A waiter in a cafe hosts visitors with a smile in Hoi An (Photo courtesy Cafe Faifo) Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - The ancientcity of Hoi An has launched a campaign to raise awareness of good-naturedbehaviour and hospitality among the community, promoting a friendly tourismenvironment to make the city the most popular destination in central Vietnam.
Director of Hoi An’s Culture and Sports Centre VoPhung said that the project will focus on limiting poor manners when hostingtourists in public sites, restaurants and destinations in the old quarter.
He said booming mass tourism and rapid urbanisationin Hoi An in recent years had partly spoilt the good-natured image of Hoi An’speople and culture that has been preserved for generations. The projectintroduced a code of conduct for local residents, promoting gentle manners, headded
Phung said the project had implemented a surveyamong the community in two residential quarters – Cam Pho and Minh An – twocrowd tourism sites and old houses in the old quarter of Hoi An.
“The city has seen some poor manners among localpeople including littering in public sites, honking their horns too much intraffic, harassing and overcharging tourists and making noise in publicplaces,” Phung said, adding these bad actions had not been seen in thecommunity in the past centuries.
“The lifestyle and culture among merchants fromEurope, Japan and China emerged 500 years ago when the city was a busy tradingport, and the cultural values were inherited and preserved by generations.”
Phung, who masterminded the project, said Hoi Anshould preserve its cultural values as a heritage of its ancestors to promote agood-natured society and the development of tourism.
In a recent survey among communities in the oldquarter, only 19 percent of asked residents said they did not litter in publicsites, while 25 percent sounded their horn too much in traffic.
Half of interviewees said they always expressedtheir hospitality and willingly offered help to other people, or kept calm indealing with public conflicts like accidents.
Phung also said 65 percent respect the lifestyle andculture of visitors, while 64 percent often offer apologies for wrongdoings.
Half of the people in the two living quarters havepreserved their ancestors’ traditionally polite behaviour.
Vo Tan Tan, a local man in the often-visited CamThanh nipa palm forest, said the tranquillity of Hoi An – a UNESCO-recognisedworld heritage site – has been degraded due to an overload of tourism and poortravel service management.
The tourism hub is burdened by coaches carryingcrowds of tourists on the city’s limited traffic infrastructure, and trafficcongestion is a common sight in the evening.
According to the city’s Culture and Sports Centre,2.3 million tourists, including two million foreigners, visited the old quarterin Hoi An. Half of the foreign tourists were from China and the Republic ofKorea.
The number of tourists from Thailand andNetherlands increased quickly last year, with the rate of 163 percent and 84percent, respectively.
Visitors from France, Germany, Spain and the USdecreased by between 4 and 13.9 percent in comparison to last year.
Local people have been encouraged to keep the tranquillityand have been asked to avoid single-use plastic bags, straws and cups.
Hoi An has reserved streets in the old quarter andan expanded area in the west of the city for use as walking streets from 9am to11am and from 3pm till 9:30pm during the rainy season and 10pm in summer.Motorbikes and vehicles with engines have access for four hours per day and atnight time.-VNS/VNA
Director of Hoi An’s Culture and Sports Centre VoPhung said that the project will focus on limiting poor manners when hostingtourists in public sites, restaurants and destinations in the old quarter.
He said booming mass tourism and rapid urbanisationin Hoi An in recent years had partly spoilt the good-natured image of Hoi An’speople and culture that has been preserved for generations. The projectintroduced a code of conduct for local residents, promoting gentle manners, headded
Phung said the project had implemented a surveyamong the community in two residential quarters – Cam Pho and Minh An – twocrowd tourism sites and old houses in the old quarter of Hoi An.
“The city has seen some poor manners among localpeople including littering in public sites, honking their horns too much intraffic, harassing and overcharging tourists and making noise in publicplaces,” Phung said, adding these bad actions had not been seen in thecommunity in the past centuries.
“The lifestyle and culture among merchants fromEurope, Japan and China emerged 500 years ago when the city was a busy tradingport, and the cultural values were inherited and preserved by generations.”
Phung, who masterminded the project, said Hoi Anshould preserve its cultural values as a heritage of its ancestors to promote agood-natured society and the development of tourism.
In a recent survey among communities in the oldquarter, only 19 percent of asked residents said they did not litter in publicsites, while 25 percent sounded their horn too much in traffic.
Half of interviewees said they always expressedtheir hospitality and willingly offered help to other people, or kept calm indealing with public conflicts like accidents.
Phung also said 65 percent respect the lifestyle andculture of visitors, while 64 percent often offer apologies for wrongdoings.
Half of the people in the two living quarters havepreserved their ancestors’ traditionally polite behaviour.
Vo Tan Tan, a local man in the often-visited CamThanh nipa palm forest, said the tranquillity of Hoi An – a UNESCO-recognisedworld heritage site – has been degraded due to an overload of tourism and poortravel service management.
The tourism hub is burdened by coaches carryingcrowds of tourists on the city’s limited traffic infrastructure, and trafficcongestion is a common sight in the evening.
According to the city’s Culture and Sports Centre,2.3 million tourists, including two million foreigners, visited the old quarterin Hoi An. Half of the foreign tourists were from China and the Republic ofKorea.
The number of tourists from Thailand andNetherlands increased quickly last year, with the rate of 163 percent and 84percent, respectively.
Visitors from France, Germany, Spain and the USdecreased by between 4 and 13.9 percent in comparison to last year.
Local people have been encouraged to keep the tranquillityand have been asked to avoid single-use plastic bags, straws and cups.
Hoi An has reserved streets in the old quarter andan expanded area in the west of the city for use as walking streets from 9am to11am and from 3pm till 9:30pm during the rainy season and 10pm in summer.Motorbikes and vehicles with engines have access for four hours per day and atnight time.-VNS/VNA
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