of price posting and selling at the right price...

The Department of Tourism and related units will also strengthen propaganda and mobilization to prevent violations of solicitation, street vending, and overcharging tourists around crowded areas and destinations. The authorities will strengthen the work of checking, inspecting, and handling violations related to violations of security, social order and safety, urban order, environmental sanitation, landscape, and tourism environment in the area.

The tourism industry and local authorities have also implemented many solutions to grasp the feedback of people, tourists and many social networking sites about the city's tourism business environment; coordinate with functional agencies to inspect and handle. In addition, they will continue to organize training courses, instruct tourism workers, people and service business owners on how to behave civilly and friendly; publicize hotlines and promptly resolve complaints from tourists.

Director of Hue City Department of Tourism, Ms. Tran Thi Hoai Tram shared that the tourism industry will closely cooperate with other related sectors to successfully organize the National Tourism Year and contribute to improving service quality. At the same time, create groups on social networks to connect and closely coordinate with tourism and travel businesses and leaders of many related departments, sectors, leaders of districts, towns to handle shortcomings, promptly remove obstacles that businesses, travel companies, and tourists reflect in order to make Hue tourism increasingly developed, more impressive, more civilized, safer and more friendly in the eyes of tourists.

Article and photos: HUU PHUC

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/du-lich/thu-hut-khach-tu-moi-truong-du-lich-van-minh-than-thien-151774.html